Until halftime, Manchester United had failed to equalize, though Liverpool didn't score again either.

During halftime, Ferguson sighed and readjusted his strategy—instead of focusing too much on how to deal with Chen Hero, he sought ways to score against Liverpool.

The key to winning wasn't preventing Chen Hero from scoring, but whether we could score against Liverpool...

After the second half began, Manchester United were noticeably more aggressive than in the first half. Their counterattacks also increased, which improved the situation on the field.

In the first half, because Manchester United couldn't apply enough pressure to Liverpool, Liverpool's players could push forward and attack without restraint. This increased the pressure on Manchester United's defense, creating a vicious cycle where the situation worsened.

Now, things were different. After Manchester United started counterattacking, they could effectively reduce their defensive pressure, forcing Liverpool's players to retreat and preventing them from launching a full-scale attack.

The two sides then entered a stalemate.

Both teams engaged in intense midfield battles, leading to more physical contact and a heightened sense of tension.

After all, this was England's national derby, and both sides harbored deep animosity.

Even a small friction could spark a major conflict.

The second half mainly involved close-quarters combat, turning into a physical slugfest.

During this period, Chen Hero had fewer scoring opportunities.

Eventually, the referee issued four yellow cards in fifteen minutes to quell the rising tension.

The game gradually returned to normal.

But there wasn't much time left for either side.

Since Liverpool only had a one-goal lead, Manchester United remained confident. They only needed one goal to tie the game, and a draw was acceptable to Ferguson.

Similarly, Liverpool knew their one-goal lead was precarious, giving Manchester United too much hope. They needed another goal to reassure everyone.

So they attacked with everything they had.

Both sides were working hard, giving it their all.

The result? No one scored for the rest of the match.

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"The game is over! Manchester United went all-in at the last moment, but they failed to breach Liverpool's goal! Liverpool defeated Manchester United 1-0 at home! The goal scorer is Chen Hero!"

"Hero's twentieth goal of the season helped the team defeat their arch-rival Manchester United at home! Mocking songs filled the stands at Anfield..."

As soon as the game ended, the TV broadcast switched to close-up shots of Chen Hero, following him wherever he went.

He wasn't the best player of the match because, frankly, his most shining moment was that one goal.

However, his goal secured the victory for the team, and it was the only goal of the match, so focusing on him with close-up shots was justified.

After the game, reporters pulled Chen Hero into the mixed zone for interviews.

Everyone asked him about his pre-match comments about Manchester United, and Chen Hero honestly admitted, "I didn't really mean all of that, um... it was psychological warfare. Yes, since Manchester United can play psychological games with me, naturally I can do the same!"

The reporters exchanged glances—of course, we knew it!

Someone else asked him, "What about your assessment of Ferguson..."

"That wasn't a lie. Ferguson is indeed the most outstanding coach in English football right now. So I feel great about defeating the most outstanding coach!"

You are excellent, you are the best, but you still have to be my stepping stone...

One wonders if Ferguson would be so frustrated he'd vomit blood upon hearing those words...

Though Ferguson didn't hear Chen Hero's words, he responded in his press conference, refusing to comment on Liverpool's Chen Hero. "You should ask Martin O'Neill about that, he's the Liverpool coach, not me. So what Hero is like has nothing to do with me."

"Isn't it a headache to play against him? He eliminated Manchester United when he was at Napoli..." But the reporters persisted, demanding he give a concrete answer.

Ferguson directly changed the subject: "Next question."

It was clear that Ferguson didn't genuinely admire Chen Hero, or at least not publicly. As for what he truly thought deep down, who knew? Whether he praised or criticized Chen Hero, it was all for strategic needs, part of a plan.

To win against Liverpool this time, he could praise Chen Hero as one of the top three players in the world. Next time, to provoke Chen Hero, he might say, "Hero? Who's that?"

Now that the game was over and Manchester United had lost to their arch-rivals, Ferguson was in a bad mood, and the media were being so tactless. It would be strange if the Old Sir gave them a friendly face.

