God of Green

After the match with Utrecht, Jiang Xiaolin's performance of leading Alkmaar to a 3-1 away victory over the opponent with two goals and one assist continued to be heavily reported and praised by media from all over the world.

Because his goal record in the Eredivisie has been refreshed to a terrifying 49, and he is only one goal away from the 50-goal mark.

And these 49 goals, Jiang Xiaolin only used 21 games, which is absolutely jaw-dropping.

This match with Utrecht is the 27th round of the Eredivisie, and there are still 7 rounds of the Eredivisie this season.

Whether it is the media or the fans, they are very much looking forward to how many goals Jiang Xiaolin can score.

Presumably, every league game of Alkmaar in the future, even if it is not a key game, will receive more and more attention and reports.

After the league game with Utrecht, Alkmaar trained at its base for two days, and then set off to St. Petersburg, Russia, to complete the routine away game in the second round of the UEFA Cup quarter-finals.

In fact, Jiang Xiaolin was the only main player who went to St. Petersburg this time. All other main players were left by Van Gaal at the base to recuperate and prepare for the next league match against the giants Feyenoord.

The 5-0 victory in the first round gave Alkmaar and Van Gaal enough confidence.

In fact, even without Jiang Xiaolin, Van Gaal did not think that Zenit St. Petersburg could turn the tables in the second round.

It was just that it seemed safer to bring Jiang Xiaolin!

Van Gaal's plan was to let Jiang Xiaolin play, and as long as Jiang Xiaolin scored an away goal, he would replace Jiang Xiaolin.

Because Zenit St. Petersburg did not score an away goal at the AFAS Stadium in the first round, Alkmaar only needed to score an away goal at the St. Petersburg Stadium in the second round, which would be a good goal.

At that time, although the score was 6-0, Zenit St. Petersburg needed to score 7 goals to eliminate Alkmaar.

That would really be a fantasy.

Not to mention Zenit St. Petersburg, even Barcelona couldn't beat Alkmaar 7-0.

Therefore, Van Gaal brought Jiang Xiaolin just to bring a foolproof insurance and deterrent force!

You know, even if Jiang Xiaolin didn't score a goal, he could suppress the opponent's attack and make the opponent's backcourt players dare not go all out.

This is the strategic significance of Van Gaal not bringing anyone else and only bringing Jiang Xiaolin as a main player.

As for Zenit St. Petersburg, although they knew that Alkmaar only had a group of substitutes and obviously underestimated Zenit, their media and fans didn't make any more big talk after all.

Facing the ending of falling behind by five goals in the first round, any slogans and big talk would only make them look more stupid!

This second round of the quarter-finals seemed calm before the game.

But in fact, for the nature of the fighting nation, even if they know they have lost, they still want to bite off a piece of the opponent's meat!

Even if we lose, we have to lose with dignity. We can't be completely shaved in two rounds!

Therefore, at 18:30 on the evening of March 19, the second round of the 2008/2009 UEFA Cup quarter-final between Zenit St. Petersburg and Alkmaar officially started at the St. Petersburg Stadium. Zenit did not give up and dawdle with Alkmaar.

They played with all their main players and started to attack vigorously from the first minute of the game. Only two central defenders were left on the back line to intercept Jiang Xiaolin.

In fact, they didn't care about the effect.

They didn't want to achieve a super reversal when they were five goals behind. They just wanted to fight with dignity and didn't want to be suppressed to death without saying a word!

They wanted to score a goal and save their face!

As for whether Jiang Xiaolin would score a goal or expand the score to make them more desperate, they didn't care so much!

As the defending champion, they would not accept being eliminated from the UEFA Cup without scoring a goal in the quarter-finals!

Zenit St. Petersburg's choice was beyond the expectations of Van Gaal and Alkmaar's players, and it really caught the opponent off guard at the beginning of the game.

Although they knew they would lose, more than 40,000 people came to the St. Petersburg Stadium, which can accommodate more than 60,000 people.

With the cheers of more than 40,000 home fans, Zenit St. Petersburg launched a fierce attack on Alkmaar's penalty area and goal from the beginning of the game.

