Chapter 156: The Decisive Battle in the Air

The UEFA Cup's influence cannot be compared with the UEFA Champions League, but it is still an attractive event for those teams in minor leagues.

After all, the champion of the League Cup is also considered a European champion.

The League Cup will also be broadcast live to the entire Europe and even the world, and its influence is not something that European second-rate leagues like the Russian Super League can be compared.

Chen Yingxiong felt excited when the scene of Villarreal's team walking down the gangway on the TV screen.

It was a natural reaction of a giant bear who had just woken up from hibernation and smelled the scent of food.

February 13th, game day. It was snowing heavily.

"Good weather!" Anyukov couldn't help but exclaim when he saw such heavy snow.

"It's really good weather!" Krzakov spoke.

For Russian teams, there is nothing better than a game with heavy snow on the sky.

Because Villarreal from the warm Spain certainly cannot adapt to football matches in this climate.

In fact, this has been confirmed since Villarreal arrived in St. Petersburg.

Villarreal's head coach, Chilean manuel pellegrini, was complaining about the weather.

Now the "captain" of the submarine is frowning at the snowflakes flying outside the window.

Zenit, who plays at home, has the home advantage, and they are more adaptable to this weather and the situation in the field in this weather than us.

This game is a bad game. Although Pellegrini thinks that Zenit is far inferior to them in terms of strength alone, he doesn't want to take risks in this away game. He decided to defend the away game the most.

Giuseppe Rossi saw through the car window a few fans outside, naked, waving the blue and white scarf of St. Petersburg Zenit in the snow, singing something loudly.

He couldn't help but shudder.

"God, aren't they cold?" he exclaimed.

"The Russians who have drunk too much... are like this." Robert Pires, a knowledgeable Frenchman, glanced out the window and turned his eyes back.

The heavy snow did not freeze the enthusiasm of Russian fans. The fans of Zenit from St. Petersburg started to queue up to enter the venue in the afternoon, and even saw shirtless people cheering loudly - these people just drank a lot of vodka... Every year, Russia freezes a lot of people to death in winter. A large part of these people was because they drank too much and were drunk on the street at night. As a result, the next day... they never opened their eyes.

They whistled and raised their middle fingers outside the stadium at Villarreal's bus, not at all friendly.

And when Zenit's bus arrived, they cheered.

This is the home court!

"Remember, you must warm up fully! Warm up is more important than competition! If anyone is injured because he is not warm up fully, he will not receive any sympathy!" Assistant coach Coul Porter shouted in the locker room.

At the same time, the players are changing their clothes and preparing to go out to warm up.

"It's okay! I don't have enough warm-up to get some wine, haha!" Denisov joked in the locker room. The outdoor temperature of this game was minus ten degrees Celsius, and it was indeed quite difficult to play in such a temperature.

Porter glared at him and said nothing. Denisov was the pistachio in the locker room. He knew that this man was just so speechless.

Chen Yingxiong felt cold, so he put a close-fitting thermal underwear in his jersey. This underwear is very thin, but very warm. It uses high-tech fabrics to absorb the water vapor produced by the body and heat up.

Last season, Chen Yingxiong wore such a close-fitting clothing to compete, which was really warm.

When the players from both sides were warming up outside, Chen Yingxiong and his friends did not forget to pay attention to the opponents in this game while warming up.

"Look at their cowardly look in shrinking their necks, haha!" Denisov was very happy that his opponent was defeated in such weather.

Chen Yingxiong followed him to laugh at his opponent heartlessly.

"I really doubt that they have any combat power..." Krzakov also curled his lips.

Villarreal's players noticed that there were a few people in the opponent's half. They got together and pointed at them, laughing loudly.

Obviously, they were laughing at their necks trembling all over because they were shivering...

Although the group of people kept trembling, they still glared back viciously - they must not lose in terms of momentum!

This was the momentum that didn't last long and it immediately leaked...

"It's really cold..."

"The weather forecast says... today... today ten degrees below zero! I think such weather, weather, I think the competition should be cancelled directly!"

A group of people were fighting their teeth and couldn't speak smoothly.

After the warm-up, the players from both sides returned to the locker room. Villarreal's players slipped back to the locker room at almost the speed of light, and they were scared of being frozen outside. At least there was air conditioning in the locker room.

Edvorkat was waiting for his players to come back in the locker room, and he had his last few words to say to everyone.