The media knew Ferguson's temper, so after asking two questions related to Chen Hero and seeing Ferguson ignore them, they switched topics. If they really angered Ferguson, he might ban them for a year or two, which wouldn't be good. Everyone was just trying to make a living, there was no need to be so confrontational.

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After the game against Manchester United, other than the psychological warfare between Chen Hero and Ferguson, there wasn't much to say, and the media quickly shifted their focus.

The derby didn't cause too much of a stir.

After the match, Liverpool Football Club held a Christmas banquet.

The players were invited to attend. Having just defeated Manchester United in the league and regained the top spot, they seemed very relaxed. The banquet was held in a very pleasant and happy atmosphere.

First, Club Chairman Chen Xing came forward to thank the players and staff for their efforts over the past year. Then, coach Martin O'Neill took the stage to give a speech.

Finally, everyone gathered to eat and chat.

Unlike the banquets Chen Hero had attended in Naples, where families were allowed, this time it was just the players.

The topics of discussion were also related to football.

As the alcohol flowed, Suarez jumped up.

He ran onto the stage, approached the microphone, coughed, and after attracting everyone's attention, said, "Guys! I have something to announce!"

Everyone turned to look at him, wondering what he was going to say.

The members of the Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Gang were also surprised: "What's Luis up to?"

"Who knows!"

"What's he trying to pull..."

"You're not going to confess your love to someone, are you, Luis!" Chen Hero teased. "We're all men here!"

Everyone laughed at that.

Suarez glared at him: "It's related to you, and you're still trying to sabotage me!"

Chen Hero was shocked: "I don't like men!"

His teammates laughed even harder.

Suarez gave him the middle finger and ignored his antics, turning to the others: "So far this season, as you've all seen, we've done a great job!"

Jokes aside, when it came to serious matters, friends still had to support Suarez, so Chen Hero, Sanchez, Skrtel, and others took the lead in clapping and whistling.

"Yes! We're great!"

"Yes! We're the strongest!"

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Liverpool! Liverpool!"

Once everyone had finished making noise, Suarez continued, "But it's not good enough! I don't know what goals the club has set for the team, and that has nothing to do with what I'm going to say today. What I want to talk about is..." He pointed to Chen Hero. "Hero's goal!"

Chen Hero was taken aback—this really was something related to him...

"The thing is, this madman Hero told us a very crazy goal, and I don't think he can achieve it alone. This goal requires us to work together to help him achieve it."

Everyone turned to look at Chen Hero, while others became serious, listening intently. Because there was a goal that even Chen Hero couldn't achieve on his own... everyone was very interested and wanted to hear what the specific goal was.

"Hero plans to score at least twenty goals in this season's Europa League!"

"Hiss—" A uniform intake of breath swept through the room.

Scoring at least twenty goals! What kind of concept was that? Falcao, at his craziest, only scored seventeen goals... and that was considered an unsurpassable Europa League record.

Chen Hero wanted to raise this record by three goals right off the bat! And he said it was "at least," meaning that if possible, he would pursue an even higher goal...

Chen Xing and Niang exchanged glances after hearing what Suarez said. They both saw the surprise in each other's eyes.

Neither of them had heard Chen Hero mention this.

Martin O'Neill, on the other hand, seemed calm, because Chen Hero had already told him about this goal in order to play in the last group match against Gliga. His reaction at the time wasn't much better than everyone else's, but he was over the surprise now.

"But he's already scored fourteen goals..." Someone suddenly remembered, no wonder Chen Hero had been trying so hard to score in the Europa League this season... so there was this reason.

"Yes, but that was in the group stage, and the group stage opponents were all weak!" Suarez said.

"The knockout stage is different, guys! The knockout stage opponents will be strong! I don't know how far we can go, I don't get to decide that..." Suarez looked at Coach O'Neill and continued, "So we have to help Hero score more goals in the knockout stage! I don't know how far we can go in the end, and I don't know how many goals Hero will score in the end, but I think... he must score a lot of goals to be worthy of our help. So I have this idea—what's twenty goals? That's just the starting point! If we're going to play, let's play big! Let's create an amazing record that will amaze the world and that no one can surpass!"

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ps, Burst update notice, starting tomorrow, four updates per day!!!

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