Chapter 29 The Championship Decider

No matter how much Chen Yingxiong wanted to explode, he couldn't do it right away, because the UEFA Cup group stage was temporarily over, and the league was back!

He could only vent his frustration at not scoring a goal in the UEFA Cup so far into the league.

Fortunately, he had no lack of motivation.

Currently, he had scored twenty-three goals in the league scorer list, only two goals away from the original record of twenty-five.

On October 28th, the Spartak Moscow game and the St. Petersburg game were scheduled on the same day, but the Spartak game started four and a half hours earlier than Zenit.

So before preparing for the game, Zenit's players were watching it on TV.

When the game ended, Zenit's players cheered.

"Great!"

"O yeah!"

"Nice job, Saturn!"

They were cheering, and at the same time, the commentator Sergei Yevski's excited voice came from the TV screen.

"The game is over! A draw! Spartak Moscow got a draw after a dull ninety minutes! 0:0, neither side scored! What does this mean? This means that as long as St. Petersburg Zenit wins in the later game, they can extend their lead to four points! When there are two rounds left in the league, four points means they are likely to lift the league championship trophy one round in advance!"

"St. Petersburg's first league title in the Russian era is right in front of us!"

Sergei Yevski was very excited. As a commentator from St. Petersburg, he naturally supported his hometown team.

"The Premier League championship has always been monopolized by Moscow teams. Now is the time for a change of dynasty!"

"The next game is up to you, Zenit lads! Victory belongs to the blue, white and blue! Victory belongs to St. Petersburg!"

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Zenit did not disappoint this passionate commentator, nor did they disappoint the St. Petersburg fans who were waiting for the game results on TV.

Away from home, St. Petersburg Zenit defeated Spartak Nalchik 3:0. Chen Yingxiong scored a goal in the game, extending his goal count to twenty-four this season, only one step away from the original record of twenty-five goals.

At this time, there were two rounds left in the league. The difference between Chen Yingxiong and Pavlyuchenko was three goals. It wasn't that Pavlyuchenko had no chance to overtake Chen Yingxiong and win the league's top scorer. But the probability of Chen Yingxiong not scoring a goal in the next two rounds was too small. As long as Chen Yingxiong scored a goal, Pavlyuchenko's hope would be slim.

It could even be said that Pavlyuchenko had already lost in this battle for the top scorer.

Some St. Petersburg media couldn't wait to announce that the league's top scorer belonged to Chen Yingxiong.

"There is no suspense, Chen Yingxiong will definitely win the top scorer this season! The only suspense now is whether he can break Veredennikov's twenty-five goal record!"

After the game, Chen Yingxiong was surrounded by the media.

Everyone wanted to hear his thoughts on scoring twenty-four goals.

Chen Yingxiong had now left Pavlyuchenko behind, but he was not satisfied.

"It's not over yet. There are still two rounds left in the league. I'll score as many as I can!"

He pointed to the camera lens, as arrogant and flamboyant as ever.

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Pavlyuchenko had been feeling depressed lately. He originally thought that he had become the first person in the 21st century to score more than twenty goals in a single season in the Russian Premier League, which would allow him to win the league's top scorer, but he didn't expect it to be like poking a hornet's nest. Chen Yingxiong was scoring goals like crazy. Scoring one wasn't enough, he wanted to score more—he had already scored twenty-four, how many more did he want to score? Break the Russian Premier League scorer record of twenty-five goals?

He didn't think having a strong opponent was a good thing at all now.

Those who hope to have a strong opponent always win in the end. But whether he can win in the end is a big problem now. This strong enemy is not a background to set him off as stronger, but a real enemy who may surpass him and become the protagonist...

His teammates could tell that Pavlyuchenko was not in a good mood, and they also knew why he was not in a good mood.

Now the team's hope of winning the league championship was getting slimmer and slimmer. If he couldn't even get the league's top scorer, this season would really be a waste of effort.

So in the last two rounds of the league, in addition to trying to win every game and continue to catch up with Zenit, they also had to try to help Pavlyuchenko win the top scorer.

At present, it seems that neither of these two goals is easy to achieve.

"Hey, Roman, don't worry! We will all help you!" The person who spoke was Pavlyuchenko's friend in the team, the Brazilian defensive midfielder Mozart.

"Don't be polite, Roman! You are the best!"

"Yes, we will all support you!"

"To be honest, I don't like that hero at all... He's too arrogant. How many seasons has he been in professional league? He's already so arrogant. I don't know where he gets his confidence..."

