Chapter 1 The Alliance Cup

The Alliance Cup's schedule is more packed than the Champions League because there are more teams participating and the competition lasts longer. Since the reform in the 2004-05 season, eighty teams have participated in the group stage alone, which is a huge number that has attracted many second and third-tier league teams. However, this move has not made the Alliance Cup more attractive or competitive. On the contrary, the large number of participating teams and the overly lengthy and compact schedule have caused the event to lose its original luster. For most people, the current Alliance Cup has been completely reduced to a tasteless thing. Even neutral fans rarely pay attention to it.

But for the teams participating in this competition, especially those playing in second and third-tier leagues, the Alliance Cup is their only chance to show their faces on the European stage, so they still value it quite a bit.

After all, it is still a championship. Especially after entering the knockout stage, with the addition of the third-place teams from the Champions League group stage, a situation of many strong teams emerges. Only then does the competition become somewhat interesting. So the Alliance Cup main competition does not actually start from the group stage with eighty teams participating, but from the thirty-two-team knockout stage...

The opening match of the new season of the Russian Super League was on March 14th, with the promoted team Terek Grozny hosting Krylya Sovetov Samara. Zenit's first league game was on the 16th, against last season's runner-up, Spartak Moscow. The media called this Spartak's chance for revenge, but it is doubtful whether they will be able to successfully avenge their loss while playing away...

Before that, Zenit still had to play two Alliance Cup matches. As the St. Petersburg media had predicted, it was Marseille—before the start of the new season, either solve Marseille, or be solved by Marseille.

If they were solved by Marseille, they would be able to concentrate on the league. But this was definitely not the result that Advocaat and his team wanted.

Speaking of Marseille, their advancement process was a bit thrilling. They won 3:0 against Spartak Moscow in their home stadium, clean and neat, and everyone thought there was no suspense for their advancement. Who would have thought that when they returned to their home stadium, Spartak Moscow beat Marseille 2:0, almost tying the aggregate score and dragging the game into overtime...

The Moscow media all felt sorry for Spartak, and at the same time hoped that St. Petersburg could avenge Spartak Moscow. Although the two sides fought fiercely in the domestic league, everyone still had to work together when facing foreign teams.

So St. Petersburg Zenit took on the responsibility of "avenging Spartak Moscow"...

But Advocaat and Chen Hero didn't care whether they had to avenge Spartak Moscow. They won against Marseille not for revenge, but to advance themselves.

In the first leg, they would go to Marseille to challenge their opponents. Playing away first and then at home was considered a more favorable schedule.

Unfortunately, Advocaat and his players didn't think so now...

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"Mamadou Niang!!" A huge cheer rang out at Marseille's Stade Velodrome, and the commentator was emotionally roaring the name of the goal scorer.

On the field, the black player with a name on his back that made Chen Hero laugh a lot before the game, was raising his arms and running wildly to celebrate the goal—this was Marseille's second goal in the game. The second half had just started for two minutes, and Marseille was already leading 2:0.

The player who scored the goal was named Niang, but the name printed on the back of his jersey was "Niang." Just because of this name, Chen Hero pointed at the name and laughed for a long time while waiting to enter the player tunnel, which passed the time.

He didn't know what this person should be called, but he directly called this seemingly burly black striker "Niang."

It was this Niang striker, who was laughed at by Chen Hero, who scored the crucial second goal, which immediately expanded and consolidated Marseille's advantage.

Chen Hero couldn't laugh at all now.

They finally tasted the feeling of being cleanly and neatly scored two goals by the opponent on the road.

At this moment, if Villarreal knew underground, they would definitely be in tears—you guys have this day too!

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Advocaat stared at the field with a serious expression. It was okay to only be one goal behind in the first half. During the halftime break, he asked the team to consolidate their defense, and then try to counterattack, even if they couldn't win, it didn't matter, as long as they didn't continue to lose goals. He could accept losing 0:1 away.

But even so, the opponent still seized the opportunity when the second half of the game had just started for two minutes, and the entire Zenit team was not yet in the game, and their spirits were a little dazed and their attention was not focused enough, and they scored another goal...

It would be difficult to play with two goals behind. Because it is easy to lead to the collapse of morale, and they can't turn it back when they return to the home court. This is not alarmist talk—Villarreal's bones are not yet cold...

He was a little anxious. The current situation is that continuing to defend is not very meaningful. Because even if they lose the game 0:2, and no longer lose goals afterwards, Marseille has already taken full advantage, both on the competition level and on the psychological level.

