Chapter 1 The Beginning

Zhang Jun fell in the penalty area, and the referee gave Volendam a direct free kick from twenty-three meters. Such kicks were usually taken by Zhang Jun, and this time he naturally stood up to take the penalty. But Breda's goalkeeper immediately became nervous, and he shouted loudly to increase the number of people in the wall.

But Van Persie ran over, directly took the ball from Zhang Jun, and indicated that he wanted to take the penalty, which angered everyone.

"Kid! Zhang is the team's number one free-kick scorer, what do you want to do!" Hevel took the lead. The first time Zhang Jun took the ball from him to take a free kick, he had no complaints because he trusted Zhang Jun. But Van Persie's previous performance did not give him any trust.

"That's because you guys are too bad," Van Persie said coldly. After running for eighty minutes, he was still as cold as a ten-thousand-year-old iceberg, and the breath he exhaled was enough to freeze people to death.

"You..." Sure enough, someone fell for it.

"We're still behind, and you've wasted so many chances! Do you want to keep wasting them? Would you be happy to see us get eliminated?" Hena roared.

"Exactly, save your energy for the league and the UEFA Cup."

"Stop arguing!" Zhang Jun spoke. "Let him kick, it doesn't matter, it's the same who kicks. There's not much time left, don't waste it on meaningless arguments." Then he said to Van Persie, "You kick it, but if you don't score, don't rush to kick it in the future."

"What if I score?" Van Persie said provocatively.

"Then you're Volendam's number one free-kick taker," Zhang Jun replied decisively, then he ran towards the penalty area, ignoring the crowd behind him.

Zhang Jun didn't take the free kick, but went to the penalty area, and the goalkeeper immediately asked to remove one person to mark Zhang Jun.

The referee blew his whistle, Van Persie took a run-up, swung his foot, but the ball hit the wall and bounced out of bounds.

"You f***..." Hena was about to rush towards Van Persie, he had to strangle that kid with his own hands. But he heard a series of rapid whistles, the referee rushed up and ran towards the opposing wall, showing one of them a yellow card!

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The wall rushed forward in advance, the free kick was retaken!

Van Persie put the ball back on the penalty spot, then took a few steps back and looked up at the night sky. What was it for that he left his father, Schura, and Sterger alone from Rotterdam to Volendam? Just to start a new round of disputes?

Feyenoord's football was not the football he wanted, so what was the football he wanted? Endless quarrels with the coach? Endless quarrels with the players? Endless quarrels with the fans?

The referee blew his whistle, he looked down at the penalty area, the orange figure was very conspicuous, like a lighthouse on the sea...

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Van Persie took a run-up and swung his leg for the second time! A powerful shot! The ball flew towards the chaotic penalty area!

When Zhang Jun saw the ball flying towards him, he realized something. He straightened his waist, and the ball went through the gap between him and the defender!

The goalkeeper was completely confused by the chaos in the penalty area. By the time he realized that the ball had flown straight in front of the goal through the crowded penalty area, it was too late to react. The ball landed in front of the goal line and bounced into the goal. The ball went in! The ball flew into Breda's goal for the second time!

Everyone was surprised, including the Volendam players. A powerful shot, the ball went into the goal through the crowd, was it too much luck, or was it too much skill?

But Zhang Jun had already screamed and pounced on Van Persie, pushing him to the ground and roaring at him, "From now on, you're the number one free-kick taker!"

The score was tied within ten minutes! Volendam fought tenaciously in Breda's home stadium, and they saw the light again!

Van Persie got up from the ground, and his crazy teammates had already dispersed. He rubbed the back of his head, which he had hit when Zhang Jun pushed him to the ground just now. Damn it, was he deliberately retaliating? With so much force!

There were still eight minutes left in the game, and now the two sides were tied, but for Robin Van Persie, who came to Volendam from Rotterdam, victory was what he wanted.

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"Zhang Jun is dribbling the ball along the right wing! The game has been going on for 90 minutes, and now it's stoppage time, but his speed has not been affected at all! The distance he carries the ball is well maintained with his own speed, so it is not easy to interrupt his high-speed dribbling!"

Zhang Jun poked the ball forward, and the side defender wanted to take this opportunity to step forward and separate Zhang Jun and the ball. But his intention was too obvious. As soon as Zhang Jun saw the opponent moving sideways, he braked suddenly. The opponent lost something to rely on, lost his center of gravity, and fell out of bounds under the drive of inertia!

The home team fans exclaimed, and Zhang Jun started again in this exclamation, chasing the ball! He looked up at the penalty area, Hena was there, Hevel was there, and Van Persie was also there.

"Zhang Jun breaks through! He crosses!"

