Chapter 1 I Just Want to Hammer Them

Chen Hero's idea was to use his heavy blows to bombard Inter Milan again and again, to see how long they could last.

So no matter what method, as long as the football reached his feet, he would unhesitatingly choose to shoot, long shots, headers,抢点 (qiangdian, seizing a point) in the penalty area... He had tried all these methods.

But Inter Milan's old guys were really more tenacious than he had imagined.

In Chen Hero's eyes, this group of Inter Milan players had all transformed into characters like ***, using their bodies to block the gun, dissolving his every shot.

So until the end of the first half, he hadn't been able to score, and neither had anyone else on Liverpool.

The score was still 0:0.

"Every time it gets to the final, the game becomes ugly, and this game is no exception. Before, Liverpool was a team that held high the banner of offensive football, and they could score a lot of goals in every game. But like this game, not scoring a single goal in the first half is a first for them!"

"Inter Milan's tactics are very successful, they have contained Chen Hero. But they have also killed the watchability of this game... This is why many people don't like this kind of football... What we want to see are wonderful goals, not a dull defensive stalemate!"

"Inter Milan did a great job! They successfully prevented Liverpool from scoring a single goal in the first forty-five minutes of the first half! As long as they stick to this style of play, I believe there will be a moment for them in the second half!"

"The performance of Inter Milan's old guys is admirable! They are united! We have rarely seen them work so hard and desperately... Bring a championship back!"

In dealing with the issue of the first half, the English and Italian commentators had completely different attitudes.

The English commentators, standing from Liverpool's perspective, of course hoped that the game would be more open, so that Liverpool would have a chance to score. The Italian commentators, of course, wanted the game to follow Inter Milan's rhythm, compressing space and time, not allowing Liverpool players to easily get a chance to shoot and score.

It's just that the English side had to pull out some big banners, so as not to look too ugly, so they had to elevate things like watchability and artistry. In fact, if Liverpool had to defend to the death to win the championship, they would unhesitatingly support Liverpool in shrinking back and defending to the death, they wouldn't care whether doing so was too utilitarian or not aggressive enough...

So, to put it bluntly, with football, winning is the most important thing, and any means must serve victory. Even for a team like Barcelona, they insist on offensive football, insist on controlling the ball, not because it looks good, but because they firmly believe that doing so can win, and the facts have also proved that their choice is correct.

But Barcelona's model is completely unsuitable for other teams, it is only suitable for themselves, so if other teams also learn Barcelona's approach to compete for the championship, they will die miserably, it is completely a case of Dong Shi imitating Xi Shi.

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Boas seemed very happy during the halftime break. He hugged or high-fived the players entering the locker room one by one, as if he had already won the game.

Although he hadn't won the game yet, he saw hope of winning the game from this first half.

As long as they continued to defend like this, Liverpool would definitely become impetuous, especially that Chen Hero. In his impression, Chen Hero was a player with a not very good temper, and a not very good temper meant poor patience. If Liverpool failed to score in the second half, Chen Hero would affect his performance due to impatience, and that would be Inter Milan's chance.

"Guys, you did a great job!" Boas said, clapping his hands after all the players had returned to the locker room.

"From the faces of Liverpool players, I can already see the anxiety in their hearts, but there is still another half to play, so they haven't shown it too obviously... In the second half, we continue to do this, don't let Hero score, Liverpool is not much of a threat!"

At the same time, in Liverpool's locker room, Martin O'Neill was comforting his players.

"It's nothing, we were just a little unlucky. The initiative is still in our hands... However, we must be especially wary of their counterattacks in the second half."

This was Martin O'Neill's biggest concern, he was afraid that Liverpool players would become more and more anxious in the second half, because they couldn't score, they would play higher and higher up the field, leaving a lot of space behind them, and then Inter Milan would launch a defensive counterattack, and it would be all over...

So he kept comforting the players, soothing their emotions, telling them that their performance was actually great, just a little unlucky, maybe luck would turn around in the second half? Scoring is only a matter of time, no need to be too anxious...

※※※

The two head coaches ended the halftime break with different mindsets, and the two teams changed sides to fight again in the second half.

The game restarted.

Looking back on this Europa League final day, it was definitely not the kind of great showdown like Liverpool and AC Milan's Istanbul night that could go down in history.

But this does not prevent the fierce competition between the two sides.

After all, not many people care about making history, they just want a championship, that's all.

