The Barcelona players were the first to feel the Liverpool offensive onslaught, and then the fans in the stands reacted.

The Barcelona fans looked at each other in dismay when they realized what was happening.

Was this Liverpool?

Was this Barcelona?

What was going on?

They couldn't figure it out.

Here was Barcelona, unable to launch any attacks, instead being pinned back into their own thirty-meter area by Liverpool, unable to even cross the halfway line.

Was this still Barcelona?

Was this the Barcelona they knew?

For a moment, everyone was stunned.

Did Liverpool really have this much power?

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Barcelona's plan was to let Liverpool attack for a while, defend, and after a while, they would naturally run out of steam and need to catch their breath and slow down. That would be their chance to push forward, using their powerful attack to turn the situation around in one fell swoop, and once again pin them down and trample on them at will.

But ten minutes passed, and Liverpool's offensive showed no signs of slowing down.

However, they changed their approach. They started to loft the ball directly from their own half to the attacking third, targeting Chen Hero, and then using Chen Hero's head to flick the ball on to other teammates. If there was no suitable opportunity, they would simply protect the ball and wait for their teammates to move up.

This saved the team's stamina, so Liverpool's fierce offensive could last longer than most teams.

To put it bluntly, it was because they had an awesome Chen Hero, who could hold the ball at his feet, and it was difficult for two or three people to take it away from him!

He had footwork and physicality, so it was really hard to steal the ball from him.

If only one person went, it would be useless if they couldn't steal the ball.

If more people went? There would be fewer people in other areas. After Chen Hero protected the ball, he could easily pass it to wherever he wanted, still threatening Barcelona's defense.

So Chen Hero was the key to everything. But Barcelona had no way to deal with him.

Unless they fouled him, but if they fouled him... Chen Hero was good at free kicks. He had a shooting range within forty meters. Fouling him would probably only give Chen Hero a better chance to shoot...

This fierce offensive continued, and the cheers of the Barcelona fans in the stands diminished.

Meanwhile, the Zenit and Liverpool fans were cheering for their teams with songs. They sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" together. This song wasn't just sung by Liverpool fans; many fans knew it. Even if they didn't know the words, they could hum along.

Liverpool's momentum suddenly soared.

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Ten minutes of continuous, non-stop attacks might not be enough to break down Barcelona's defense. But what about fifteen minutes, twenty minutes?

The Barcelona players were struggling to hold on. The belief that kept them going was the conviction that Liverpool couldn't maintain this high-intensity offensive for long. They would definitely retreat, definitely slow down, and there would definitely be an opportunity for them to counterattack.

But they waited ten minutes, and nothing happened.

They waited fifteen minutes, and still nothing happened.

Many people began to wonder—were the Liverpool players perpetual motion machines? Didn't they know how to get tired, how to rest?

Who had ever seen someone who only exhaled and never inhaled? That was a dead person!

But Liverpool was clearly not dead. They were alive and well!

They might even be the death of Barcelona!

The longer the game went on, the more frightened the Barcelona players became.

After twenty minutes, the Barcelona players couldn't hold on any longer.

In fact, Liverpool didn't have many truly dangerous attacks, but their total number of attacks was high, giving the impression of an impending storm.

This created something of a misjudgment for the Barcelona players, who were constantly under pressure.

In the twenty-second minute after Barcelona equalized, the seventy-ninth minute of the match, the score was still 2-2. It looked like as long as Barcelona held on for another ten minutes, they could drag the game into extra time.

But the Barcelona fans didn't see it as a victory at all. When had Barcelona ever been in such a sorry state? Liverpool had been pressing them for more than twenty minutes, and they still had no ability to fight back!

Even if they dragged it into extra time, would Barcelona be able to win?

The Barcelona players couldn't take it anymore either.

If they kept defending like this, their goal would be breached sooner or later. This thought lingered in the minds of many Barcelona players.

They decided to do something risky to try to turn the situation around.

Although it was risky, football matches required risk-taking.

Finally, they began to try to push up as a team, to counter-press Liverpool.

But this time their judgment was wrong. In addition, they had been bombarded by Liverpool for more than twenty minutes, they were a little dizzy and too impatient.

Their counterattack failed, and they made a mistake halfway through, and Liverpool intercepted the ball!

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Every Liverpool player keenly realized that the opportunity they had been waiting for after besieging for more than twenty minutes was here!

Liverpool quickly organized a counterattack on the spot!

