Chapter 1 Chen Yingxiong's Slump

Chen Yingxiong trained hard in the dungeon, waiting for the moment to level up.

But before that, he felt like his good luck had suddenly deserted him.

He found it strange that his luck curve always seemed to plummet sharply after a period of smooth sailing. He had experienced something similar last season. But at least there was a reason then—his style was too one-dimensional, making him easy to mark, which prevented him from scoring.

But what about this time? He had two weapons in his arsenal: headers and long shots. And his other abilities were steadily improving. Yet, he suddenly couldn't find the feeling of scoring.

On July 21st, Zenit St. Petersburg faced Spartak Moscow away from home in a clash between the top two teams in the league.

This was supposed to be an earth-shattering match. In particular, the contest between two powerful center forwards had many people excited. Everyone remembered the match between the two sides in the first half of the season. At that time, Chen Yingxiong and Pavlyuchenko seemed to have taken some kind of stimulant, scoring one goal after another. If you dared to score one, I would immediately respond in kind. You scored one, I scored one, and in the end, each scored two, resulting in a draw for both sides and a tie for the teams.

But in today's match, Chen Yingxiong's misfiring robbed the game of its biggest highlight… Everyone still wanted to see the duel between Chen Yingxiong and Pavlyuchenko.

Pavlyuchenko also felt a sense of camaraderie with this center forward who went all out to score goals against him in the game. When asked before the game about Chen Yingxiong not scoring in the last two league games, he said that it was normal. Any striker could suddenly stop scoring and then suddenly explode with a series of goals. So there was nothing to be surprised about.

He was sticking up for Chen Yingxiong, even though they were rivals in the scoring charts. Currently, Chen Yingxiong was temporarily at the top of the scorer list with fourteen goals, while Pavlyuchenko seized the opportunity of Chen Yingxiong's two-game scoring drought to narrow the gap between him and Chen Yingxiong. Now he had scored eleven goals, only three goals behind Chen Yingxiong.

As a result, Chen Yingxiong did not score in this game and was substituted off in the eighty-fifth minute.

Pavlyuchenko, on the other hand, scored twice. In the twenty-eighth minute, he helped his team break the deadlock with a close-range shot. In the sixty-first minute, he scored his thirteenth goal of the season from a penalty.

When he scored, commentator Petrov shouted, "Thirteenth! Thirteenth! Pavlyuchenko did it! He has further narrowed the gap between himself and Yingxiong! Now they are only one goal apart! Everyone previously thought that Chen Yingxiong would definitely be the top scorer this season, without any suspense… But now… The suspense is back! With only one goal difference, it is still very difficult to say who will win the final league top scorer award. I think we will have more good shows to watch in the second half of the season!"

Watching Pavlyuchenko score his thirteenth goal, Chen Yingxiong gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

Of course, he was unwilling to be overtaken by the other party little by little. But the more he wanted to score, the less he could, which seemed to become a vicious cycle.

Until the eighty-fifth minute, when he was substituted, he was unable to score. When he left the field, he heard boos from the Spartak Moscow fans—they had no good feelings for this arrogant kid who was competing with their team's center forward Pavlyuchenko for the league's top scorer.

In the end, Zenit St. Petersburg lost to Spartak Moscow 1:3 away from home. Arshavin helped the team equalize in the forty-fifth minute.

But in the fifty-ninth minute, goalkeeper Kontrfalski's failed attack gave Spartak Moscow a penalty opportunity, and he was also sent off with a red card, putting Zenit at a disadvantage in terms of numbers.

With one less player and Chen Yingxiong unable to function normally… Zenit was in big trouble.

Pavlyuchenko's second goal of the game helped the team regain the lead.

In the eighty-third minute, Nikita Bazhenov added the icing on the cake, completely sealing the victory.

Zenit St. Petersburg finally suffered their first league defeat, and their points were also overtaken by Spartak, dropping them from the top of the league.

The giant bear on Chen Yingxiong's back had been eager to try for a long time, but never had the opportunity to be released to roar through the mountains and forests.

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The media could finally confirm one thing, and that was—Chen Yingxiong was indeed in a "terrible" goal drought!

Not scoring for three consecutive games, and especially not scoring in such an important game against Spartak, could not be described as a minor accident. Because this defeat led to Zenit giving up the top spot in the league.

This was not supposed to be a defeat, at least not in Advocaat's plans.

He originally wanted to take away a point; a draw would have been better than a defeat.