On the Alkmaar side, except Jiang Xiaolin, the other 10 people including the goalkeeper were all substitute players. Whether in terms of personal strength or team cooperation, they were far behind the main lineup.

So, just 4 minutes into the game, Zenit winger Daniel was on the sidelines of the front court.Lu made a 45-degree cross, and striker Deki won the header in the penalty area and almost headed the ball into the goal guarded by Didulica.

Fortunately, Deki's header was slightly right, and Didulica subconsciously waved his hand to block it, and then the ball bounced to the bottom of the crossbar and bounced back to the ground, and then Didulica pressed it under him.

In the 7th minute, Zenit's long shot outside the penalty area caused another corner kick.

And it was this corner kick attack. Although Jiang Xiaolin also returned to the penalty area to participate in the defense, the ball landed too far away from him. Jiang Xiaolin could only watch the opponent's central defender Kanisinahi overwhelm the crowd and win the header at the back point of the penalty area, and headed the ball into the goal of Alkmaar.

St. Petersburg Zenit took a 1-0 lead at home, tying the total score of the two rounds to 1-5.

This goal made the entire St. Petersburg Stadium explode instantly.

Although they were still four goals behind and the hope of a comeback was still very slim, they had scored their first goal after all, and they would not be shaved bald again.

Therefore, both Zenit players and fans celebrated fiercely.

In addition, although the gap was still large and the hope of a comeback was still very small, the gap was narrowing after all, and both players and fans could not help but have the ambition to turn the tables.

You know, Alkmaar played with all substitutes except Jiang Xiaolin in this game, and the other main players did not even come to the bench, and all stayed in the Netherlands.

In this case, is it possible for Zenit to try a miracle?

Whether it succeeds or not, it will never go wrong to try.

Therefore, after scoring the first goal, the morale of Zenit St. Petersburg players was immediately boosted, and they continued to bombard Alkmaar's penalty area and goal with the advantage of all main players starting and playing at home.

On the other hand, despite the defensive formation contraction of Alkmaar, there were always some problems with the players' individual strength and lack of tacit cooperation, which made Alkmaar's goal seem a little dangerous.

Fortunately, Zenit St. Petersburg did not have Jiang Xiaolin.

Not to mention reaching it, their players' shooting skills were not even close to Jiang Xiaolin, otherwise they would have been poached by the top five leagues.

Therefore, although Zenit St. Petersburg had many shooting opportunities due to the decline in Alkmaar's defensive strength, they could not score the second goal.

Even if they had the opportunity to shoot, they would not miss the ball or the angle would be too straight and the goalkeeper Didulica would easily confiscate it.

Half an hour had passed since the first goal, and it was not until the 39th minute that Zenit St. Petersburg scored the second goal with difficulty.

Moreover, this second goal was also very lucky.

This was a reverse triangle pass after Zenit broke through the side. Zenit midfielder Schenlov outside the penalty area made a powerful long shot from outside the top of the penalty area. The angle was not tricky. Goalkeeper Didulica had already jumped in the direction of the ball.

Judging from the ball path and Didulica's save action, the ball would definitely be saved by Didulica and it would not go in.

Unexpectedly, when the ball flew into the penalty area, Alkmaar defender Moisander flew from the side to block the hole, but failed to block it.

The ball just rubbed against his legs and changed direction slightly, but did not deviate from the goal and continued to change line to fly towards the goal.

But for goalkeeper Didulica, this was a bit tricky and caught him off guard.

Didulica, who had already jumped out, could only watch the ball rub against Moisander's legs and change line in the middle, and fly into the goal from behind him.

Although it was a lucky goal, the players and fans of Zenit St. Petersburg still celebrated enthusiastically.

After all, they had already scored two goals, leaving only a three-goal gap.

Being three goals behind seems to be more promising than being five goals behind.

Although the hope is still slim.

Therefore, after this celebration, the Zenit players attacked more fiercely.

In their opinion, if they scored another goal, the 3-5 gap would not be so far-fetched, and it would still be possible to complete the miracle of reversal.

Therefore, after the game resumed, they all forgot about Jiang Xiaolin's existence. All the players pressed over the center line and bombarded Alkmaar's penalty area and goal.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Jiang Xiaolin had not scored a goal in the first half, and even most of the time Jiang Xiaolin returned to defend outside his own penalty area.

