Chapter 1 Liverpool vs. Manchester United

If England had a so-called "national derby," then the clash between Liverpool and Manchester United would be it. As the two most successful teams in England, the hatred between them was sown long ago.

However, their animosity isn't solely because they are the most successful teams, each unable to tolerate the other being superior; it's more than just that...

To understand the feud between the two teams, one must consider the rivalry between the two cities—in the world of football, hatred is often associated with geography. Even outside football, regional discrimination is common, not just in China. In China, the fans of Beijing Guoan and Shanghai Shenhua, Beijing Guoan and Tianjin Teda, Sichuan Quanxing and Chongqing Lifan, are hostile towards each other due to their geographical rivalries.

In Italy, northerners look down on southerners, so matches between teams from the north and south are always fiercely contested. Similarly, in England, there are similar divisions.

The animosity between Liverpool and Manchester must be understood by looking at the rivalry between the two cities, a rivalry that began over two hundred years ago, sprouting, and eventually taking root, growing into a towering tree. Before the Industrial Revolution, Liverpool was the most famous port city in England, with much maritime trade passing through it. Manchester, at that time, was relatively unknown.

Later, after the Industrial Revolution, Manchester, as an industrial center, rapidly rose to prominence, but it still relied on the port of Liverpool for raw materials. Although the two cities were only thirty-five miles apart, Liverpool was an unavoidable gateway for Manchester.

One day, Liverpool unilaterally increased import tariffs for Manchester's importers, causing widespread discontent throughout Manchester. To counter Liverpool, Manchester came up with the idea of digging their own artificial canal. Once the canal was built, ships carrying raw materials could bypass Liverpool and reach Manchester directly via the canal.

To this day, the emblems of both Manchester United and Manchester City feature symbols representing this defining characteristic of the entire city of Manchester—the canal and the ships on it.

Manchester no longer had to depend on Liverpool's goodwill, but the hatred between the people of the two cities did not end there.

For a long time, Liverpudlians looked down on Mancunians. They mocked the people of Manchester as blue-collar manufacturing workers, while they considered themselves white-collar workers in transportation and finance. As the saying goes, "there's the Liverpool gentleman and the Manchester man." Mancunians, in turn, called Liverpudlians "scousers," a term derived from a type of stewed beef that Liverpudlians used to eat, now a derogatory term for people from Liverpool. Everyone except those from Manchester uses the term neutrally, and the Liverpool dialect is also called "Scouse," which is difficult to understand. But when Mancunians say it, it's a term of utter contempt.

Now, the two cities are engaged in a new war to become the "second city of England"...

As everyone knows, Liverpool and Everton are bitter cross-town rivals, and they had just played a derby, the atmosphere of which left a deep impression on Chen Hero.

But whether they are Liverpool fans or Everton fans, they all hate Manchester United the most. If you meet someone from Liverpool and you are not sure if they are a Liverpool fan or an Everton fan, there is one thing you can do that is guaranteed to be right: curse Manchester United.

This is because of the hatred between the city of Liverpool and the city of Manchester. When Rooney transferred from Everton to Manchester United, many Everton fans were furious.

There is a saying—if it weren't for Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton would be parallel lines.

The first clash between Liverpool and Manchester United was in October 1895, when Liverpool won 7:1, but in the return match a month later, Manchester United responded with a 5:2 victory, and the rivalry between the teams from the two hostile cities officially began.

The glory of the two teams can be divided by era. The 1950s and 1960s were Manchester United's golden age. The 1970s and 1980s belonged to Liverpool, and from the 1990s to the present, it has mostly been Manchester United's era.

In terms of honors, Liverpool has won more Champions League titles. They have always claimed to be the most successful team in England, while Manchester United claims to be the symbol of England. After winning the Premier League title last season, they surpassed Liverpool's eighteen titles with nineteen top-flight league titles, becoming the team with the most top-flight league titles in England.

