Only Messi's agent and father knew that Lionel Messi had accepted Chen Hero's challenge.

Everyone else still thought Messi had chosen to remain silent and evade the issue because he was afraid of Chen Hero.

This made Jorge feel very uncomfortable.

Find the source, find the culprit. Who was responsible for all this? Jorge didn't think it was the English media's doing. If Chen Hero hadn't stirred things up first and issued the challenge, would those boring media outlets have hyped it up so much?

So the blame still had to be placed on Chen Hero!

As long as Chen Hero was defeated, he would be utterly humiliated. Let's see if he'd still have the nerve to say such arrogant and outrageous things in front of everyone in the future!

At this point, the disadvantage of a long season was fully exposed.

Because it took too long, it was impossible to defeat Chen Hero and vent this anger immediately.

According to Messi's father, Jorge's, idea, the best thing would be to slap Chen Hero in the face the next day, so everyone would know that Messi had not only not run away, but also slapped Chen Hero and everyone who dared to question him hard across the face.

But that was just Jorge's wishful thinking. The reality was that everyone had to wait until the end of the season to find out the result. At the earliest, they would have to wait until the next Champions League group stage to see if Messi was really avoiding it...

Until then, the media and those ignorant people would continue to laugh at Messi.

Laugh! Laugh! You won't be laughing for much longer!

Jorge cursed fiercely in his heart.

※※※

After finishing the match with Paris Saint-Germain, the Liverpool team returned to Liverpool to prepare for the league.

Martin O'Neill would continue to rotate players. However, Chen Hero was an indispensable main player and would definitely not be rotated.

In this way, Chen Hero also had the opportunity to defend his top scorer honor with more goals in the league.

He wanted to monopolize the Premier League's top scorer award. Yes, that was his wish.

For as long as he was still playing for Liverpool in his career, he would monopolize the Golden Boot award in this competition.

The person who can compete with me, Chen Hero, in scoring goals has not yet been born!

※※※

Liverpool's fifth-round league opponent was Blackburn. Playing away, they rotated half of their main players, but Chen Hero continued to stay on the field.

His presence was a threat. Even if he did nothing, the opponent would not dare to press forward rashly.

So, although they were playing away, Liverpool was facing a defensive home team in this game...

If people didn't know better, seeing this game, they would definitely think that Liverpool was playing at home.

The most tragic thing about these Premier League teams was this—even at their own home stadium, they could not hold their heads high and attack Liverpool head-on. Because that would result in an even more miserable death.

But can defending to the death guarantee not losing the game?

Not necessarily.

Because Liverpool had Chen Hero!

Blackburn's defensive strategy only lasted for thirty-two minutes before Chen Hero broke it with a direct free kick!

Chen Hero also scored his fifth league goal of the season.

After scoring, Chen Hero stretched out his finger and waved it at the opposing players.

The meaning was obvious—even if you defend to the death like this, it is impossible not to concede a goal. Facing me, Chen Hero, any struggle is futile. You might as well lie down and wait for death obediently. If I, your grandpa, am in a good mood, I will give you a quick death!

His celebration naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the home team's fans and players. For a while, boos rang out from the stands, and the home team's players ran up to Chen Hero to argue with him, and some even went to the referee to complain.

In the end, the referee gave Chen Hero, who took the initiative to provoke, a yellow card to calm the situation.

Martin O'Neill couldn't help shaking his head when he saw this scene off the field. Chen Hero really had the ability and talent, but he just couldn't control his temper... He always had to stir up some trouble for himself.

If he could be a little more obedient, how much worry would he save me!

But if he made me worry less, would he still be able to perform so well?

Martin O'Neill, with his legs crossed, didn't know the answer.

Geniuses always seem to be associated with some quirks.

From the current point of view, he, O'Neill, should be glad that Chen Hero was not Balotelli, otherwise he would really have a headache...

※※※

Chen Hero's goal was particularly in line with the team's tactical requirements—to put as much pressure on the opponent as possible from the beginning, and to score as early as possible in the game.

Although scoring in the thirty-second minute was not considered the beginning of the game, it was at least the first goal of the entire game, and Liverpool took the lead.

The game then fell into Liverpool's rhythm.

In the end, Liverpool defeated Blackburn 3:1 away, securing a five-game winning streak at the start of the league.