Their counterattack was also very simple, as simple as ever, just like so many previous attacks.

Gerard, who had intercepted the ball, played a direct through ball, a thirty-meter-long through ball, directly behind Barcelona's defense line—if Barcelona hadn't been thinking about pressing forward to counterattack, there might not have been such a big gap behind them!

"Gerard's through ball!" The commentator shouted.

Chen Hero appeared behind Barcelona's defense like a ghost!

No one noticed when he had run there.

A Barcelona player reflexively raised his hand, signaling that Chen Hero was offside.

But the referee and assistant referee showed no reaction.

"Hero—!!!" This wasn't the commentator's roar, it was the shout of Liverpool and Zenit fans in the stands!

In their thunderous shouts, the boos of the Barcelona fans were almost suppressed, and they couldn't even make a ripple!

Chen Hero broke through behind Barcelona's defense and received Gerard's pass.

Now he was one-on-one with Barcelona's goalkeeper Valdes!

For a striker who could score more than a hundred goals in a single season, was there any suspense?

Valdes rushed up.

Chen Hero swung his right leg, drawing his bow and arrow.

Valdes dived to the ground, trying to increase his defensive area as much as possible, blocking the near corner with his hands and the far corner with his feet.

Chen Hero's right foot swung down, and his toes drilled into the gap between the bottom of the football and the grass, and then he retracted his force.

Not a powerful shot, but a finesse shot!

The football flew over Valdes's body on the ground, drew a small arc in the air, and then fell into…the empty net!

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The goal came so easily that many people even felt it was unreal. Even the Liverpool players didn't immediately raise their hands to celebrate, but turned to look at the assistant referee.

They saw the assistant referee running towards the center line, and then they breathed a sigh of relief.

This meant the goal was good!

The fans in the stands were much more excited than the players.

They didn't care what the assistant referee thought. The moment they saw the football fly into the goal, a huge air raid siren suddenly sounded again over the Gazprom Arena.

"Wooo—wooo—wooo—!!!"

It was even louder than the sound of Chen Hero's goal in the first half!

Platini in the VIP box turned pale when he heard the sound, and he turned angrily to look at his assistant.

The UEFA official quickly explained: "I warned them during the halftime break... they promised not to do anything so obviously biased again..."

"Then how do you explain this!" Platini pointed to the sky above the stadium.

"This..." the official said aggrievedly, "Mr. President... this is the sound made by the fans themselves, not from the stadium broadcast..."

"What?!" Platini was surprised. He listened carefully, and in just a second, he was able to tell that it was indeed the sound made by the fans. At first, it was a bit chaotic, but they quickly got the hang of it. The sound became more and more uniform, more and more pure, and finally it was all the sound of an air raid siren…

He was so shocked that he stood up from his seat and looked down at the fans in the stands. Their movements were indeed making sounds…

He never expected that his warning to St. Petersburg's home ground would give these fans a chance to show off their voices… They were actually using human voices to cheer for Chen Hero!

He was unwilling, but he had no choice. Because he had no right to interfere with the fans' actions, as long as these fans didn't engage in racial discrimination or attack the referees, he couldn't control them. This kind of cheering method was also their characteristic, and he couldn't even say no!

He could only watch helplessly, watching Chen Hero spread his arms and run on the field amidst the huge air raid siren, like a Bear strategic bomber…

And the Liverpool players behind him who were also spreading their arms and throwing themselves at him were his wingmen and escorts.

Now, this aerial formation was circling back and forth in the sky over St. Petersburg, showing off its power!

He had once wanted to prevent this from happening, but he never thought that the fans would use their own mouths and voices to resist him.

Preventing the people's mouths is more difficult than preventing a river. Now he was finally drowned by the unstoppable flood he had created…

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Guardiola grabbed the fourth official: "I protested! I complained..."

The fourth official interrupted Guardiola's exasperated words: "Mr. Guardiola, this is the sound made by the fans! We can't control it..."

Guardiola was stunned.

Fans?

Damn it, this is a neutral venue, and we and their fans should be half and half. Why do I feel like we are playing a damned away game!

He withdrew his gaze and walked back to the coaching bench in a daze.

The fourth official looked at Guardiola's somewhat lost back, shook his head, and then he also looked up at the stands.

He didn't understand why Chen Hero was so popular. He seemed so unfeeling when he left Zenit… Why did the people here still love him so much and be willing to support him in this way?

This was a question he really couldn't understand.