When Liverpool fans see Manchester United fans, they always hold up four fingers and shout, "We have four!" After the Miracle of Istanbul, they directly held up a palm and shouted, "We have five!" This refers to the Champions League honors. Liverpool has five Champions League titles, the most of any team in England. Manchester United has only three, two less than Liverpool.

Manchester United fans respond by holding up ten fingers when they see Liverpool fans—to show that they have won ten Premier League titles. But now ten fingers are not enough, Manchester United has won twelve Premier League titles. And Liverpool hasn't won a single Premier League title...

When facing Manchester United at Anfield, the stands are full of flags provoking Manchester United. Unfortunately, Old Trafford banned flags completely several years ago, otherwise, there would be no shortage of flags provoking Liverpool.

What truly made the two clubs bitter enemies stemmed from their respective tragedies. After Manchester United's Munich air disaster, some radical Liverpool fans mocked the tragedy and wrote many songs mocking the disaster, singing them loudly during matches between the two teams! In the 1980s, the Hillsborough disaster also occurred in Liverpool, and in retaliation, some radical Manchester United fans did the same...

This made the relationship between the two sides increasingly strained and worsened.

There is another thing that can well illustrate the extent of the hatred between the two teams.

Even between bitter rivals like Real Madrid and Barcelona, or AC Milan and Inter Milan, there are often player transfers between them. But Manchester United and Liverpool have not had a direct player transfer for forty-seven years. When Heinze fell out with Sir Alex Ferguson and wanted to transfer, the Argentine, who did not fully understand the hatred between Liverpool and Manchester United, directly expressed his desire to go to Liverpool, which was met with fierce criticism from Manchester United fans.

At that time, Liverpool's manager, the Spaniard Benitez, either didn't know that the two teams hadn't had a player transfer for more than forty years, or he was deliberately trying to disgust Manchester United. He actually made an offer to Manchester United... Of course, the offer was rejected by Manchester United without hesitation. Ferguson said that the best way to deal with such an offer was to throw it under the bed, which is exactly what he did.

In the end, Heinze was sold by Manchester United to Real Madrid. The Argentine was never able to go to Liverpool. The tradition of no contact between Liverpool and Manchester United continued...

This may be the team with the most obvious and exaggerated rivalry that Chen Hero has ever joined.

St. Petersburg and Moscow also have rivalries within Russia, with each looking down on the other. But the animosity between the two teams is not so deep, more of a competitive sports rivalry. Even the hatred between Napoli and the three northern powerhouses in Italy is so deep, involving political and economic factors, but it has not prevented transfers between the two sides, has it?

Manchester United and Liverpool have really done it, and have persisted for so long. It has to be said that as the birthplace of modern football, England really does many things more deeply than other places—loves more deeply, and hates more deeply...

Chen Hero knew that Liverpool and Manchester United were rivals, but he didn't know to what extent, and he didn't know much about the story behind the rivalry—he was a player, he only cared about playing football, and he didn't care about many things.

In fact, even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care too much. He would still play football and win games. Anyway, no matter who the opponent is, he will pursue victory.

On the other hand, in China, some Manchester United fans expressed great anger at Chen Hero's transfer to Liverpool, and some even burned Chen Hero's Napoli jerseys and posters, filmed videos, and uploaded them to the Internet to vent their dissatisfaction.

But their actions were met with ridicule and criticism from many people. Because the deep hatred between Liverpool and Manchester United is related to their local history, politics, economics, and culture. For the Chinese, it is just a spectacle. Manchester United fans disliking Liverpool, or Liverpool fans disliking Manchester United, should be more about the competitive relationship between the two teams, far from hating to that extent... It is excessive to vent their anger on Chen Hero, and even burn Chen Hero's jerseys.

Could it be that their compatriot, a player who once brought them countless joy and passion, is less important to them than a foreign team that has nothing to do with them and has no interaction with them?

Before the game between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield even started, Manchester United fans and Liverpool fans in China were already at war, attacking each other, cursing each other in various ways, and even insulting each other's entire female family, going back eighteen generations... For a time, bricks and saliva flew everywhere. Greetings like "Fuck your mother" and "Your mother gave birth to you after I fucked her" were endless. The war spread from fan forums to QQ groups, to the message boards of sports news, and various Weibo and blogs... The scene was spectacular.

