Chapter 33 A Change of Heart

Liverpool defeated Porto 3-0 at home, practically securing their spot in the semi-finals, where they would face the winner of AC Milan versus Manchester United.

Despite being completely defeated by Liverpool domestically, Manchester United remained a strong contender in Europe.

One could even argue that if it weren't for Chen Hero, Manchester United would still be the dominant force in England, with only Manchester City capable of causing them trouble. Of course, even Manchester City was struggling internally now.

As long as they didn't face Liverpool, Manchester United was confident in winning any match.

The highly anticipated clash between Manchester United and AC Milan had captured the attention of many.

Chen Hero wasn't concerned about which of the two teams would emerge victorious. Whoever made it to the semi-finals would be stopped there. The team that would ultimately reach the final was definitely his Liverpool.

After the Champions League quarter-final against Porto, Liverpool would travel to face Birmingham in the thirty-third round of the league.

In this match, Martin O'Neill continued to rotate the squad. With a significant lead in points, he felt confident enough to do so.

For him, even if Liverpool lost or drew a few games, it wouldn't matter much.

The most important thing was to keep the players physically fit.

Because of the huge lead in the league, Martin O'Neill had started to think more ambitiously.

After Liverpool won the League Cup, Chen Hero's words from before the season often echoed in O'Neill's mind.

"Why do we have to settle for one title a season? Why can't we win three... no, four titles in a season?"

The League Cup was already won, and they had reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. However, with Chen Hero insisting on using the reserve team, winning that title would be difficult. In the league, they led second-placed Chelsea by a whopping twelve points. With such a huge advantage, as long as they maintained their lead for another three league games, they could secure the title early. They could win at least two titles, so why not try for the Champions League title as well?

He realized that the only title he hadn't won was the Champions League.

Last season, he had deliberately given up on the Champions League, but this season was different. There was no reason to give up...

Martin O'Neill had been pondering this question for days. He wasn't a player who could act on impulse. As the manager, he couldn't just satisfy his own desires. He had to be responsible for the entire team. If he decided to focus heavily on the Champions League and lost, what would happen? If it triggered other chain reactions, leading to everything falling apart, who would be responsible? He would be. He had to be responsible for every decision he made. If it had negative consequences, he could be sacked.

So O'Neill had to be cautious.

He thought and observed the situation repeatedly.

When the team defeated Porto at Anfield with only half of the regular starters, he felt that Liverpool could contend for the Champions League title this season.

Although their opponents in the semi-finals, whether Manchester United or AC Milan, were formidable, Liverpool's current performance gave him endless confidence. Reaching the final shouldn't be a problem.

As for what to do in the final... Martin O'Neill hadn't figured it out yet. He would worry about it after reaching the final. Even if they didn't win the title, reaching the final would still be a remarkable achievement.

The more O'Neill thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

So he decided to adjust the team's goals.

To this end, in the match against a weaker team like Birmingham, he chose to continue rotating the squad, replacing more of the regular starters with substitutes.

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Ultimately, Liverpool, with more substitute players, drew 1-1 with Birmingham away from home. Although Chen Hero started, he didn't score this time.

The goalscorer was Gareth Bale, who scored the team's only goal with a long-range shot.

Although they were held to a draw by Birmingham, it didn't affect the overall situation in the league.

Second-placed Chelsea was a full ten points behind Liverpool, and their focus wasn't on catching up with Liverpool, but on battling Manchester United, Newcastle, Arsenal, and Manchester City.

The competition for the three Champions League qualification spots among these five teams was intense, as one could imagine.

No wonder Martin O'Neill was so calm, saying that the draw against Birmingham was insignificant.

After being held to a draw by Birmingham, Liverpool began preparing for the Champions League.

For this match, Martin O'Neill planned to continue using rotation, basically a configuration of half starters and half substitutes.

Chen Hero on the field was a guarantee of the team's victory.

Even away from home, there was nothing to worry about.

He wasn't worried about Chen Hero's stamina anymore.

The question was meaningless!

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Liverpool encountered less resistance away from home. Because Porto couldn't just turtle up and defend. If they wanted to advance, they had to score. To score, they had to push forward and attack, and pushing forward would create gaps in their defense.

With gaps, things were much easier.

Liverpool comfortably played their counter-attacking style away from home.