Hena fought for the ball at the front point, but he didn't head the ball, and the defender who defended him didn't head the ball either. The ball quickly slid past the front point, the middle point!

Hevel made a diving header, but it was still a step late! Zhang Jun's cross was very fast, and he was faked out at the front point, so he followed up slowly.

Van Persie appeared at the back point, he swung his right leg and volleyed sideways!

The right foot was not Van Persie's dominant foot, so this shot was a bit high, but it still flew in over the head of the panicked goalkeeper, and then slammed into the net above.

"The ball is in! Van Persie! Damn it! Volendam actually reversed the score in stoppage time, Breda's efforts were in vain!"

Van Persie saw the ball hit the net, and then jumped up from the ground, he wanted to do something to express his excitement. But before he could figure it out, he was pounced on. This time it wasn't Zhang Jun, he didn't make it from the far end, this time it was Hevel who got up and saw the ball go in.

Then it was Hena, he pressed down, pressing the two under him, and then it was Zhang Jun, Kozer, Salden, Louis Link, Holvegin... and finally the referee, of course he didn't come to play acrobatics, he came to dismantle the acrobatics. "Get up! The game is not over yet, if you don't get up, I'll give you a warning!"

Van Persie rubbed his sore neck and complained, "Really! Is this how you treat the person who scores the goal? You'll crush people to death!"

Zhang Jun laughed on the side, "This is Volendam's tradition, haha! Besides, who told you to act so cocky before? Everyone naturally wants to take this opportunity to retaliate."

Van Persie turned his head to look at Zhang Jun, who had a smile on his face.

Zhang Jun looked up at the big screen, "There's one minute left, it's really a beautiful victory." He also turned to look at Van Persie, "Isn't it?"

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Yes, it was a beautiful victory. Volendam scored three goals in the last twenty minutes, completing an incredible comeback and advancing to the quarter-finals. And Van Persie, who scored two goals and assisted one goal, naturally became the focus of people's discussion. His sluggishness in the first seventy minutes and his explosion in the last twenty minutes made many people feel incomprehensible. Before the game, there were rumors that Van Persie's relationship with his teammates was tense, and from the scene, it did confirm the rumors. With these preludes, his performance at the last moment was indeed a bit unexpected.

What kind of magic made the "bad boy" suddenly change? !

《Robin Uses Two Goals to Demonstrate to Rotterdam!》《Adrianse is More Clever》《Is Van Marwijk Regretting It?》…

Kozer laughed and threw the newspaper aside, then said to Zhang Jun, "Newspapers always like to speculate, they actually said that Robin's amazing performance was to retaliate against Van Marwijk, haha!"

"Newspapers sometimes guess right." A cold voice sounded at the entrance of the yard, scaring Kozer.

Zhang Jun stood up, "Hehe, it's Robin, is there anything?"

"I want to borrow some CDs from you, I heard Seth say you have a lot." Robin looked at a tree on the left side of the yard, as if the tree was one of Zhang Jun and Kozer.

"Then come in, I'll take them all out, you can choose whatever you want." Zhang Jun went back to the house and took out a large box, he put the box on the grass, and then dragged a chair over, "It's all here, you choose."

Van Persie was not polite, sat on the chair, and bent over to flip through it.

"Many are Chinese."

"Yes, I'm Chinese, so I naturally listen to Chinese."

"Huh? Do you have Nirvana?" Van Persie said, holding a CD, slightly surprised. "You actually like this kind of music?"

"Hehe, I listen to it sometimes, there are still some that are very good." Zhang Jun smiled.

Van Persie looked at Zhang Jun, as if studying something, and finally he put the CD aside, "I'll take this, you should listen to it less, with your personality... Kurt Cobain's music is for people like me to listen to."

He flipped through it a few more times, then stood up, took Nirvana's CD and said goodbye, "Let's listen to this first, you really have a lot of CDs, I'll come back to flip through them when I have time."

Zhang Jun stopped Van Persie when he walked to the entrance of the yard, "Robin, what did you come to Volendam for?"

Van Persie turned his head and saw Zhang Jun pointing at the newspapers, the big headlines were very eye-catching: Prove Yourself to the Netherlands.

"To play football!" The answer was as simple as possible, and then he turned and walked towards his house. He didn't say anything, but he said everything, this answer.

"Why would he say such a thing?" Kozer asked, looking at his back.

"What?"

"About the music. Kurt Cobain's music is for people like him to listen to."

"Nirvana's lead singer, an iconic figure in American rock music, the musical genius Kurt Cobain, was a child from a single-parent family, and in the end, he became addicted to drugs and ended his young life with a pistol."

"Suicide?" Kozer was a little surprised, "Then Robin he..."

