Chapter 1214 Ballon d'Or

Previously, the awards were given out in December every year, but since FIFA merged the World Player of the Year award with the Ballon d'Or, the awards ceremony was moved to January. So now January has become one of the most important months in the world of football.

In January 2013, the various awards for 2012 would be presented.

Because Liverpool didn't have any European matches, only played in the Premier League, and there were no national team games, Chen Hero didn't even make it into the final three nominees this time. Naturally, Chen Hero didn't receive any invitation from FIFA either.

Ever since he fell out with FIFA over the awards last year, Chen Hero has had nothing to do with FIFA.

This year's Ballon d'Or was ultimately given to Messi, a result that was unsurprising and unoriginal.

Although there was the European Championship last year and Germany won the championship, it was difficult to name a number one star in the German team who could overshadow the other players. Özil was the midfield core, "Little Pig" Schweinsteiger was the team's metronome, and there were also Thomas Müller, Captain Lahm, goalkeeper Neuer... These people were all important contributors to the team's victory, and it was hard to say who was the best.

In this regard, they couldn't compete with Messi.

Messi's performance in the Champions League was simply too outstanding. A record of eighteen goals in a single season made many people feel that it was impossible to break.

In addition, Messi's reputation was obviously greater than that of Özil, Schweinsteiger... and those German players, giving him a great advantage in the votes of national team coaches and captains.

When Messi won the Ballon d'Or, the global media was buzzing about it, and everyone sent all the praise they could think of to Messi, depicting Messi as a genius who only appears once every hundred years in the world of football, and stating that with just a World Cup title, Messi would definitely be the undisputed next-generation "King of Football."

It's no wonder the media was so flattering. Messi's award this time was his fourth consecutive World Player of the Year award, which is now the FIFA Ballon d'Or. He had already created an unprecedented record—an achievement that no player had ever been able to achieve before. The alien Ronaldo had won the World Player of the Year three times in his career, which was already considered a remarkable achievement at that time, and he had not won the honor for three consecutive years.

Not only did Messi win the FIFA Ballon d'Or for four consecutive years, but he also won the European Ballon d'Or twice in those four years—in 2010, because it was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year award, there was no European Ballon d'Or that year, and in 2011, when UEFA re-organized the European Ballon d'Or, Messi was robbed of one by Hero.

Messi has become a "phenomenon" in the world of football, and everyone says that today's players are divided into two types: one is called "Messi" and the other is called "player."

This blatant flattery of Messi made Chen Hero very unhappy.

Because he was classified into the "player" category, and was completely different from Messi. But Chen Hero didn't think he and Messi were two different classes.

But apart from feeling unhappy in his heart, he had no other way to vent it.

If the media came to him to ask for his opinion on Messi winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or for four consecutive years, he would be able to take the opportunity to express his disdain.

But no media came to him.

That's why he was so looking forward to the Europa League.

He can only use one goal after another on the field to make everyone understand—I, Chen Hero, am much better than Messi!

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On February 2nd, in the twenty-fifth round of the league, Liverpool welcomed Sunderland at home. In this game, Liverpool still sent out all their main players, and finally at their home stadium, they defeated the "Black Cats" with a score of 3:0.

Chen Hero scored a goal in the game, and his Premier League goals this season have reached an astonishing thirty.

Van Persie, who is ranked second, has only scored eighteen goals, a difference of twelve, and he has no hope of winning the Golden Boot this season.

Van Persie realized at this time how foolish his idea last season was—if not this season, then next season? Next season is still Chen Hero's world!

On February 10th, in the twenty-sixth round of the league, the last league game before the Europa League knockout stage, Liverpool challenged Chelsea away.

Now Liverpool are at the top of the league table, leading second-placed Manchester City by four points. This gap makes Martin O'Neill feel relieved and safe, so he can calmly carry out his rotation.

Playing Chelsea away, Liverpool did not send out all their main players. They only sent half of their main players, and Chen Hero came on as a substitute in the seventieth minute.

In the end, Liverpool and Chelsea drew 0:0. Neither side scored. But anyone could see that Liverpool was saving their strength for the Europa League away game against Atletico Madrid.

Of course, this draw was also due to Chelsea's efforts, because Liverpool was saving their strength, and so was Chelsea.

Liverpool has the task of the Europa League, and Chelsea also has the task of the Champions League.

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After playing the game against Chelsea, on February 13th, Chen Hero finally ushered in the Europa League that he had been longing for.

