Chapter 26 He's Still Not Satisfied

Everyone thought Chen Yingxiong had completed his objective and should stop.

Even the Saturn players thought so, but Chen Yingxiong didn't think that way.

He was still constantly pursuing goals, always full of fighting spirit.

This made Saturn's defenders feel anger and...fear.

Such a forward who wouldn't let them go after completing his goal, wanting to wipe them all out, was indeed quite terrifying...

That's what Chen Yingxiong thought.

He was only leading the record by one goal, what was the point of that? People could say he was lucky to lead by one goal, he had to try his best to make it impossible for future generations to question this achievement, so he had to score more goals.

Like Yelena Isinbayeva, who challenged the world record one centimeter at a time, he wouldn't do that. Because he knew he wouldn't have another chance to break this record.

"Hero! Header! Dangerous! Almost went in..."

"Chen Yingxiong still looks full of fighting spirit, he is not satisfied with just one goal! He wants to score! Keep scoring!"

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Pavlyuchenko didn't know that Chen Yingxiong had broken the record, and he didn't care about it. He just wanted to score goals, more goals. He was no longer competing with that Chen Yingxiong, but with himself—this would be his season with the most goals in the Russian Premier League.

But unfortunately, all his luck seemed to have disappeared with the first goal. In the seventy-first minute, he got a good chance, a one-on-one!

But the football he shot was blocked by the goalkeeper, and then his teammate, Brazilian striker Welliton, seized the opportunity and followed up with a shot! Scored!

Spartak Moscow led Dynamo 2:0 at home, but Pavlyuchenko seemed a little absent-minded during the celebration.

It wasn't his goal, there was nothing to be happy about.

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In the eighty-third minute, Chen Yingxiong got his wish, and he scored his second goal of the game with his best header, which was also a perfect end to his crazy goal-scoring season.

However, the commentator was obviously more excited than he was after scoring.

"Twenty-seventh! Twenty-seventh! He surpassed the original record by two goals! Amazing achievement! And I must remind everyone of a fact—this is only Chen Yingxiong's first full season in his career! He joined midway last season, played eleven times, and scored ten goals! Now he has greatly improved the single-season goal record... It's incredible... This is only his second professional season, what will his future be like? It's really exciting!"

After scoring, Chen Yingxiong continued to lift his jersey to show the words on his vest. Before the season, when Russian National Television was filming a promotional video for the new season, he was mercilessly laughed at by many people when he told the camera that he was going to be the season's top scorer. Even his later sentence "Create an era that belongs to me" was cut off.

He was indignant about this, and now he finally retaliated in his own way.

Let you look down on me! Let you laugh at me! Don't bully a young man for being poor, and don't laugh at a young man for being crazy!

When Advocaat saw Chen Yingxiong head his twenty-seventh goal of the season into the goal, he couldn't help but hold his head in his hands—this kid was really amazing!

He not only created a new record, but also scored two more goals than the original record... He even thought that if this kid hadn't had a goal drought in the middle of the season, and had just played normally, would he have broken thirty goals in a single season?

Although the Russian league is not a particularly strong league, it is still amazing to score more than thirty goals in such a league!

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Chen Yingxiong, who had scored two goals, still didn't give up the chance to continue scoring. He ran back and forth tirelessly in the frontcourt, looking more like a free man in the frontcourt than a center forward standing in the penalty area.

Such a performance amazed the commentators.

"Does he still want to score? God... how many goals does he have to score to be satisfied?" Sergeyevski was obviously not familiar enough with Chen Yingxiong. For him, there was no such thing as scoring enough goals to be satisfied. He was insatiable, he was like a wolf and a tiger.

He would score as many as he could!

Unfortunately, after scoring twice, he seemed to have used up all his luck. Before the end of the game, he had a chance to stage a hat-trick, but the football he shot grazed the post and flew out, missing the goal.

"Oh! What a pity! Just a little bit!" Sergeyevski was as regretful as Chen Yingxiong, holding his head in his hands.

"But it doesn't matter, you have performed well enough, Hero! This season belongs to you! Just like you said before the season, you are creating an era that belongs to you! I hope you can go further and further on this road!"

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Sharapova was bored in the lounge, waiting. Her opponent, Henin, was in another dressing room. They couldn't meet before the final.

At this time, Sharapova would usually choose to listen to music to relax. But today she seemed restless. She stopped listening to the music after a while, and she always felt that the music that used to be very pleasant was a bit unromantic and noisy today.