It's not that Jiang Xiaolin didn't want to counterattack, but it was really difficult for his teammates to pass him a threatening pass.

In fact, Jiang Xiaolin had quite a few opportunities in the first half, and he successfully countered offside twice, but his teammates did not pass the ball in time.Over, resulting in missed opportunities.

Or sometimes even if the ball is passed, because the passing technique is much worse than that of the main teammates like Maarten Martens, it can't be passed to the right place.

Coupled with the gap in passing and running coordination, Jiang Xiaolin has not been able to score in the first half.

But this does not mean that Jiang Xiaolin is completely without threat.

Even without the assistance of his teammates, Jiang Xiaolin is capable of scoring a goal alone, but he just didn't seize the opportunity in the first half.

After all, Zenit still has two central defenders behind to prevent him from counterattacking.

But in the last few minutes of the first half, because Zenit scored the second goal, it seemed too excited, the overall formation pressed more forward, and the almost crazy whole team was involved in the attack, and they had forgotten the threat of Jiang Xiaolin.

So, when the time came to the 44th minute, when Jiang Xiaolin suddenly made a long-distance attack, Zenit St. Petersburg was caught off guard.

This was also a frontcourt attack by Zenit St. Petersburg, but because the ball was delayed in entering the penalty area, even the back line had already pressed over the center line, helping to pass and cut, trying to tear open Alkmaar's defense with the pass.

However, Jiang Xiaolin also participated in the defense in the backcourt. Moreover, his position attribute is full value, and he is very proficient in how to disrupt the opponent's passing intention and passing route.

Jiang Xiaolin's position attribute is not obvious. He does not need to directly steal the ball from the opponent's feet, and Jiang Xiaolin does not have the stealing technology. Therefore, many times the opponent's offensive players will ignore Jiang Xiaolin's existence, thinking that he is just a forward who actively returns to defense and defends with his eyes.

And this time, Zenit St. Petersburg suffered such a loss.

When they were passing, the defensive midfielder Danisov could not find a place to pass the ball under the close pressure of the Alkmaar substitute striker Ali, so he turned around and passed the ball to the midfield in a hurry.

His goal was to pass the ball to the center back, Kanisinahi, so that Kanisinahi could make a transition, pass the ball to the other side or make a two-on-one cooperation with him to pass Ali.

Unexpectedly, his pass was weak this time.

What was more fatal was that when he was pressed by Ali, Jiang Xiaolin's full position attribute had already played a role.

Jiang Xiaolin had a premonition that he might pass the ball back to the center back Kanisinahi, so he moved in advance and stood at a point that was not noticeable but enough to intercept the passing route between Danisov and Kanisinahi.

As a result, just as Danisov's pass was passed, Jiang Xiaolin on the side intercepted the ball.

Seeing that the ball passed to him by his teammate was intercepted by Jiang Xiaolin halfway, Kanisinahi naturally rushed over to intercept it in shock, but Jiang Xiaolin immediately made a decisive dribble, dribbled the ball past him, and then passed him, using a quick man-ball split to pass Kanisinahi.

The next thing was simple.

Although the other central defender, Vidichal, rushed over to try to intercept, Jiang Xiaolin was much faster than him.

After crossing the center circle, Jiang Xiaolin used his speed to overtake Vidichal and caught up with the ball he had dribbled out, forming a one-on-one meeting.

Amid the horrified boos of the fans of Zenit St. Petersburg, Jiang Xiaolin rushed to the outside of the penalty area with the ball at full speed, and easily shot a lob in the face of the attacking goalkeeper Malafev.

The ball passed over Malafev's head and fell into the goal before Vidichal, who was desperately trying to save the goal line, returned to defense.

In the 44th minute of the first half, Jiang Xiaolin scored his first goal of the game at the St. Petersburg Stadium, which was also Alkmaar's first goal away from home.

Alkmaar led Zenit St. Petersburg 1-2 in the second round away from home and 6-2 in two rounds.

The key point is that Jiang Xiaolin's goal gave Alkmaar an away goal advantage.