In the second half, Chen Hero did not change his strategy, he still shot whenever he got the ball.

This was a good sign in Boas's eyes. It meant that Chen Hero's temper was gradually becoming impatient. Now it was like this, and later he would definitely not see his teammates in good positions, and would only shoot wildly himself. If he kept doing this, Liverpool would be finished, Inter Milan would usher in their opportunity, just be patient a little longer...

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Suarez tried to break through into the penalty area, but couldn't find any space for a long time. He wanted to pass to Chen Hero, but there were two Inter Milan players in front of him and Chen Hero, and they were stuck on the most critical passing route. If this ball was passed, it would definitely be lost.

Helplessly, in the end, he had to take a long shot, and in a hurry, the football flew directly to the stands behind.

He looked at the shot that went sky high and spat unhappily: "Damn it!"

Chen Hero ran up and patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry, Luis. We have plenty of opportunities."

"They're defending so densely, where are our opportunities?" Suarez didn't believe it.

Chen Hero pointed to himself: "Here with me."

Suarez rolled his eyes: "Keep bragging!"

"Don't disbelieve me, Luis. I can already feel this wall of theirs is collapsing. Although they are indeed strong enough, they have a fatal flaw!"

Seeing Chen Hero speaking so earnestly, Suarez was also curious: "What fatal flaw?"

"They're old," Chen Hero replied.

"What's that? People are experienced, didn't you see that their positioning is very good? They don't need to run at all, they just need to block the position, and basically you don't have a better choice whether you dribble or pass..."

"No matter how well they can block, they can't defend while standing still, Luis," Chen Hero said with great confidence. "They will always get tired, even if they are tenacious, their bodies can't keep up with their spirits. Of course, to accelerate their collapse, we need to put pressure on them."

"What are you going to do?"

Chen Hero patted his forehead: "Use my head as a hammer, and smash it to pieces!"

Luis clapped his hands: "I understand, after saying so much, you just want me to pass high balls to you!"

Chen Hero gave him a thumbs up: "The one who knows me is the bucktoothed one!" (Referring to Suarez's prominent teeth)

"You could have just told me to pass high balls, why waste so much talk..."

"It's not that simple! It's not just high balls, it's balls that are higher than before!"

Chen Hero made a gesture, indicating that the football should be as high as possible.

"Aren't you afraid you won't be able to head it?"

"You pass it over, if I can't head it, that's my problem, you just pass it!"

After Chen Hero finished speaking to Suarez, he turned and ran to Sanchez, he told Sanchez the same thing, but there wasn't so much nonsense, he directly gestured to let Sanchez send him balls that were higher than before.

He was going to break through the old guys' defense from the air.

For a championship, he planned to maximize his jumping ability!

※※※

In fact, Liverpool also had high balls before, but the entire Inter Milan team was united, whether it was blocking crosses on the flanks or restricting Chen Hero in the center, they did very well. In addition, this group of Inter Milan old guys were too familiar with Chen Hero's header, Chen Hero relied on his head skills to be invincible when he was in Naples... Inter Milan had suffered losses from him more than once or twice.

So Inter Milan's players paid special attention to defending Chen Hero's headers.

Therefore, Chen Hero didn't have many good heading opportunities before.

But experience has shown that competing with Chen Hero for headers is a very physically demanding thing, because every time you must jump with all your strength to ensure that he doesn't easily head the football into the goal over you.

So there is such a situation - even if a center back doesn't run the entire game, just stands in front of the goal and competes with Chen Hero for headers, after fifteen minutes of the second half, he will be panting and feel exhausted.

In fact, the body is not very tired, but the huge psychological pressure will press his body out of breath, making his body feel that it is already very tired...

This is why we all say that Chen Hero's header is a "strategic deterrent weapon", even if he doesn't score, as long as he jumps up, you will be frightened, and then force yourself to use all your strength to compete with him. Because you don't know if this jump of his will score, you don't dare to slack off, you don't dare to give him a single chance, so every time you have to do your best, keep jumping, jumping, and jumping again...

Over time, how can you not be tired?

Not to mention that Liverpool is now deliberately increasing the height of the passes when crossing, which requires them to use even more force than before to jump to the designated height.

On the one hand, this is to bypass the Inter Milan defenders who are blocking them on the flanks, and on the other hand, it is naturally to maximize Chen Hero's height and jumping ability. This will inevitably bring a lot of burden to Inter Milan's two old guys...