Chapter 1 The Meaning of the Game

The Liverpool players sat in the locker room, Martin O'Neill standing in the center. He looked around, meeting the gaze of each Liverpool player, and saw firm belief and determination to win in their eyes.

This was what he wanted.

He was proud of his team, and equally satisfied with his job.

Perhaps others thought it was impossible, but with his own efforts, there was hope of success!

The warm-up was over, and the players had long since returned to the locker room and changed their clothes.

Now there were only a dozen minutes left before the start of the game.

Martin O'Neill planned to say a few last words before letting them go out.

"The significance of this game, I think you should all know. This isn't just a Champions League semi-final!"

In fact, the Liverpool players didn't understand why this was more than just a Champions League semi-final. Wasn't it just a Champions League semi-final?

Could there be any other special meaning?

Oh, right, if we win this game, we can enter the Champions League final. We will be able to defend our Champions League title...

But that was it.

No need to be so excited, right?

Everyone looked at their coach, Martin O'Neill, with some confusion.

Of course, this confusion only lasted for a short time. A few seconds later, their expressions returned to normal.

Even so, Martin O'Neill saw the doubt revealed in the players' eyes.

He understood their doubts, so he wasn't angry.

This was simply because he couldn't tell these players the truth right now...

He chose to ignore the players' doubtful gazes and continued, "In this game, we must completely crush them at home! Make sure they never recover! All along, everyone has thought that Barcelona is invincible, that their football is the most advanced, the most beautiful, the most artistic and ornamental, the most popular... They not only play well, but they can also win championships. They are simply perfect! But what happened? We already proved in last year's Champions League final that Barcelona is just a pretty vase! But unfortunately, they don't think so themselves..."

Speaking of this, Martin O'Neill paused.

"They still dream of revenge. They think they lost unfairly. You can tell from their post-match speeches—they're very unhappy! Come on, Hero, want to imitate it for everyone again?"

O'Neill suddenly turned to Chen Hero.

Chen Hero didn't expect O'Neill to pull this stunt. He was stunned for a moment: "Huh?" He didn't react at all.

The surrounding teammates burst into laughter.

O'Neill wouldn't really let Chen Hero imitate it, so he smiled and spread his hands: "Everyone already knows, right? They think it's unfair and unreasonable for us to win the Champions League. So they're unhappy. But I want to say, shouldn't we be the ones who are unhappy? We relied on our own strength to defeat them and win the championship! What a glorious achievement, but our opponents are questioning us! Who can stand such an insult?"

"Barcelona thinks that any team that doesn't win like them through offense is ugly! Even if they win against them, it's not a real victory! So, in this game, let's use a storm of attacks to tell those idiots who think they are the only ones in the world who can play offensive football that Liverpool doesn't rely on luck to beat them, it's fair and reasonable! This time, we will make Barcelona, who is always good at making excuses, have no more excuses!"

Martin O'Neill successfully aroused the anger of the Liverpool players.

They won the Champions League last season, which was originally a very happy thing.

But the words that Barcelona players said after the game made them feel as disgusting as eating a thousand live flies.

Their good mood was ruined.

So they had been holding back their anger.

This fire has been held back for almost a whole year, and now there is finally a channel to vent it!

In fact, even without Chen Hero, this semi-final against Barcelona was insurmountable.

Because Liverpool had been eager to show Barcelona what they were made of.

That's why in the quarter-final against Dortmund, Liverpool used a devastating blitz in the first leg at home to completely defeat Dortmund.

Because they couldn't wait to ravage Barcelona again in the semi-finals!

Barcelona still thought they were taking revenge?

No, in fact, they were just stupid rabbits running into a tree stump...

※※※

The players from both sides entered the field, and the cheers received by the Liverpool players were thousands of times greater than those of Barcelona.

It wasn't that the cheers from the Liverpool fans were so loud, but that the welcome Barcelona received was negative—there was no cheering at all, only boos filling the sky.

The powerful boos directly sealed off any sound from Barcelona's three thousand-plus fans. At Anfield, they couldn't even utter a syllable!

They didn't even have the thought to think!

