Thiago Silva's outstanding defense kept AC Milan from conceding a goal, which also put Liverpool's offense in a difficult situation.

It was at this point that Chen Hero began to pay attention to Thiago Silva again.

He realized that the short Brazilian center-back in front of him, whom he hadn't seen in years, no longer seemed to be the callow youth he once was. The young center-back who had been beaten by him without any resistance had also grown up rapidly.

Interesting.

Chen Hero smiled.

Anyone who knew Chen Hero and saw this smile would start praying for Thiago Silva.

Because it meant Chen Hero was getting serious.

Yes, he hadn't really been serious before. If Chen Hero was serious, he could display one hundred percent of his strength, but most of the time, Chen Hero only displayed about seventy percent of his strength, because that was all he needed to score goals and win games. Why would he use all of his strength?

But now, the situation was different. Seventy percent of his strength was no longer enough to deal with AC Milan.

Of course, it wasn't to say that he had to increase it to one hundred percent to defeat Thiago Silva and AC Milan, but since Thiago Silva was so outstanding, out of respect and to express his admiration, he felt it was necessary to use all his strength to face the challenge.

Defeating them at one hundred percent, then they could die content.

※※※

Thiago Silva had no idea what changes he had caused in Chen Hero's mindset. He was still immersed in the excitement of having successfully defended against Chen Hero several times in a row.

In the past few seasons, Chen Hero had gone from a player with a great reputation in a domestic league to one of the top players in the world. Countless defenders had fallen victim to him, yet he had been able to successfully defend against him several times in a row. How could he not be happy?

Because of his several key defenses, AC Milan had not conceded a goal.

This achievement inspired the AC Milan players to fight bravely, one after another, to block every Liverpool attack.

Everyone was more confident that they could take a draw away from home.

※※※

"AC Milan's defense is very tenacious, worthy of being an Italian team... Liverpool's offense, on the other hand, is mired in a quagmire. Whether from the wings or the center, they can't break through the defensive line organized by AC Milan..."

The TV broadcast gave a close-up of Liverpool coach Martin O'Neill.

The Liverpool coach was standing on the sidelines, arms crossed, watching the game, while his brain was rapidly thinking about how to break the current situation.

AC Milan was doing a good job defending both the wings and the center, because they had enough players to form a numerical advantage in certain areas.

And if Liverpool couldn't open up the situation on the wings, there was even less they could do in the center. The wings and the center were connected, and if there was a problem in one place, the other place would also be affected.

Forcefully attack the center?

The cost was too high, the benefit was low, and the cost performance was very poor.

He still had to find a way from the wings.

But what to do?

AC Milan had deployed heavy troops on the wings. Whether it was the two wingers, Gareth Bale and Sanchez, or the two full-backs, Enrique and Van der Wiel, they couldn't get to the end and couldn't send in threatening crosses, so Chen Hero's header advantage couldn't be fully utilized.

Open up AC Milan's wing defense through various small-scale collaborations?

It was very difficult. AC Milan's defense was interlocked. If you broke through one place, someone would quickly come from other places to defend. Under this continuous defensive interference, it was difficult for wing players to send in any decent crosses.

Martin O'Neill thought about it and felt that it was difficult to move forward. For every step forward, the price to be paid was very high, which was not worth it.

Martin O'Neill frowned...

What to do?

※※※

Van der Wiel wanted to move forward, but when he saw the dense AC Milan players in front of him, he felt his scalp tingle - rushing up would be like throwing himself into a trap... He didn't think that he alone, or with Sanchez, could break through the Milanese's dense defense.

When the ball was passed to his feet again, he simply crossed from outside the thirty-meter area. The ball drew a clear arc from the back and flew into the penalty area.

The AC Milan players did not expect Liverpool to cross like this, and they were somewhat unprepared for the ball.

Thiago Silva jumped up in a hurry and failed to hit the ball.

Van der Wiel's cross was very high. Although the speed was not fast, the advantage was the height. If you wanted to hit the ball, it was not that easy.

In the crowd, Chen Hero suddenly rushed forward and jumped high!

"Hero—!"

When the AC Milan fans and players saw Chen Hero jumping up without being defended, their hearts turned cold...

However, Van der Wiel's ball was indeed too high... Even Chen Hero was barely able to head it. Although he hit the ball, he could no longer control the height and accuracy of the ball.

In the end, the ball flew directly over the crossbar.