"Hehe, don't think too much. He came here to play football, that's what he said himself." Zhang Jun laughed. He stretched, the afternoon sun was warm on his body, extremely comfortable.

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Van Persie put the CD into the stereo, and then lay on the bed quietly waiting for the music to start.

We are all from single-parent families. He looked at Kurt Cobain on the CD cover, football is my drug, they don't let me play football, they are forcing me to commit suicide. But I'm not that easy to die!

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"In the first round of the league after the winter break, although Volendam lost to Bida away, Van Persie still performed well, with one assist and one goal to save the team's face."

"Van Marwijk must have a stomachache. In the nineteenth round of the league, Volendam finally ushered in their first victory after two consecutive losses! It was Van Persie's forced breakthrough that led to the opponent's foul in the penalty area. Zhang Jun took the penalty and scored his nineteenth goal in the league. Helping the team take all three points away!"

Van Persie's photo was on the front page, but not because he had another fight with the fans, or had an "irreconcilable" conflict with the club, but because his continuous excellent performance made him a darling of the media and was accepted by Volendam fans.

"I've also become a positive character," Van Persie put the newspaper on the table, then put on his sunglasses and went out to attend the afternoon training.

The newspaper lay quietly on the table, with a very eye-catching photo, Robin Van Persie pointing at the camera, with the caption: "This is the football I want!"

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These days, there are more and more reporters outside the Volendam training base, and the biggest focus of their attention is Zhang Jun, the current top scorer in the Dutch Super League. He has scored nineteen goals in the league, leading the second-place Kezman by four goals. He is also the top scorer in the Dutch Cup with eight goals. At the same time, he also has a record that before the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup this season, Zhang Jun, a Chinese, has scored in every round of the UEFA Cup. Six golden goals have allowed Volendam to historically enter the top 16 of the UEFA Cup.

At the beginning, the Chinese media vigorously promoted and reported Zhang Jun's goals in the UEFA Cup. But later, Zhang Jun's repeated goals made his compatriots used to it. "He was born to score goals." Some reporters even sighed like this.

And Zhang Jun has gradually been recognized by Europe with his goals in the UEFA Cup. Many people know that there is now a Chinese player who is writing Volendam's myth in the small Dutch club Volendam, and also writing his own myth. Many European clubs have asked the Volendam club about Zhang Jun's worth. Although Hoeness announced that Zhang Jun is "not for sale" to appease the fans, he has never stopped contacting those clubs in private. Zhang Jun's worth has soared, from 1.5 million euros when he transferred to Brescia in the summer to 15 million euros, a full ten times! In just half a season, Zhang Jun has created the highest value for Chinese players, a real oriental myth!

Take this opportunity to sell for a good price. I'm afraid that's what any sane businessman would plan, right? Hoeness is a businessman, so he is no exception.

But for now, what excites the reporters is not Zhang Jun's worth, nor his whereabouts after the season, but his opponent in the UEFA Cup. French club Marseille, a club that was once incomparably brilliant, and the team's number one shooter Didier Drogba. As the best scorer in the Champions League with five goals in eight games, he also scored in every round after switching to the UEFA Cup, and is in the limelight.

This game is not an evenly matched game, Marseille is more than one level higher than Volendam. But because of Zhang Jun's existence, there will be a fierce battle in the shooter battle.

The most popular shooter in France and the most popular shooter in the Netherlands.

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"This will be the first strongest challenge that Black Horse Volendam has encountered in the UEFA Cup, but they don't want it to be the last." A newspaper made a pre-match prediction like this.

"What's wrong? Zhang Jun, I just got back to the dormitory." Sophie had just entered the dormitory when she heard the phone ringing. She hurried over to answer it, and it turned out that Zhang Jun was calling.

"It's nothing, the game is tonight, the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup, our opponent is Marseille from France, they..."

"Zhang Jun, are you nervous?"

"No, would I be nervous? What haven't I seen? I..."

"Then why did you suddenly call me?"

"Can't I miss you?" Zhang Jun's tone sounded a little stiff.

Sophie smiled, "Work hard in the game tonight, I will cheer for you."

"Well, I will win the game and show you!"

"Huh? Isn't the opponent French Marseille? Are you so confident to win?" Sophie asked Zhang Jun with a smile.

"Even if the opponent is Real Madrid, I will win!" This time the answer was decisive. As long as there is your cheering, Sophie. Zhang Jun added silently in his heart.

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Volendam's home stadium, Veronica, can only accommodate a mere six thousand people, but it is becoming one of the focuses of attention in Europe. And tonight, a contest between two excellent shooters will be staged here.

"Didier Drogba from Côte d'Ivoire and Zhang Jun from China, the two foreigners are likely to dominate the outcome of this game!"