But she couldn't keep sitting in the lounge, she had to go out and warm up.

She was a little reluctant, but the final was always the most important thing.

Just as she got up to leave, the phone she had been holding rang.

Sharapova quickly grabbed it and saw the caller ID flashing on the screen: "Man."

She answered the phone, "How is it?"

"Twenty-seven goals, I broke the record, haha!" Chen Yingxiong's laughter came.

In addition to his voice, there were cheers and noises from other people. Sharapova knew that the call was being made from the locker room after the game. Looking at the time, it was about right, they had just finished the game.

"Yeah! Congratulations!"

Sharapova also seemed very happy.

"It's your turn next," Chen Yingxiong said.

"Don't worry, Henin isn't a cat," Sharapova said confidently.

The emotions that had been bothering her before disappeared without a trace, and her anxious heart suddenly calmed down.

Suddenly there was a scream over there: "Maria—I want an autograph—"

Chen Yingxiong's voice then sounded: "You scared me to death, commander!" (Tuan Zhang)

"Ah ha ha ha!"

Everyone laughed.

Sharapova could even imagine what the locker room of Zenit St. Petersburg was like at this time. A group of big men, maybe they were naked with strong muscles on their upper bodies, cheering and celebrating.

She was also infected by this happy atmosphere, and her heart was full of peace and strength.

"I should go out and warm up," she said to Chen Yingxiong.

"Go, go... damn! What are you pouring on me?"

"Champagne to commemorate the birth of the new record! Haha!"

"The league is over! Let's celebrate wildly, guys!"

…

After a burst of chaotic sounds, the phone was hung up.

Sharapova picked up her tennis racket, put down her phone, and walked out of the locker room.

※※※

This was an unusually difficult war.

When Henin's return went out of bounds, Sharapova threw away her tennis racket, knelt down, and couldn't shout out a word of excitement. Her eyes were already filled with tears.

There was a burst of warm applause and cheers in the Madrid indoor stadium, as well as the excited whistles of fans.

These sounds were all for the beautiful girl kneeling on the ground, covering her face and crying.

Only she herself knew what kind of year she had experienced, and only she knew how she had come through it.

"Maria Sharapova won the 2007 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championship, congratulations, Maria! You deserve this championship!" The commentator's voice sounded on the live broadcast.

Before the game, countless people questioned her, ridiculed her, and felt that she would never return to the peak of her career. From then on, she would be reduced to a figure like Kournikova, and could only gain a place in women's tennis with her appearance.

But now, those who questioned and criticized her were silent, only warm applause, applause to pay tribute to the champion!

The two sides fought hard for three hours and twenty-four minutes, chasing each other in a very exciting match.

In the deciding set of the third set, Sharapova's body also had problems, and she had to receive an emergency examination and treatment from the doctor on the sidelines.

Her shoulder injury started to act up again, stubbornly reminding Sharapova of its existence with every swing.

When she felt the pain in her shoulder again, Sharapova really thought her year-end finals were over.

She seemed very frustrated while receiving treatment from the doctor on the sidelines.

But at this moment, she thought of what Chen Yingxiong had once said to her.

"If life bullies you... fuck it, you bully it back!"

She gritted her teeth, put a pain-relieving plaster on her shoulder, and went back into battle. She raised her head to challenge the injury, never giving in, never surrendering, never giving up, fighting to the last moment.

In the end, she won this marathon-like final victory.

She ended Henin's twenty-four-game winning streak and won her only championship of the 2007 season.

But more important than the championship, she gained unparalleled confidence.

At the award ceremony, Sharapova cried and said to the fans in the audience and the fans in front of the TV: "This year has been too difficult for me. Because I have been cycling between recovering from injuries and getting injured most of the time. Just two weeks ago, I still didn't know what my fate would be... But now I won't have any doubts about myself!"

Like any champion, she was full of confidence and pride in herself.

"To be able to win this championship, I want to especially thank someone... If it weren't for his encouragement, I don't think I would have had the courage to stand on this final stage..."

When Sharapova said this, she made a decision in her heart.

Her father, Sharapov, looked at his daughter with a smile. He thought that the "he" his daughter was talking about was not himself, but should be the coach.

But Sharapova's next words made the smile on his face freeze.

"I know he can't hear it, but I still want to thank him. He infected me and encouraged me with his unique charm. You raise me up, let me surpass myself! Thank you!"

She almost said the name, but in the end she held back and just silently recited it in her heart.

Thank you, Hero...