Chapter 152 Like a Siege Ram

Chen Hero's goal was like a siege ram, smashing open Eindhoven's tightly closed city gates, and then Liverpool's army took the opportunity to enter the city, burning, killing, and looting.

Just like they were doing now.

After Chen Hero scored, Eindhoven's defense showed signs of loosening. Because this was their home game, if they ended up losing, they wouldn't even think about getting points away from home. If they wanted to secure second place in the group—they wouldn't even dream of competing with Liverpool for first place, which was too extravagant and impossible—they had to get points in this game, and try to win if possible. If they couldn't win, they should strive for a draw. Getting one point was much better than getting none at all.

So when they conceded a goal, they would definitely attack, and with more intensity than before.

In that case, there would inevitably be many loopholes and gaps in their defense, and Liverpool could completely secure the victory by seizing a few opportunities.

That was exactly what happened.

Liverpool's goals quickly came one after another.

In the twenty-eighth minute, Suárez scored his first Champions League goal of the season.

Liverpool led Eindhoven 2-0.

In the forty-first minute, Liverpool scored again. This time it was Suárez again, who performed very well after returning to the field after being sidelined for more than half a year due to injury.

At the end of the first half, Liverpool were already leading Eindhoven 3-0. As the commentator said, the game had lost all suspense.

Even if Eindhoven could chase back two goals in the second half, they couldn't stop Liverpool from continuing to score. Because if they went all out, Liverpool could take advantage of the opportunity to counterattack.

Defensive counterattacks were Liverpool's forte and what they liked to do.

Leading by three goals in the first half made the second half of the game a bit dull. Liverpool's players seemed satisfied with the score. O'Neill was also satisfied, so he started making frequent substitutions in the second half, using up all three substitution slots early.

Then Eindhoven scored a goal before the end of the game, but it didn't affect the overall situation.

Liverpool ultimately won Eindhoven 3-1 away from home, securing their first victory in the new season's Champions League.

For Liverpool, it was a very successful game, but the media felt that the game wasn't necessarily that good for Chen Hero.

Because he only scored one goal.

After the game, many people were focused on the issue of Chen Hero only scoring one goal.

As if Chen Hero only scoring one goal was a big deal. On the contrary, if he had scored many goals, everyone would have thought it was normal.

The day after the game, many European sports media outlets, and of course, all the Chinese media, were discussing one thing: why Chen Hero only scored one goal in the first Champions League game…

"...After scoring, Hero rushed to the camera and showed us the second Champions League tattoo on his arm, indicating that he has won two Champions League titles. It can be seen that he is also very eager for this season's Champions League. But he seemed to lack fighting spirit in the game, only scored one goal, and then there was nothing more..."

"...Perhaps Eindhoven, a second-tier team, is too weak, making it impossible for Hero to muster more interest. In this game against Eindhoven, Chen Hero showed a lack of fighting spirit, and the number of shots on goal decreased. More often, he was setting up plays for his teammates... Did he think that Liverpool could easily defeat Eindhoven without him having to do it himself? Although it has been proven to be true, I think Eindhoven must feel insulted..."

"...Suárez was the best player in yesterday's game, and he also won the Man of the Match award. In stark contrast was Chen Hero, who only scored one goal in the game... Yes, readers, don't be surprised. If we were talking about other players, anyone, scoring a goal in a game would be a cause for celebration, indicating that they are in good form. But this law is not suitable for Chen Hero. Because for Chen Hero, scoring less than a brace in a game is not normal! A hat-trick is considered a good performance..."

In fact, this statement was nonsense. Chen Hero scoring one goal in a game was considered good. A brace wasn't something you could get whenever you wanted, let alone a hat-trick. But the media didn't care so much. They would do whatever attracted attention. Such a simple and normal thing as eating, in their mouths, became something shocking like "eating shit."

But did they really eat shit? They didn't care. How could they attract attention if they didn't say it like that? How could they satisfy readers' desire for the sensational if they didn't say it like that?

If they honestly reported that Chen Hero scored one goal, two goals, or three goals in the Champions League, readers would lose interest over time. Only by occasionally finding some gimmicks to hype up would they get sales.

So, what was the reason why Chen Hero only scored one goal?

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Chen Hero couldn't help but laugh when he saw the media's reaction after the game.

Suárez, on the other hand, was gloating next to him, saying that Chen Hero's position as the number one star was about to be lost. Watch Suárez take the throne as Liverpool's top dog!

Chen Hero gave him the middle finger.

This was a way for two close friends to joke with each other. This method might be difficult for strangers to understand because it didn't seem like the two people had a good relationship.