It's hard to imagine that in today's context, there are still giants players and teams that are interested in the Europa League. Last season, Manchester City and Manchester United were kicked into the Europa League. Everyone thought they would set off a bloody storm here, and finally meet in the final, staging a Manchester derby in the Europa final. Who would have thought that after passing the first round of the knockout stage, both teams would abandon their martial arts and be eliminated inexplicably. There are many theories about their elimination, but one factor cannot be ignored, and that is... the Europa League is actually not attractive to these two teams. It is not attractive to Manchester United, because Manchester United is a giant anyway, and is the main team that participates in the Champions League every year, so it is normal not to take the Europa League seriously. But it is also not attractive to nouveau riche like Manchester City, which is very telling. Manchester City has only suddenly risen in the past two years. They should have been grateful to be able to participate in the UEFA Cup before, but now they don't take the UEFA Cup's continuation, the Europa League, seriously, which shows the extent of the competition's influence.

It is said that Platini had just reformed the UEFA Cup into the Europa League a few years ago, and he is already brewing the cancellation of the Europa League and merging the Europa League with the Champions League. The reason is that the Europa League is not attractive to sponsors and television broadcasting organizations, and its ability to attract money is far inferior to the Champions League.

Of course, there are no absolutes. Not all teams are not interested in the Europa League. Not to mention the teams in second-rate leagues and the second-rate teams in first-rate leagues, as long as it is a European war, they are willing. Even among the giant teams, there are also those who are interested in the Europa League.

Liverpool is such a living example.

This has a lot to do with Liverpool's lack of sufficiently weighty championships in recent years.

Liverpool won a League Cup last season, but that is only a domestic championship after all, and it is still the lightest of the three domestic championships. Apart from having special significance for Dalglish, it has no great value for the Liverpool club.

The Europa League is different. No matter how unattractive it is, it is still compared to the Champions League. The Champions League is now the world's number one football event. In terms of influence, even the World Cup cannot compare to it, so it is normal for the Europa League to be unattractive.

The Europa League is a European war, and European war honors are still very tempting for a team. The Champions League champion is called the "European Champion", but the Europa League champion is also called the "European Champion", and is also qualified to participate in the European Super Cup and compete with the Champions League champion for the honor of a "King of European Kings."

This is not comparable to a championship of the English League Cup level—the League Cup champion does not even have the qualification to participate in the Community Shield Cup...

Not to mention Chen Hero's goal, so the entire Liverpool team is now more enthusiastic about participating in the Europa League than playing in the Premier League... After all, they are already ranked first in the Premier League, and many people will naturally have fatigue. In comparison, the Europa League knockout stage is more novel, after all, the opponents are unknown and fresh.

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If Torres was still at Atletico Madrid, the clash between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid could have spawned a story. Unfortunately, today's Liverpool has little Spanish color left, and Torres has left Liverpool. So this is just an ordinary Europa League game.

The most eye-catching person in the Liverpool squad is Chen Hero. From the moment the team arrived at the airport, the media surrounded him.

This is not the first time Chen Hero has come to Madrid to play, but it is the first time he has played against Atletico Madrid.

He had previously played against Real Madrid when he was at Napoli. Atletico Madrid is relatively unfamiliar to him.

This game is not really without hype.

The media defined this game as a "competition between two Europa League top scorers."

Atletico Madrid has striker Falcao, who is the first person Chen Hero has to surpass in the Europa League. It was he who created the record of seventeen goals in the 2010-2011 Europa League, breaking Chen Hero's previous single-season goal record after the UEFA Cup was reformed.

Chen Hero has scored fourteen goals this season, which is only the number of goals in the group stage. He has a great chance of breaking Falcao's record.

So reporters especially want to see what a direct dialogue between these two shooters would be like.

And this is also the best way for Falcao to defend his record—as long as he and Atletico Madrid beat Liverpool in the round of 32, Chen Hero will not be able to continue to advance and score goals, and naturally it will be impossible to threaten his record.

At the same time, Chen Hero is not without a chance. Even if Liverpool is eliminated by Atletico Madrid, as long as he can seize the opportunity and score three goals in these two games... he can become a figure who is on par with Falcao on the Europa League scorer list. If he can score four goals, he can surpass Falcao...

Of course, it is too difficult to score four goals.

Overall, as long as Atletico Madrid can eliminate Liverpool, Falcao's record is safe, at most it is shared with Chen Hero.

At the airport, Chen Hero was blocked by the Madrid media, and everyone wanted him to talk about Falcao's record.

"Record? That thing is meant to be broken!"

Chen Hero lived up to expectations.