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"Since the start of the game, Zhang Jun has performed quite actively, and his three shots in ten minutes have posed a threat to Marseille's goal. And Drogba obviously still can't find his rhythm, he is always too involved in defense!"

"You know shit! Active defense is Didier's characteristic!" Some Marseille fans shouted loudly in the direction of the broadcasting room.

Indeed, Drogba played right back after first touching football, until his uncle asked him to go forward and shoot, because he "has the ability to kick the ball into the opponent's goal". Therefore, even though he has long been a forward and has become the team's number one shooter, he still pays great attention to defense. This advantage may be related to his "misplacement" when he was young.

At the beginning of the game, Volendam relied on their home advantage to launch a large-scale attack. This is exactly what Adrianse arranged, he wanted to give the opponent a surprise. Sure enough, Marseille was a little unaccustomed to the home team's crazy offensive frenzy, and the whole team was forced to shrink their defense. Especially in the penalty area, they tried to compress space and time as much as possible, so as not to give Zhang Jun and Hena too many opportunities.

Despite this, Zhang Jun still got three shooting opportunities under the cover of Hena, but it was a pity that the Marseille goalkeeper performed well. This French number one goalkeeper will also face Zhang Jun's shot head-on. In the first half of the season, because of the sudden rise of American goalkeeper Howard, the bald goalkeeper Barthez lost his position at Manchester United, so he took the initiative to apply to come to his old club Marseille. Today's game is his first European game representing Marseille, so naturally he has to perform well, which can be regarded as a demonstration to Manchester United.

Zhang Jun has met the most powerful goalkeeper since his debut today, can he still do something?

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"gooooooAL! Drogba! A beautiful feint knocked down the attacking Westerlopen and succeeded in an empty goal! The powerful Marseille relied on a defensive counterattack in the 30th minute of the first half and led the home team Volendam 1:0!"

Drogba was very excited after scoring a goal, because he is also scoring in every round of the UEFA Cup now, and he also wants to keep this record. He spread his arms and soared in the Veronica Stadium, followed by his teammates. And the young Marseille "interim coach" Anigo excitedly hugged his assistants on the coaching bench. Even though this game is against a Dutch Super League team, he has also made careful arrangements. Leading away from home is really a wonderful thing!

Zhang Jun stood on the field, he looked at the big screen, the score of his own side's lag was very dazzling tonight.

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"Zhang Jun is very hardworking and active, and Volendam has dominated the advantage for most of the first half. But Drogba's successful sneak attack immediately reversed the situation! This is football!"

When restarting the game, Zhang Jun touched the lucky bracelet on his left wrist again, and he thought of Sophie's smile. Just pretend you are there, Sophie, watch me play football!

The referee blew his whistle, Zhang Jun kicked the ball to Hena, and then rushed forward.

Volendam is still attacking, they have no choice. The opponent now has an away goal, which is already unfavorable to them. If they lose the game again, then there will be no chance to go to the opponent's home stadium. On the other hand, Marseille, who has a one-goal lead, is even more determined to carry out the defensive counterattack.

A tug-of-war, Zhang Jun never gave up his efforts, never gave up running. He is constantly looking for or creating space. And Van Persie is also working hard in the same way, he dribbles, passes, shoots, just to be able to help the team tie the score and win the final victory.

Barthez became the busiest person during this period, he made high and low saves to ensure that the goal was not lost. At the same time, he did not forget to make some funny actions to打击Volendam's morale.

Until the end of the first half, the score on the big screen never moved again.

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Van Persie sat on the chair and gasped for breath. Zhang Jun covered his head with a dry towel and leaned against the wall to rest. Adrianse was busy arranging tactics for the players: "In the second half, don't all of you压过midfield, I know everyone is very anxious, but there is nothing to be anxious about, we still have forty-five minutes,压迫the opponent too hard is not good for us. Zhang Jun and the others have too little space in front, and they can't发挥it. Since we can't create space ourselves, let the opponent create it for us! Intentionally回收in the second half,诱惑Marseille to攻出来, and then we打反击. Use the space during the corner kick defense well, that's our chance to打反击. Don't be afraid that they won't be fooled, we have to be patient ourselves first."

"This is our home stadium! Tell them with goals and victory in the second half, who is the master here!" Finally. Adrianse encouraged the players with such words.

Zhang Jun tore off the towel on his face, and then stood up to望外go, he looked at Van Persie who was still sitting, and smiled: "Are you tired, Robin? It's time to go on the court."

Van Persie raised his head and glanced at Zhang Jun, then hummed disdainfully: "When I'm tired, that's when everyone趴下."

Zhang Jun smiled and stretched out a hand, Van Persie grabbed Zhang Jun's hand, and then he was pulled up by him.

"Then let them all累趴down!"