"In order not to let such an arrogant person get the league's top scorer, we will all help you, Roman!"

His teammates also echoed.

Pavlyuchenko returned a smile.

"Thank you."

He was grateful for his teammates' help, although he didn't know if it would be useful.

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At the same time, in the Zenit team, Chen Yingxiong also received blessings from his teammates.

"Twenty-four goals, Hero! Only one goal away! Only one goal away and you'll tie Veredennikov's record!"

Denisov shouted exaggeratedly.

"Although I admire Veredennikov very much, I'm also very happy to see his record become history in your hands." Kerzhakov patted Chen Yingxiong.

"The league championship is ours, and the league's top scorer is also ours!"

Chen Yingxiong grinned and smiled happily: "Don't worry! I'll definitely break the record!"

※※※

There were still the last two rounds left in the league. The fate of the league championship would be decided in this twenty-ninth round. As long as Zenit could continue to win, then no matter what Spartak Moscow achieved, Zenit would win the championship one round in advance. After all, they were now leading Spartak by three points, and they also had an advantage in goal difference. Even if Zenit lost the last round and Spartak won, the two sides would be tied on points. In terms of goal difference, Spartak would not have an advantage.

Unless Zenit had a two-game losing streak, or a draw and a loss, in the remaining two rounds of the league, while Spartak Moscow had two consecutive wins, they would have a chance to reverse the situation and win the championship.

But the probability of this was too small. Zenit was in such a good state now, the probability of losing a game was very small, let alone losing two games.

The league championship was about to be decided, but the battle for the league's top scorer still had enough suspense. Currently, Chen Yingxiong was leading Pavlyuchenko by three goals. But before this game, the players of Spartak Moscow all said in interviews that they would do their best to support Pavlyuchenko and Chen Yingxiong in scoring goals. Spartak's coach Stanislav Cherchesov also expressed his support for Pavlyuchenko—now the entire Spartak team knew that in the situation where the hope of winning the league championship was slim, the only thing they could do was to push Pavlyuchenko to the top of the league's scorer list. Only in this way would they not lose too badly—we can't compete with you for collective honors, but individual honors must be ours!

With the entire team supporting Pavlyuchenko, the battle for the top scorer would naturally be interesting.

※※※

Time came to November 3rd, the twenty-ninth round of the league, the moment to decide the team's fate.

From this round of the league, the kickoff time of all teams was unified, in order to prevent some bad situations from happening.

St. Petersburg Zenit and Spartak Moscow, these two teams competing for the league championship, were both at home.

If Zenit won, the home stadium would immediately turn into an ocean of joy.

In fact, Zenit's fans were already prepared to celebrate the league championship at this game.

"We are ready to celebrate this historic moment!"

"We have waited too long!"

"The championship belongs to the blue, white and blue! The championship belongs to Zenit!"

The game hadn't even started yet, and the Zenit fans in the stands were already shouting slogans, creating a very strong and enthusiastic home atmosphere.

"Listen to the shouts in the stands, I bet that in this atmosphere, the lads of St. Petersburg Zenit will do their best!"

The commentator Sergei Yevski started his work early. This game was highly anticipated, and he, the commentator, couldn't slack off.

At the same time, in the St. Petersburg Zenit dressing room.

"This is a very important game, lads." Advocaat was giving everyone the final pre-war mobilization. "You should know better than me what the league championship means to St. Petersburg Zenit, and what it means to the city of St. Petersburg."

"How long has it been since we last won the league championship? 1984! That's really... a distant memory. Some of you probably weren't even born at that time. Now you have the opportunity to recreate such a distant glory!"

"As long as we win this game, we don't have to consider how our opponents are doing, we don't have to be distracted. As long as we win, we are the league champions!"

"Guys! What have we been working hard for all season?!" Arshavin took the lead and shouted.

"Champion!"

"Champion! Of course, it's the champion!"

"We want to be the league champions!!"

The players responded to him with passionate roars. Many people even stood up from their seats, looked around at their teammates in the locker room, clenched their fists, and looked particularly excited.

"I want to win the championship!!" Chen Yingxiong shouted especially loudly.

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ps, there are only four hours left for the double monthly ticket, please give everyone the final fire support!

Chen Yingxiong can shout: "I want to win the championship!"

I also want to shout: "I want monthly tickets!"

Use crazy monthly tickets to decorate the coronation ceremony of the new champion!