Chapter 1 When Marseilles Led by Two Goals

When Marseilles was leading by two goals, the Zenit Saint Petersburg fans in front of the TV and at the stadium felt like they were in a nightmare. But when Marseilles led by three goals, the fans simply felt like the end of the world had arrived.

Many drunken Russians even picked up their TVs and threw them out the window.

Russian fans in bars also stripped to the waist, pointing at the TV screen and cursing, venting their anger and unwillingness.

Amidst the clamor of curses, someone began to shout, "A hero! We need a hero! This game needs a hero! We need a hero who can stand up in times of crisis!"

He was shouting "hero" in Russian, not "hero" in English, but everyone was reminded of one person, and more and more people joined in the call for a hero.

They shouted, "Hero! Hero!"

At first it was just "hero", but later it simply became "hero".

"Hero! Hero!"

As if by tacit agreement, one bar called out like this, and soon more bars began to echo with shouts of "Hero! Hero!"

Amid such shouts, the hero on TV had just completed a header, but under the interference of the opponent's defender, his header went high.

This game lost Radko Šírl, and the offensive on the left was obviously weakened. Šírl was not the kind of winger with strong breakthrough ability. His most powerful weapon was an accurate cross, and Chen Hero needed such an accurate cross.

To be honest, within the team, Arshavin's crosses were not considered good. The best was Šírl. Unfortunately, Šírl received a red card in the previous game against Villarreal and was suspended for two games, missing the two crucial games against Marseilles.

Chen Hero lost Šírl's crosses, and the quality of his headers naturally suffered a great discount.

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"Chen Hero is working very hard now, but he seems like a headless fly. Without accurate crosses, the power of his headers cannot be fully utilized..."

Radko Šírl was suspended and did not travel with the team to the away game. At this time, he was sitting at home, watching the live broadcast on TV.

The score on the TV screen and the commentator's voice made him feel depressed.

Because of his absence, the team was losing, and might even be eliminated... He felt guilty.

If he could have been a little calmer during the game against Villarreal and not received that unnecessary yellow card, would this game have had a different outcome if he could have played?

At least they wouldn't have lost so badly!

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Chen Hero realized that he was standing at the front, and besides attracting all of Marseilles' defensive firepower, he was of no use. Kerzhakov was not in good form in this game, and he didn't have any decent chances.

So he decided not to be a meat shield anymore. He wanted to retreat and find opportunities to shoot from long range.

When Zenit attacked, they habitually wanted to play a long pass to find the versatile Chen Hero. At this time, the passing player looked up and realized that Chen Hero was not at the front...

"Zenit's attack is a mess right now!" The French commentator said somewhat happily. "They can only play long pass after long pass, which is of no use at all!"

With Chen Hero not at the front, it was difficult to pass the ball.

The ball was passed from the ground to Arshavin's feet, and he created a throw-in through his breakthrough, which was already the best result.

Marseilles' morale was high, while Zenit's morale was low. Everyone didn't know what to do next.

Advocaat made two substitutions. He replaced Viktor Faizulin with veteran Radimov. He hoped to use the veteran's experience and composure to stabilize the team's morale and prevent everyone from panicking so much.

Then he replaced Dutch player Ricksen with Chen Hero's good roommate Denisov, trying to control the midfield and reverse the passive situation.

But these did not play a decisive role. What played a decisive role was the goal.

They needed a goal.

If Chen Hero didn't stay at the front, how could he score?

He waved to the confused Kerzhakov: "Alexander, help me set up the cannon!"

Kerzhakov was stunned for a moment, then reacted—Chen Hero was going to try a long shot again!

He gave Chen Hero a thumbs up.

Now that they were already three goals behind anyway, he had no choice but to act as Chen Hero's cannon...

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Chen Hero tried a few shots, two of which hit the frame of the goal, but because the angle was too straight, they were saved by goalkeeper Mandanda.

The only gain was that Mandanda's saves were not "easy". He had to shake his hands every time he got up—the power was too great. He didn't dare to catch the ball, so he could only punch it out with both fists, resulting in pain in his wrists.

"Chen Hero is trying to shoot from long range, but his shots are either high above the goal or the angle is too straight to pose a threat to Mandanda's goal!" The French commentator also noticed Chen Hero, the center forward he had previously introduced, who had not had a decent performance in this game so far.

His headers became completely unthreatening after lacking support from the wings, and his long shots... now it seemed that that was all he had.

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"The game has entered the eightieth minute, with only a little more than ten minutes left before the end of the game. The score is still 0:3, with no change at all. Marseilles should have no problem winning this game, and the next round is basically without suspense. Zenit, who are three goals behind, must win 4:0 in their home game to reverse the situation! And they must not let Marseilles score. That's the most difficult thing..." Širgejevskij reluctantly admitted defeat. He was a little disheartened. The result of the game undoubtedly extinguished everyone's hopes.

This score meant the difficulty of the next round, and he knew it.

He guessed that after the game, Advocaat might have to be prepared to withstand the media's verbal attacks. Of course, Chen Hero would also be pushed to the forefront because his performance in today's game was very average. He didn't have any threatening shots, just fighting with the opponent physically.

But this was a soccer game, not a wrestling match.

