Chapter 1 Chen Hero's Performance

Chen Hero's goal plunged Inter Milan into despair. The score of 2:4 meant they had to score another four goals at home to eliminate Napoli with an aggregate score of 7:6, instead of being eliminated due to fewer away goals at 6:6.

Scoring another four goals, such a goal, let alone for the current Inter Milan, even for Mourinho's Inter Milan, it was simply an impossible task in just thirty minutes...

So some of Inter Milan's players were already planning to surrender in advance—forget it, we have already tried our best. We only lost one goal away and scored one away goal. Isn't that a good result? We scored a goal at the beginning of our home game and led twice. Isn't that an excellent performance? But now we are really powerless. Anyway, I have already won the Champions League trophy, and there is nothing rare about it... So, forget it.

No one could know what those players were thinking, but everyone could see that Inter Milan's performance on the field was getting worse and worse, and some people were even too lazy to run.

Leonardo was no longer sitting on the coaching bench, tapping his legs, looking like he was firmly in control. He stood anxiously at the forefront of the command area, leaning forward, stretching his neck, waving his arms, signaling Inter Milan to attack, to press forward, and to pay attention to the area behind De Jong and in front of Napoli's central defenders...

It was as if he couldn't wait to get on the field, resume his old job, and score four goals on behalf of Inter Milan himself.

But it was futile.

Because in fact, from the moment Chen Hero scored twice, this game had become his one-man show.

Everyone was looking forward to what kind of storm Chen Hero could create in the remaining thirty minutes of the game!

This was the most exciting part of the game, this was the real climax, this was the main feature!

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"Hero gets the ball, he shoots from distance... Oh! What a pity, it was blocked by Lucio's body, and the ball went straight out of the baseline, but luckily, he got a corner kick..."

"Napoli's corner kick, this is a moment of great tension for Inter Milan. Let's see where Hero is, he's in front of the goal, and he raised his arm again... Hamsik sends a cross to the near post, Hero! He almost got it, what a pity!"

"Hero jumps up to fight for the header, and he wins again! In terms of heading, Hero is the best in football today, I think there is no doubt about it!"

"Napoli launches an attack, the ball falls to Hero's feet, he shoots... no, he's dribbling! He's actually dribbling inside! It seems that Hero is really in excellent form today, everything he does is right!"

Commentators from all over the world kept repeating Chen Hero's name, as if they were not commentating on the match between Inter Milan and Napoli at Inter Milan's home stadium, but on Chen Hero's match.

A match between two sides with eleven players each was turned into his personal performance by Chen Hero...

And no one found it annoying!

Now, not only the commentators, not only the Chinese fans, but even those fans from other countries, as long as they were watching this game and knew about the competition between Chen Hero and Messi, were beginning to have some faint expectations, wanting to see what extent Chen Hero could reach.

Of course, fans from Barcelona and Argentina were definitely not among them. They were now hoping that the game would end here, or that Chen Hero would not be able to score any more goals. It would be best if Inter Milan suddenly had divine help, and the whole team was like they had taken stimulants, scoring four goals in a row, with the last goal being scored in the last minute and the last second of injury time, leaving Napoli with no chance to counterattack, and then eliminating Napoli with an aggregate score of 7:6.

The happiest reporters in the media box at the Meazza Stadium were from Naples and China. They were already enthusiastically discussing how the whole of Europe... no, the whole world would talk about this game and about Chen Hero the next day.

The TV camera was firmly locked on Chen Hero, constantly giving him close-ups. Even if it didn't give close-ups, he was subtly at the center of the frame.

After this battle, perhaps Chen Hero's status in European football... no, in world football will change, becoming different.

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For a full fifteen minutes after Chen Hero scored twice, although he had some chances, he did not score.

The gap between him and Messi remained at one goal. Seeing that there were only fifteen minutes left in the game, Napoli's offensive also weakened. For them, Inter Milan had lost their fighting spirit, and Napoli's promotion was a foregone conclusion.

In that case, why waste extra physical strength and energy on a game with a destined outcome? It would be better to save some energy for the domestic league.

As a result, the number of times Napoli attacked into Inter Milan's penalty area was significantly reduced.

Those fans who were watching the fun were unhappy.

Of course, it can't be said that Napoli's players were not helping Chen Hero realize his dream, but the current result was good enough for Napoli's players—they were guaranteed to enter the semi-finals, which meant there were at least two more games to play. Now there was only one goal left, and there were two more games. Given Chen Hero's current form, was it still difficult to catch up or even surpass him?