"Villareal is a strong team, so the key leg of the sixteenth-final is today. As long as we can establish an advantage at home, there is a great chance of promotion. Therefore, I do not accept any result other than victory, nor can I get a draw. I have to win, and if possible, try to win a few goals!"

Pellegrini has studied videos of Everton's home court and Zenit in St. Petersburg. He knows Zenit has an excellent high center forward - the No. 99 hero.

This center forward has excellent heading and has a long shot. It should not be underestimated.

After the game, Moyes also admitted that the reason he lost at home was because he underestimated the hero. Of course, he could not repeat the same mistake.

So he put a lot of effort into air defense in this game.

First, two central defenders with excellent headers and good heights were arranged in the penalty area. The French defender Pascal cygan, 1.92 meters tall, partnered with the Argentine central defender Fabricio Fuentes (fabricio Fuentes), who were 1.82 meters tall. These two people headed well. Although Fentes was a little shorter, Sigan's height could still compete with the opponent's heroes. The team's main central defender was Diego.

·Godin (diego·godin), but this young central defender is good everywhere - he has a steady style of playing, a good sense of position, a good grasp of the timing of his foot, and a good prediction... But he is too thin and often faces a strong center. In this game, the opponent on the Yellow Submarine's defense line happens to be a strong center, which looks very brutal. Pellegrini had no choice but to put him on the bench and activate the stronger Ferentes.

In addition to arranging a defender with excellent headers to defeat Chen Yingxiong in the air, he also asked both sides not to easily give Zenit the opportunity to assist Zenit from the side and then cross.

This game is so snowy, so it is definitely impossible for the opponent to go through any skills. Playing more high balls is the choice of smart people.

So Villarreal didn't plan to stick to Spain's technical and tactical style, and he would go to the front. Pellegrini asked Joseba Llorente to start. The center was 1.84 meters tall and good at heading. He was alone in the front.

Behind him are three offensive forwards, Cani in the middle, Spanish international Santiago Cazorla on the right, and 21-year-old Chilean monster Matias Fernandez on the left.

Cazzola and Fernandez are both players with breakthrough ability and crossing ability on the wing, so they are responsible for delivering shells to Lorent in the penalty area.

In the midfielder position, Pellegrini arranged captain Marcos Senna and the 23-year-old Spanish young midfielder Bruno.

The two full-backs are Angel on the right, while Spanish international joan capdevila serves as left back.

This is the starting lineup of "Yellow Submarine" in this game.

4231. The core of this lineup is to consolidate the defense and make progress on the wing.

Pellegrini took great pains to curb Chen Yingxiong's performance.

With such careful arrangements and preparations, he is not worried about Chen Yingxiong now. What he is worried about is that this weather may lead to some unexpected events...

Nizette's starting lineup is not much different from before, that is, the central defender position has been replaced. Lombardus received a red card in the previous game with Everton, and he was unable to play in this game. The two "old" central defenders sent by Edvokat - Eric Hagen and Krizanach.

The key weakness of these two defenders is their slow turn and they did not start in the game against Everton. However, this problem does not exist now, because of the flurry of colleges, and he does not expect Pellegrini to send speed forwards like Giuseppe Rossi and Nihat. Because they will not cooperate on the ground, and the straight pass will rarely come in handy because of the poor field. He will use Lorent, a high center forward who is 1.84 meters tall, and the football is mainly flying around in the air.

So turning slowly is not a big weakness, as long as you can defend against air.

The reporters in the media table have already obtained the starting list of both sides in this game. They were trembling with cold in the media table without air conditioning and heating, but they still discussed the starting list of both sides with enthusiasm.

"Not surprising, both sides have to play high-altitude ball!"

"The air will become an area where both sides are fiercely fighting for. I wonder how many times will the air defense alarm sound at Petrovsky Stadium today?"

A group of Chinese journalists laughed.

These people have been reporting on the game at Petrovsky Stadium for the past season and have become accustomed to air raid sirens. At first, I felt a little shrill, but later I felt it was wonderful, just like the sound of nature.

The music that was playing on the stadium radio suddenly stopped.

A burst of cheers suddenly came out of the scene, and the reporters who were discussing the starting lineup in the media seat also stopped, and they turned their eyes to the exit of the passage.

There, players from both sides walked into the stadium under the leadership of the referee!
Chapter completed!