The French TV commentator was very satisfied with the current situation. He triumphantly announced that Marseilles had already advanced to the top eight. The Marseilles fans in the stands looked happy.

Just then, Zenit once again played a long pass from the backcourt, kicking the ball towards the frontcourt.

"How can such a crude and simple way of playing threaten Mandanda's goal?" The French commentator scoffed, thinking that the Russians were indeed all muscle-headed, and they wanted to break through their goal with such a tactic that had no strategy at all? What wishful thinking!

Chen Hero jumped high, overpowering Loric Cana, and headed the ball back to Kerzhakov.

Kerzhakov did not rush forward with the ball. He paused slightly and pushed the ball to the side.

It looked like he was going to break through from here, but he just took a big touch...

At this moment, Chen Hero rushed up.

Loric Cana was surprised by the big man's unexpected agility and speed, but he didn't let the surprise affect his actions. He turned around and chased after him.

This was not Chen Hero's first long shot in this game, and it was definitely not the best opportunity, because Loric Cana was still chasing closely behind him.

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In the TV, Širgejevskij's voice, which was a little lifeless, was explaining the attack to everyone: "Zenit plays a long pass, Hero heads it back to Kerzhakov, Kerzhakov takes the ball away, it seems a little too far!" Speaking of this, he became anxious and was a little dissatisfied with Kerzhakov's performance—the opportunity to attack was already very precious, and you were wasting it.

But at this moment, he saw Chen Hero rushing into the camera in big strides.

In the bars of Saint Petersburg, the fans would shout "hero" every time Chen Hero shot, and this time was no exception. They roared Chen Hero's name, and they didn't bother to care about the wine spilling from their glasses.

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Loric Cana chased up from the side, intending to destroy the ball before Chen Hero shot, so he simply slid in with a flying tackle.

Chen Hero took a long stride and slightly pushed the ball away, blocking Cana's flying tackle. Cana missed the ball!

Cana reacted quickly. Seeing that he hadn't tackled the ball, he twisted his body on the spot and came up with a scissor kick, trying to knock Chen Hero to the ground.

But how could a bear-like guy be so easily stopped by the enemy?

Chen Hero paused and took Cana's scissor kick head-on!

He could have simply fallen down and earned a free kick. But what was the point of that? There was no one in their team who was a free kick expert, and it wasn't certain that they could score. The current opportunity was the best!

Cana felt that what he had "cut" wasn't a person, but a... steel tower!

Chen Hero didn't move at all, and then pulled his foot out from between his legs and rushed forward to chase the ball.

He was half-lying on the ground, staring blankly at the other person.

He was known as the "Marseilles Killing Machine" and had a fierce style on the field. Almost no one didn't tremble with fear when they saw him.

But today, Chen Hero completely ignored him...

Of course he didn't know, he was a killing machine, that's right, but the other person wasn't human at all...

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After Chen Hero withstood Cana's scissor kick, he took a long stride and caught up with the ball in two steps.

Then he didn't hesitate anymore, and didn't give other Marseilles players a chance to rush up and block him. He directly swung his foot and shot!

Such scenes had appeared several times in this game. At first, everyone was quite excited and shouted loudly. Especially the French commentator, who was startled and screamed as if someone had poked him in the chrysanthemum. Later, everyone calmed down and felt that this guy, besides having a strong shot, didn't have any other special abilities and didn't need to be nervous at all.

So when Chen Hero shot, the French commentator just said: "Chen Hero shoots again from long range—"

Mandanda kept staring at Chen Hero, watching him swing his foot for a long shot, and prepared to save. Judging from the previous saves, this person had a lot of power, but the angle was too straight... Such a ball was the easiest to save.

Just lift his hands, clench them into fists, and then... punch them out hard!

He raised his hand to prepare to hit the ball, but saw a scene completely different from before!

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Chen Hero's long shot didn't pursue the angle, but instead maximized his power. It wasn't because he didn't know how to pursue the angle. The "Heavy Cannon" talent wasn't just for show. He did this just because he wanted to let Marseilles' entire goalkeeper and the entire team see where his heavy cannon was "heavy", leaving them with a lingering and deep impression.

He wanted to scare them and make them afraid to be so rampant in the next round. When he swung his leg, they could only shiver in the penalty area.

He wanted to form a strategic deterrent!

So he brought to bear the full effects of his weighted training in the copy.

A muffled bang! This was not the sound of a soccer ball hitting an advertising board, but the sound of the instep of the foot coming into contact with the soccer ball.

Even those watching the TV broadcast could clearly hear this sound, and it was easy to imagine how powerful this kick was...

So when Mandanda stared at the soccer ball with all his attention, the world in his eyes seemed to have lost frames. In the last moment, Chen Hero had just hit the ball, and in the next moment, the soccer ball had already flown in front of him!

The soccer ball rose slightly and grazed past his face at low altitude!

The air current even blew the hairs on his face. His hands, which he had just raised, didn't seem to be hitting the ball, but rather crossed to protect his face...

With a whoosh, it rang out behind him.

Then he heard a huge uproar from the fans at the scene.

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Širgejevskij, who had been a little lifeless on TV, seemed to have been resurrected on the spot, and roared with passion: "goooooooooooooooooooooL!!!"