So Zenit had better find a way to score a goal, score an away goal, and change the opponent's lead from two goals to one goal.

But can you have this goal if you want it?

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Zenit fans felt like they were having a nightmare with their eyes open. In this nightmare, they became losers, they were laughed at to their heart's content, and every cheer from the home team fans at the Stade Velodrome was like a knife in their hearts.

The easy 2:0 victory over Villarreal at home made them very optimistic about the team's future in the Alliance Cup, but who would have thought that this game would turn out like this.

The St. Petersburg reporters who followed the team to report on this game were also discussing in the stands, complaining about the bad situation and results.

"Damn it! Looking at it now, the eight yellow cards and two red cards in the last game against Villarreal have finally shown their power! With Hill not on the field, our left-wing attack can't be launched at all. Relying on Anyukov alone is not enough!"

"Yeah, yeah, without cross from the wing, Hero's characteristics can't be brought into play at all..."

"Marseille is completely crazy... Look at their attack this time, this cooperation, this passing, this shot... It's really great no matter how they play! Alas!" Someone sighed heavily. "I think Zenit is in big trouble this time!"

The Chinese reporters were also a little disappointed. They didn't expect that Zenit, who was so majestic in the previous round, would be beaten back to its original form when facing Marseille this time.

Is it possible that the furthest the Chinese players can go on the Alliance Cup journey is only here?

Apart from Chen Hero, six Chinese players have appeared on the Alliance Cup field one after another—from the earliest Jia Xiuquan and Liu Haiguang, to the later Sun Jihai, Sun Xiang, Shi Jun, and Gao Leilei. But most of these people participated in the Alliance Cup qualifiers. Chen Hero followed the team into the top 16 of the Alliance Cup, which is already the best achievement of Chinese players in this event.

If it had been before, many Chinese reporters would have been satisfied. But after seeing Chen Hero's excellent performance, they were already a little dissatisfied... How great would it be if they could go further!

Many people have such an idea in their hearts.

Hope is beautiful.

But reality is often cruel.

Just seven minutes after Zenit lost its second goal, they lost another goal...

Taking advantage of the fact that Zenit was a little flustered after falling behind by two goals, Marseille scored another goal, Cissé scored twice!

"3:0! Aha! 3:0! The second leg has already lost its suspense!" The French TV commentator shouted triumphantly. "Most of Marseille's body is already in the top eight!"

And Shirgayevsky seemed very frustrated: "This is really a dark day! Zenit is three goals behind on the road, and everything is beyond redemption... I think the second leg of the game has lost its meaning..."

Advocaat also held his head in his hands, looking very frustrated and painful.

Reality is so cruel, telling him how difficult it is to go further.

Perhaps it was the easy victory over Villarreal that made him a little blindly optimistic. Who would have thought that Marseille's strength would be so strong!

"After eliminating Spartak Moscow, Marseille is about to eliminate another Russian team. And very coincidentally, they won a very perfect 3:0 against two Russian teams at home!" The French commentator even brought up history to prove how glorious such a victory was. "What Napoleon failed to accomplish back then, Marseille has accomplished! They have become a veritable Russian nemesis by conquering two Russian teams in a row!"

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Losing three goals in a row, this blow made many Zenit players dumbfounded. When Cissé and his teammates were celebrating the victory—yes, it was a victory, not a goal, they felt that there was no suspense in this game, and even the next game didn't need to be played, just announce that they had advanced to the top eight—Zenit's players either held their heads in their hands with painful expressions, or simply looked at each other blankly, completely unable to accept such a reality.

Chen Hero also couldn't accept it at all, but he didn't have a wooden expression on his face. He was clenching his hands hard, clenching them and then letting go, then clenching them again and letting go. In this way, each time he clenched his knuckles turned white, his veins bulged, and his joints made cracking noises.

He knew very well what it meant to be three goals behind on the road. Returning to the home court, this score would be like a boulder, always weighing on the hearts of every Zenit player, and as time passed, it would become heavier and heavier. By the time they played at home, everyone would be out of breath.

At that time, what normal state would the team be in to play?

Chen Hero didn't know if there was any hope of winning this game, he didn't even know if they could draw. But one thing he was very clear about—if they wanted to keep a glimmer of hope for the team, they had to have at least one away goal!

He is a striker, and he is good at scoring goals.

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ps, Saturday is coming!

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