In the forty-sixth minute, they broke the deadlock, with Chen Hero scoring again.

After taking the lead, Liverpool's counter-attacks became even more effective.

Porto, on the other hand, were helpless against Liverpool's counter-attacks. Even Manchester United had fallen victim to Liverpool's defense and counter-attacks, let alone Porto, who were not as strong as Manchester United.

In the end, Liverpool defeated Porto 1-0 away from home, securing a 4-0 aggregate victory to eliminate the Portuguese powerhouse and advance to the semi-finals.

"The match is over! Liverpool have eliminated Porto and advanced to the semi-finals! This is the second consecutive season they have reached the semi-finals! Last time they were eliminated by Bayern Munich! Can they reach the final this time?"

Liverpool's players hugged each other, celebrating this moment.

Reaching the semi-finals for two consecutive seasons showed that their strength wasn't just a flash in the pan, but a consistent and stable performance.

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Carrying the excitement of reaching the semi-finals, the entire Liverpool team returned to England from Portugal.

A day later, their semi-final opponents were revealed—AC Milan.

AC Milan drew 3-3 on aggregate with Manchester United in the quarter-finals, but they advanced to the semi-finals because they had two away goals, while Manchester United had none.

This was an opponent Chen Hero hadn't faced in a long time. He hadn't played against AC Milan since he left Napoli.

But he wasn't thinking about this opponent right now.

There was something more important than AC Milan waiting for him, a match more important than the Champions League semi-final.

On April 11th, the FA Cup semi-final would see Liverpool face Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium.

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Despite the team's good form, Martin O'Neill didn't have Chen Hero train with the reserve team players in daily training.

He no longer cared about what they could achieve in the FA Cup.

Even if they were eliminated by Tottenham in the semi-finals, he wouldn't be angry or disappointed.

Anyway, it was Chen Hero's own decision. If they lost, it might teach this kid, who had been too successful for too long, a lesson and make him learn to restrain himself.

Chen Hero still trained with the first team every day, while the reserve team trained on the second training ground. The two seemed to have no intersection. The only time they could train with Chen Hero was during the weekly intra-squad training match.

How could they build rapport with Chen Hero like this?

To compensate for this deficiency, the reserve team players watched Chen Hero's match recordings very diligently. They watched every Liverpool match several times – once in front of the TV during the live broadcast, and then several more times with Coach Clarke, watching match recordings, both full versions and specially edited versions by the coaching staff. They also used specialized computer software to analyze Chen Hero's usual running routes and receiving postures… In short, the entire Liverpool reserve team had to imprint Chen Hero's characteristics firmly in their minds, increasing their familiarity with Chen Hero as if they had been training and playing together for many years.

This was the only way, though it was a clumsy one.

Until the day before the match, it was no longer just a match against the first team. Chen Hero and O'Neill appeared at the reserve team's training ground. This time, he was there to train with the team, although only for half a day – after training, they would take a plane to London, stay in a hotel there overnight, and then participate in the FA Cup semi-final in the afternoon.

Martin O'Neill didn't have much hope for this training session.

Because the time was too short. Even if the reserve team players had watched Chen Hero's match highlights, Chen Hero hadn't studied the reserve team's training content… What was the use of one-sided tacit understanding?

But when the training started, Martin O'Neill was stunned by the side of the field.

Not only him, but also reserve team coach Clarke was stunned.

And many of the reserve team players were also stunned.

Because Chen Hero didn't show any signs of discomfort!

It was as if he had been training with this team for a season. He didn't need Clarke to say much, he knew what to do.

He knew the habits of every teammate in the reserve team. In the offensive routine drills, his running made the reserve team players very comfortable, because he could always run to the routes where the reserve team players intended to pass the ball…

"Has he really not trained with your reserve team?" Martin O'Neill asked Clarke beside him with a frown.

Clarke shook his head very firmly: "Absolutely not!"

"Then this is really weird!"

"Whatever the reason, it's a good thing!" Clarke was very happy after the initial surprise. "This will give us a better chance of reaching the final!"

Hearing Clarke's words, Martin O'Neill frowned even more.

Could it be that in order to help the team reach the final, he had undergone some other special training? Like running to the reserve team after first-team training to watch them train? That wouldn't be right… The training times of the two teams were the same. After the first team training ended, the reserve team training also ended.

O'Neill couldn't figure it out…