But people familiar with them wouldn't be surprised. Because that's what close friends were like.

They were the best frenemies.

The reason why Chen Hero only scored one goal in that game was very simple. It wasn't that Chen Hero was in bad form, nor was it that Chen Hero lacked fighting spirit, but that Chen Hero wanted Suárez to score more goals, after all, this was Suárez's first Champions League game after recovering from injury.

Last season, Liverpool ultimately won the Champions League, but Suárez basically had nothing to do with it.

So, Chen Hero wanted to help his good friend regain his form as soon as possible, boost his confidence, and also as a kind of compensation for his good friend.

Such a simple thing became two completely different things in the mouths of the media.

Chen Hero and Suárez both understood each other. Chen Hero didn't care at all about what the media said about him. He would naturally use his actual performance to slap the reporters in the face. Suárez, on the other hand, was too lazy to explain so much to the media, so neither of them came forward to explain anything.

The media continued to say it, and as they said it more and more, it became true. So everyone believed that Chen Hero was in bad form in this game, which might even affect the league game on the weekend.

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Only Advocaat didn't believe it.

Chelsea coach Advocaat scoffed at the media's claims about Chen Hero's poor form.

Based on his understanding of Chen Hero, and his observation of Chen Hero, after watching the recording of that game, he could tell at a glance that Chen Hero wasn't in bad form, but was deliberately suppressing his form.

As for why, he wasn't a蛔虫 (huíchóng,蛔虫 is a kind of parasite in human belly, meaning he can’t read Hero’s mind), so he didn't know.

But the reason wasn't important. What was important was that he knew Chen Hero was actually in good form.

That was enough. Everything else was useless to the Chelsea coach!

If Chen Hero was in good form, he had to be careful.

Because the next game was Chelsea's home game against Liverpool in the league.

Although it was a home game, Advocaat didn't think that the home field was an advantage, unless he bribed the referee.

He had to treat Liverpool the same way as if he were playing away.

Even so, the powerful Liverpool was still not something this current Chelsea team could resist.

In the weekend's league game, Liverpool defeated Chelsea 4-2 away from home after ninety minutes of fierce fighting.

Chelsea showed great tenacity. They even scored two goals in the game, one of which was a comeback to take the lead.

But Liverpool was just too strong.

After being reversed, they immediately erupted with tremendous combat power, like a supercar suddenly turning on its nitrous oxide boost, with blue flames spraying from its ass, instantly surpassing Chelsea.

Five minutes after Chelsea reversed them, Liverpool equalized with a free kick from Chen Hero.

Seven minutes later, Chen Hero's hat-trick helped Liverpool regain the lead.

In the seventy-ninth minute, Götze gave Chelsea a fatal blow. After switching to the wing, he used his skills to dribble into the penalty area, and then took a shot from a narrow angle. The ball went into the goal from under goalkeeper Čech's arm.

The score was frozen at 4-2, completely ending the suspense.

Many Chelsea fans in the stands even began to leave early—because Liverpool's performance in the last thirty minutes of the game was so desperate that they simply couldn't see any hope for their team to defeat Liverpool.

Chelsea, as a former Premier League powerhouse, performed like an ordinary mid-table Premier League team in front of Liverpool.

Now people could clearly see how much the rise of Liverpool was changing the landscape of the Premier League.

Many teams that everyone had been familiar with since the Premier League era, and which they considered to be strong teams as a matter of course, suddenly became unbearable. In front of Liverpool, they were no different from ordinary teams.

The landscape of the Premier League was changing. The old order was collapsing, represented by Manchester United no longer being strong. The new order was being established, represented by Liverpool's resurgence.

But in fact, this wasn't new. Because in the more than one hundred years of English football history, such replacements of old and new dynasties had happened countless times. Those early overlords who shook the world, their names couldn't even be seen now. They could only mix in the lower leagues, or even disappear altogether.

Manchester United and Liverpool, these old rivals, had also taken turns many times in history.

Time was so long that some heroes would be submerged in the dust of history, while new heroes would rise.

This was the law of nature.

Perhaps for those fans who only started watching the Premier League after the Premier League era, this change would be difficult for them to accept for a while.

But for Liverpool fans, this was a change that made them ecstatic.

And Chen Hero was the key figure who brought about all of this. Like the protagonist with a destiny in an epic legend, his appearance often meant a turning point in history.

It seems that Li Ning really should find Chen Hero to be their spokesperson…

Because, Hero, makes the change happen.

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ps, begging Li Ning for advertising fees!!