But for Chinese fans, this is nothing new. It is not just that there is such a big hatred between Manchester United and Liverpool. Real Madrid fans and Barcelona fans, Inter Milan fans and AC Milan fans, Brazil fans and Argentina fans, German fans and England fans, Italian fans and England fans, Spanish fans and German fans... As long as there is sectarian strife, any two sides can quarrel with each other, scolding each other, fighting in multiple ways, men and women mixing and scolding... Those ever-changing ways of cursing fully refuted the rumors that we Chinese lack imagination and innovative spirit!

Football commentators, football reporters, and football novelists are the easiest groups to be shot while lying down. If you praise a team in a game, news, or novel, you will definitely be classified by their rival fans as a fan of the team you praised. If you dare to criticize a team, then you are finished, you will definitely be scolded by the fans of this team as something worse than pigs and dogs... It is said that a football novelist got into a flame war with someone on the forum, and in the end, the other party created a *** incident involving him and his wife. Although this was fake, using screenshots from self-made videos from Cao Liu to impersonate, it really fooled a lot of people...

Look, just because the teams they support are different, some people can do things that violate laws and morals, such as creating false impressions, slandering, and insulting other people's wives and families, and they are still complacent, not ashamed but proud.

It has to be said that the enthusiasm of our Chinese wealthy fans is probably no less than that of those real fans abroad—the level of Chinese football is still far from being in line with the world, but the enthusiasm of Chinese fans is probably already in line with the world...

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Chen Hero was not very clear about the century-old grievances between Liverpool and Manchester United. These were two rival fans, and he hadn't experienced similar games?

What made him feel that the hatred between Liverpool and Manchester United was different from the previous two teams he played for was that from the time the players returned to the club one after another and began to prepare for the game against Manchester United, the atmosphere in the team suddenly changed.

Even the injured Gerrard was starting to step up his rehabilitation training, hoping to be ready for the game.

Vice-captain Carragher cursed Manchester United players and the team as sons of bitches in the locker room more than once—they were once teammates in the national team, but in the national team, they could bury the hatchet because everyone had to fight for England. Now that they are in their respective clubs, they are naturally fighting for their own masters. This hatred is entirely directed at Manchester United, not a specific person. Many professional players are very skilled in switching between these hateful attitudes—although the hatred between Real Madrid and Barcelona has escalated repeatedly in the past year or so, the players of the two teams still have to fight side by side when they arrive in the Spanish national team. If Barcelona players are bullied by their opponents in national team games, Real Madrid players will also stand up for them.

In addition to the air in the locker room becoming tense, the air on the training ground was also filled with the atmosphere of "the mountain rain is coming, and the wind is filling the building."

Coach Dalglish looked solemn, the amount of training also increased significantly, and the coaches of the coaching staff roared and roared more and more during training. If a player was distracted or made a mistake during training, he would definitely be greeted by Dalglish's angry questioning and extremely exaggerated body language—those who didn't understand might think that the "King" was going to hit the player...

Those fans and reporters who surrounded Melwood to watch training and conduct interviews also increased. The fans shouted various anti-Manchester United slogans. And the reporters were most concerned about whether Gerrard, Liverpool's soul, could play in such an important game. Could Chen Hero continue his scoring streak? Would the two-week league break affect Chen Hero's scoring feeling? The last time he didn't score in two consecutive rounds after the national team match day, which led to Liverpool losing two consecutive games, and for a time Dalglish's voice was loud...

These feelings were not felt by Chen Hero when he was in St. Petersburg Zenit and Napoli, or rather, he didn't feel them as deeply as he does now.

A reporter interviewed him, asking him what he thought about the battle against Manchester United.

His answer was very much his style: "I don't care who the opponent is, I'm going to defeat them anyway."

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ps, first use automatic update to send out the two chapters to guarantee the bottom, and then the monthly ticket will be added when I get up...

I believe there will be an opportunity to add more, right?