The AC Milan fans and players breathed a sigh of relief, while the Liverpool fans held their heads in their hands, feeling very regretful.

"Ah, Hero missed a chance to break the deadlock! But no one expected this ball. Van der Wiel's cross was very hasty and the quality was not high. The passing point was also too far, and the ball flew in the air for too long, so the accuracy was reduced a lot... Nevertheless, this kind of opportunity to get rid of all the defensive players in front of the AC Milan goal and then jump up to attack the goal may not happen even twice in this game... Hero still missed a great opportunity!" The commentator also felt very sorry.

Chen Hero also held his head in his hands, feeling annoyed that he had missed such a good opportunity.

But Martin O'Neill, standing on the sidelines, suddenly brightened up!

He suddenly thought of a solution!

Didn't AC Milan shrink their defense and defend their thirty-meter area, not letting us in?

Why should we go in? To cross to Chen Hero.

But now isn't there a way to cross to Chen Hero without having to go in?

Look at the ball just now, it was a typical example! If Van der Wiel could pass the ball better, maybe Hero would have scored.

It doesn't matter if he didn't score, it gave me a new idea.

We can use this kind of forty-five-degree cross to send shells to Chen Hero.

Although we haven't specifically practiced this before, I believe our players can quickly make adjustments. Forty-five-degree crosses mainly depend on whether the passing player passes well, and the rest depends on whether Chen Hero can head the ball well.

Martin O'Neill trusted Chen Hero in this regard.

As long as the ball is passed in, the rest is up to Chen Hero!

Moreover, doing so has a great advantage, that is, it makes AC Milan worry that Liverpool will use this method to score. In order to prevent Liverpool's crosses, they must press up to defend our crossing players. In this way, their originally tight defense line will have distinct gaps, just like a fluffy sponge, and there will be opportunities to take advantage of!

AC Milan will face a dilemma - if they don't press out to defend, then they can just wait for us to pass the ball to their goal time and time again with a forty-five-degree cross. If they press out to defend, then there will be more gaps behind them, and we can advance the attack to their most dangerous area!

Martin O'Neill made a decision. Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, he told his adjustments to the player closest to him, who was Van der Wiel who had just crossed.

Van der Wiel didn't know that his casual and hasty cross had opened up the situation for the team. He was happy and relayed the coach's arrangements to his teammates on the field.

Liverpool on the field immediately made corresponding changes.

When they attacked, they no longer single-mindedly wanted to get to the end, wanting to approach the opponent's core area. Instead, when they were still a distance away from the opponent's thirty-meter area, they simply crossed the ball.

The ball went straight to the penalty area, allowing Chen Hero to fight for the header.

The distance has been lengthened, and the accuracy of the pass has also decreased. This is not a problem. Anyway, we are pressing AC Milan to play, and there are plenty of opportunities to attack. Just keep crossing the ball. Even if the success rate is only ten percent, we can pass ten balls and succeed once, right? We will definitely pass more than ten such balls in a game!

If AC Milan doesn't press up, we will keep playing like this!

※※※

Chen Hero's opportunities increased. Although there were not many great opportunities, he was able to jump up, he was able to fight for the header in the air, as long as he could jump up, he had a chance!

What he is best at is turning the impossible into the possible, and turning decay into magic.

Van der Wiel sent another forty-five-degree cross. Because this time he was prepared, the quality of his cross was higher than the first one, and the height was not as high.

The ball drew a huge arc in the air, bypassing all the defensive players, and flew into the penalty area.

Chen Hero and Thiago, as well as another AC Milan center-back, Federico Fazio, fought for the header together.

Thiago Silva was able to compete with other forwards when fighting for aerial balls, but that was not possible against Chen Hero.

Fortunately, he had a good partner. Federico Fazio, who transferred from Sevilla, was 1.95 meters tall, similar in height to Chen Hero, and was a very strong center-back.

He mainly relied on him to compete with Chen Hero for headers. Thiago Silva just interfered with Chen Hero from the side, preventing him from wholeheartedly competing with Fazio for the header.

Under the joint defense of the two, Chen Hero did not hit the ball this time.

This was another successful defense.

But after landing, Thiago Silva did not dare to be careless at all, and the previous excitement disappeared. Now he was very nervous.

He didn't know when Chen Hero would jump up and smash the ball into the goal...

Chen Hero's ability in headers was too strong. No one in football today could surpass him in header skills.

That was why Thiago Silva was so nervous.

The reputation is well-deserved...