Liverpool was currently ranked first in the league. Ranked second and third were Manchester City and Manchester United, both with four wins and one loss. Next was Newcastle in fourth place, with three wins and two draws, and Arsenal in fifth place, with three wins, one draw, and one loss.

After five rounds of the league, only Liverpool and Newcastle remained unbeaten.

But a five-game winning streak was completely different from three wins and two draws...

Martin O'Neill now understood that even the best rotation was not as useful as desperately trying to expand the advantage in the league while still having the stamina, and then freeing up hands to deal with opponents on another front.

Frequent rotation would only cause problems with the team's coordination.

It was better to finish the job in one battle first.

So now, even in the league, he would not rotate on such a large scale as he did last season.

Not to mention that the next league game was the Merseyside derby.

※※※

In the sixth round of the league, Liverpool challenged Everton away.

This time, even if there was a Champions League group match in the middle of the week, Martin O'Neill used all his main players. Although Everton had not beaten Liverpool for several seasons, this was, after all, a city derby. The so-called derby was a special game where no experience could be used. All the historical records before today's game were meaningless, because you would never know if the opponent would suddenly explode in this game and then cut you down.

The best way was to be fully focused and fully invested in every derby, and then defeat the opponent!

This time was the same.

Liverpool used all their main players, and Everton did the same.

However, the huge gap in strength between the two sides still determined the final result.

Everton worked very hard, but their efforts only shortened the gap in strength between the two sides from one hundred to fifty...

This was already a remarkable improvement, but they were still fifty or more points away from victory. So the final result was that Everton lost the game.

Liverpool once again won the Merseyside derby away.

Chen Hero scored one goal and assisted one goal in the game, and was the team's number one contributor to the victory.

The final score of this game was Liverpool 4:2 sweeping Everton.

After the game, some media ridiculed that Everton had made the Merseyside derby lose its suspense, because they had not won against Liverpool for a long time.

However, Everton did not admit this.

Everton coach Moyes said at the post-match press conference: "Losing the derby is not a happy result, but our players have tried their best... All I can say is that we don't have money, so we can't buy players like Hero... This is the reason why we lost the derby."

Moyes also felt that Chen Hero was the reason why Liverpool could win, but this remark brought him some trouble—Everton's senior management believed that Moyes was putting pressure on the club and blaming the team's loss on the lack of investment in the summer...

Of course, these were all things for later.

It had nothing to do with now.

Chen Hero felt that the Merseyside derby was no longer as tense and exciting as before. Now, as long as they went all out, they could definitely win. In the past, even if you went all out, you might not be able to win.

※※※

After playing the Merseyside derby against Everton, Liverpool welcomed their second opponent in the Champions League group stage at home—Dutch powerhouse Feyenoord.

Feyenoord was the runner-up in the Eredivisie last season, and qualified for the main competition through the qualifiers.

But this was not to say that Feyenoord was not strong enough, but because the Dutch league only had one spot that could directly enter the main competition, which was the league champion. The league runner-up had to participate in the qualifiers.

On the same day, Barcelona went to challenge Dynamo Kyiv away.

The day before, Real Madrid finished their game. They defeated Spartak Moscow away. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice and was currently ranked second in the scorer list with two goals, tied with many players.

Ranked first was Chen Hero, with three goals.

The contest between the three stars had fully unfolded.

Chen Hero had just issued a challenge to Messi. How would Messi respond? Everyone could see some clues from this game.

※※※

Although Feyenoord was the runner-up in the Dutch league and a traditional powerhouse. But they were unlucky and were assigned to the group of death, and met Chen Hero who wanted to compete with Messi.

The result was naturally tragic...

"goooooooooooooooooAL!!! Hero! Hero scores again!!"

"Liverpool has taken the lead in the game again! It's Hero who scored the first goal for the team! His goalmouth scramble is very crucial! The next game will be much more favorable for Liverpool!"

"Now Liverpool's tactics are to use the strength of the whole team to create opportunities for Chen Hero to score goals and let him score. This is somewhat similar to the tactics of Barca and Real Madrid. Chen Hero has scored his fourth goal in this Champions League! Continue to lead the scorer list!"

After scoring, Chen Hero jumped up in place and raised his arms in celebration.

"On the Champions League scorer list, Hero is aggressive and ranks first with four goals! But Messi has not made any movement! I suddenly thought of what Napoli coach Mazzarri said. He once said that 'Chen Hero is ten streets ahead of Messi in terms of scoring ability'! Looking at it now, this sentence is absolutely correct..."