Pique and his teammates thought that the Liverpool fans hated them so much because of Chen Hero's instigation.

In fact, they didn't know that it was their words after last year's Champions League final that completely angered the Liverpool fans.

The Liverpool players would be furious at the Barcelona players' "this result is unfair" statement, let alone the fans who were more loyal and had deeper feelings for their team.

Liverpool finally won the Champions League again, and the happiest people were not even the Liverpool players, but these ordinary fans.

But the words of the Barcelona players were like pouring a bucket of ice water on their heads.

Who could stand such a thing?

The Liverpool players might be reluctant to say anything due to their status as professional players and public figures.

The fans didn't care. Over the past year, Liverpool fans had privately cursed Barcelona a lot. They cursed them for being sore losers, petty, and making excuses.

The reason they cursed in private was because they didn't have the opportunity to publicly curse Barcelona to their faces.

Now the opportunity had come.

The earth-shattering boos, like a raging storm, were the result of the Liverpool fans' anger materializing.

Under the huge boos, the Barcelona players cast even more unfriendly glances at Chen Hero.

They still thought that Chen Hero had provoked all of this, but no one thought that this was the cause they had planted last year, and the fruit they were harvesting.

As Chen Hero said.

They were always very good at making excuses...

This skill had been integrated into their blood and bones, so they didn't even think that there was anything wrong with their words, or what kind of harm it would bring to their opponents.

Their past strength had long made them think that they were the center of the universe. Except for themselves, no one else was important, so naturally they didn't need to consider the feelings and thoughts of others. Anything that didn't meet their requirements or expectations was definitely "unreasonable," "unfair," or "problematic."

※※※

During the pre-match handshake, every Barcelona player acted as if they were touching something very disgusting when they shook hands with Chen Hero.

Their fingertips quickly retracted as soon as they touched Chen Hero—this action couldn't be considered a handshake at all, only a touch.

Chen Hero didn't care. He also disliked these Barcelona "heavenly chosen ones"—they had been kicked off the altar by him for five seasons, how could these people still have an air of "I am the chosen one"? Did they still think they were the best in the world?

Keep dreaming!

Others might indulge you, but I don't spoil kids!

I'm going to strip off the things you've always been proud of today, and completely shatter and destroy you from the inside out!

I'm best at saving people from their past dreams!

※※※

After the two sides shook hands, it was the coin toss ceremony. The captains of the two teams took the initiative to come forward to guess the coin.

For Liverpool, it was the old captain Gerrard, and for Barcelona, it was Messi.

In the end, Barcelona won the toss, and Messi chose the half that Barcelona was currently in, without any changes.

And Liverpool got the kickoff.

This was what Chen Hero had dreamed of, because Liverpool could firmly control the ball from the very beginning of the game, and then launch a fierce attack on Barcelona.

When Gerrard got the ball back and returned to the team, he gathered all his teammates and formed a circle in the half.

"Good news, guys." Gerrard said to his teammates, "We're kicking off first!"

Chen Hero yelled and clenched his fist and shook it.

"Then from the first second of the game, show them Liverpool's powerful attack!" Chen Hero said after yelling. "Those ignorant people always thought that Barcelona represented the ultimate in offensive football. We're here today to popularize science and tell those idiots that the ultimate in attack is in our Liverpool!"

Chen Hero's words made everyone's blood boil.

"Attack—!!!"

They let out such a roar.

※※※

On the Barcelona side, after the coin toss, they stood in their respective positions, waiting for the game to begin.

They didn't expect Liverpool to form a circle and shout something.

Wasn't this something only small teams would do?

Pique stood on the defensive line and smiled at his center-back partner Mascherano: "A bunch of idiots think they can beat us by pretending to be intimidating and shouting a few times? How naive!"

Mascherano next to him was also amused by Liverpool's behavior.

Only weak teams would do such superfluous things, what pre-match morale boosting... if it was so easy to boost morale, the coach would have an easy job.

Many Barcelona players looked at the bunch of idiot-like Liverpool players with playful smiles on their faces.

This game might be much easier than they imagined...