After the game, many media outlets quickly found two scapegoats: one was goalkeeper Kontrfalski, who made an unnecessary attack when the team was tied 1:1, resulting in a penalty for the opponent and being sent off with a red card. The other was Chen Yingxiong, who had been unable to score for a long time.

If the criticisms in the first two games were just sporadic raindrops, now they were like a storm attacking Chen Yingxiong.

After the game, Chen Yingxiong did not even accept interviews, but this did not prevent the media from criticizing him.

"...Becoming famous quickly at a young age has caused Chen Yingxiong, a child of only nineteen years old, to get lost in the world of fame and fortune! He seems to have lost his way!"

"Frequent visits to nightclubs, scandals with Sharapova, appearing in advertisements… After tasting the wonderful taste of fame, this Chen Yingxiong also has to face the various pains brought to him by fame…"

"...Too many players have quickly fallen after becoming famous at a young age, because they cannot control their hearts, and they always easily surrender to fame and fortune… Will Yingxiong become the next player to quickly fall after becoming famous at a young age? Judging from the current situation… Danger!"

Chen Yingxiong's situation naturally also affected another person's heart, and that person was the team's coach, Advocaat.

He didn't know what was wrong with Chen Yingxiong, but not scoring for three consecutive games should indeed be a good reflection on where the problem lies.

After training, he kept Chen Yingxiong behind.

He wanted to talk to Chen Yingxiong alone. They seemed to have not talked alone for a long time. Advocaat thought to himself that this would not be a manifestation of Chen Yingxiong becoming complacent after becoming famous at a young age, right? He used to come to him often for his own purposes, but since the start of the new season, this had not happened once.

"I've noticed some comments about you in the media recently, Yingxiong…" Advocaat was carefully considering his words, careful not to anger this unruly player.

Having to deal with a young player so carefully made Advocaat constantly mock himself in his heart.

Here it comes!

Chen Yingxiong was shocked.

Chen Yingxiong was not sure what the coach meant by saying this, so he did not speak and pretended to be stupid.

Seeing that Chen Yingxiong did not respond, Advocaat had to continue on his own.

"Well, I know that you have been very successful for a while, and it is inevitable that you will have some ideas… However, professional football is very cruel, and I believe you have also seen how these media treated you before and how they treat you now. So… I admit that the UEFA Cup is the team's main goal this season and next season, but the domestic league cannot be given up either…"

Chen Yingxiong realized that Advocaat was worried that he would become complacent and arrogant after gaining some fame, as the media said, and lose interest in the domestic league, focusing only on the UEFA Cup.

He quickly interjected, "Well, coach… I am not like what those reporters said. I am not arrogant, and I am not conceited and underestimate the enemy. I am also worried about not scoring for consecutive games. There are definitely none of the situations you mentioned, and besides…" He paused. "I will definitely not lose interest in the league, because…" He clenched his fists. "I said I want to be the top scorer!"

The league's top scorer, which was originally guaranteed, was actually chased by Pavlyuchenko to only one goal behind. This was a fact that Chen Yingxiong could not accept. He was now determined to widen the gap again. How could he underestimate the league?

Advocaat also felt that Chen Yingxiong made sense. He should not be like what the media said. He was still a very competitive person. Now that the league's top scorer was about to be snatched away by Pavlyuchenko, how could he underestimate the domestic league?

However, Chen Yingxiong's mentality was indeed not right now.

Advocaat nodded, expressing his agreement with Chen Yingxiong's statement.

"But you are too anxious now. As a forward, especially a center forward who often moves in the penalty area, even the small penalty area, you are too impetuous."

Chen Yingxiong also knew that he was anxious, but there was nothing he could do. The thought of the shrinking advantage on the scorer list, and the cool tattoo that no one could see, made him anxious.

Because Advocaat was right, he lowered his head and said nothing.

"Relax a little bit, don't always think about competing with others for goals, first consider how to create opportunities for your teammates. In fact, your performance in the game against Moscow FC was very good. Although you hadn't scored in the previous two games, I didn't see you being anxious. You were creating opportunities for your teammates and enjoying the game. Why not continue like this? Enjoy the football game first, and goals will naturally come."

Advocaat had put a lot of effort into Chen Yingxiong, combining kindness and strictness, stating facts and reasoning, hoping that Chen Yingxiong could adjust his mentality. If it were an ordinary player, he might have directly thrown him into the reserve team to reflect on himself.

Chen Yingxiong also knew his current situation. He could ignore the media's criticism, but he couldn't ignore the coach's words…

He nodded: "I know what to do, sir."

Advocaat glanced at him: "I hope you really know what you should do, Yingxiong."

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