It's not that they weren't helping Chen Hero, it's that they trusted Chen Hero's ability too much.

But Chen Hero's thoughts were different from theirs.

He still had at least two games to play, but Messi also had at least two games.

Besides, he was not used to leaving problems to be solved tomorrow. If it could be solved today, why wait for "next time"?

So he was still trying hard to score goals.

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"Chen Hero is only one goal away from Messi, I really don't know what Messi will feel if he watches this game again..." The commentator was teasing Messi, when Napoli launched an attack.

Raul dribbled the ball forward from the sideline, using his skills to get rid of an Inter Milan defender. He was a thirty-four-year-old veteran, so in theory, this kind of scene should not easily appear on him. But it did happen, and one couldn't help but sigh at how uninterested Inter Milan was in fighting...

Raul did not continue to dribble the ball, he knew that this was not his strength, especially since he was "old."

So after he passed the opponent, he passed the ball to the inside, and looked up to observe the situation in front of the penalty area.

Arshavin was in the center, what about Chen Hero? He ran along the edge of the penalty area to the left side, he was going to meet him.

Why not play a one-two pass with him, just like the previous cooperation between himself and Arshavin, didn't Arshavin eventually assist Hero in scoring?

He dribbled horizontally towards the center, and then saw Chen Hero using his strong body and running position to squeeze Lucio and Samuel behind him, so he passed the ball to him in time.

Then he continued to run, waiting for Chen Hero to pass the ball back.

But Chen Hero's heart was all about scoring goals, and he didn't care about his teammates' running positions at this time. When he saw Raul pass the ball over, he was overjoyed, thinking that Raul was going to assist him.

His body leaned forward slightly, causing the two central defenders to pounce forward at the same time.

Then he used his left foot to stop the ball to the outside of his body!

The ball went to the other side of the two central defenders. Because of their pounce, a Chen Hero was squeezed in between them and the ball!

Chen Hero stopped the ball over, without any other fancy moves, he directly turned around and swung his thick right leg... and shot!

This shot was not like his practice of free kicks in the dungeon, which required attention to the accuracy of the hitting part, it only needed enough force. Chen Hero was playing the idea of "great power creates miracles", so this turning shot used all his strength, and took advantage of the force of the turn, so this powerful shot was surprisingly fast!

Cesar, the Brazilian, the best goalkeeper in the Champions League last season, didn't even have time to make a save in the face of such a long shot. The ball passed by him and hit the net after grazing the far post!

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All the commentators were stunned for at least a second, and those with poor psychological quality probably couldn't speak for several seconds.

It wasn't that they were shocked by this lightning-fast long shot—they had seen more wonderful long shots than this.

They were shocked by Chen Hero's hat-trick. Although they didn't know how many hat-tricks they had seen, it was the first time they had seen a hat-trick with such an extraordinary meaning...

"He... he did it..." The commentators who reacted exclaimed in a stuttering voice. "He really did it! He tied Messi! Nine goals in four games! Oh my god!"

"I can't believe my eyes... Yes, the ball flew into the goal again. Napoli are leading Inter Milan 5:2 away. This may be the most painful defeat Inter Milan has suffered at home in the Champions League, right? But this 'historic defeat' completely fails to arouse people's interest. Compared with Hero's hat-trick, it is simply insignificant!"

"Hero's hat-trick blinded my eyes! It's unbelievable that he only used four games to tie Messi's record of nine goals in ten games!"

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After the fifth goal was conceded, the Inter Milan fans did not boo, nor did they "hold up umbrellas". They stood up from their seats and applauded. As enemies, they were applauding Chen Hero!

Although their team was bloodbathed 5:2 by Napoli at home, they gave their applause to their enemies.

Chen Hero's hat-trick not only made the Napoli fans happy, but also impressed the Inter Milan fans.

In fact, in the Champions League knockout stage, anyone who scores nine goals in just four games deserves the praise of his enemies.

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After scoring the goal, Chen Hero didn't run this time. He just turned around, with his back to the goal and the helpless goalkeeper Cesar, and looked around the stands. Amid the thunderous applause, he slowly raised his right arm.

This time, he only extended one finger at the top, and then bent it down.

The foreign commentators didn't understand it again, but the Chinese understood it.

That was a golden, brilliant "nine"!