Chapter 1 Liverpool's Revival

Liverpool had won the European Super Cup, their first title of the season.

They defeated Real Madrid in the match, and some local media in Liverpool hailed it as the Reds' revival.

Meanwhile, their Champions League group stage draw for the season was also revealed.

Liverpool, who had been absent from the Champions League for several seasons, were placed in the second-tier of teams due to their European coefficient. This was thanks to their Europa League victory last season, otherwise they might have been ranked even lower.

Non-seeded teams risk being drawn into a group of death.

However, that didn't happen this time. Liverpool was placed in what appeared to be a friendly group.

They were drawn into a group with Valencia, Paris Saint-Germain, and Feyenoord.

Two seasons ago, this would have been a true "group of death"—a group of death isn't necessarily one where all four teams are powerhouses, but rather one where all four teams are closely matched, making it difficult to predict who will advance.

Why "two seasons ago"? Because Liverpool's strength two seasons ago was about the same as those teams. Not that the other three teams were so strong, but Liverpool was too weak.

Liverpool wouldn't have been confident in fighting their way out of that group to secure qualification.

But now it was different. Now the group was considered "friendly."

Because Liverpool had greatly improved. Winning the Europa League last season and defeating Real Madrid to win the European Super Cup this season showed their strength. Most importantly, they had Chen Hero.

Many people now felt that as long as Liverpool had Chen Hero, they had hope. Anything could happen. Any impossible mission could be entrusted to Chen Hero!

With Chen Hero, Liverpool instantly became a highly favored team. Their qualification from the group was almost certain. Even the top spot in the group wasn't out of the question, leaving the other three teams to compete for the second qualifying spot.

Back in England, Liverpool immediately began preparing for the third round of league matches.

Originally, Martin O'Neill hadn't planned to use a large-scale rotation in this third league match. But they had played a full 120 minutes against Real Madrid in the European Super Cup, followed by a tense penalty shootout.

So, for this match, Martin O'Neill excluded most players from the squad or the starting lineup. There was only one exception: Chen Hero.

When asked by reporters, Martin O'Neill bluntly said, "Hero doesn't need rest. He's perfectly capable of playing continuously."

The reason for not resting Chen Hero was naturally because he was key to the team's victory. This season, Martin O'Neill intended to achieve results in the league, and gaining points at the start of the season was crucial.

Chen Hero was the key figure in the team's point-grabbing efforts.

Just as Mourinho wouldn't consider rotating Cristiano Ronaldo no matter how congested the schedule, Martin O'Neill had come to the same conclusion—no matter the grueling schedule, Chen Hero must start, and must play the full ninety minutes, because his presence on the field was a guarantee of the team's victory, and it could deter opponents with other ideas.

How do players like Ronaldo and Messi score fifty league goals a season? It's thanks to the manager's "indulgence"! They rotate everyone else but them, ensuring they have plenty of playing time, and then breaking records naturally becomes a matter of course...

Last season, to help the team adapt to the rotation strategy, Chen Hero participated in rotation for ten matches, not appearing, and was suspended for another match due to a red card. That meant he actually only played in twenty-seven of the thirty-eight league matches. In those twenty-seven matches, he scored an impressive thirty-nine goals!

If he didn't rotate him at all this season, letting him play all thirty-eight matches, how many goals could he score?

Martin O'Neill found the thought exciting—he suddenly felt like a child and decided to try something so interesting...

Therefore, considering both the team's performance and his own personal amusement, Martin O'Neill rotated everyone, including Gerrard, except for Chen Hero and goalkeeper Reina. Goalkeepers generally weren't part of the rotation anyway; it was a special position.

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In the end, Chen Hero, who wasn't rotated, played a crucial role in the match. In the absence of support from most of the team, and in the extremely unfavorable environment of an away game, he scored the only goal of the match with a free kick, helping Liverpool secure a 1-0 victory against Aston Villa.

This performance was already considered very good, but there were still some discordant voices after the match.

However, these discordant voices were somewhat ridiculous for Chen Hero...

The league had started for three rounds, and Chen Hero had two goals and one assist. All three match victories were related to him. Logically, such a performance would be considered good for most forwards.

But the owner of this record was Chen Hero, so it wasn't enough.

After the match against Aston Villa, everyone was already wondering if Chen Hero was out of form... How could he only score two goals in three league matches? In comparison, his performance in his first season at Liverpool was worse, with only one goal in three league matches. But back then, he was still adapting to Liverpool and the Premier League, and Liverpool's tactics were a mess due to Daglish, so it was normal not to score...

Last season, which everyone considered Chen Hero's normal state, he scored five goals and one assist in the first three league matches.

Compared to that, everyone felt that Chen Hero must be out of form.

Five goals and one assist in three league matches was indeed very different from two goals and one assist in three league matches...

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Liverpool had won three consecutive matches, and Chen Hero was the key figure in all of them. He never expected that he would still be criticized for such a performance. It made him both amused and helpless.

Cabral joked that he had spoiled the media.

If Messi didn't score in three consecutive matches, he would be criticized by the media for hitting a bottleneck. If Ronaldo dared to take wild shots and not score in two matches, he would be criticized as a "shot hog." Similarly, Chen Hero was now receiving such treatment, which meant he had officially risen to the same level as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The football world had now entered a new era of three powerhouses—the previous era was represented by Kaka, Ronaldo, and Messi. Now that Kaka had aged and retired from that group, Chen Hero had taken his place.

"This is a good thing, Hero. Now that you've risen in status, you have to bear more responsibility."

Chen Hero curled his lip, not really caring about being criticized or anything.

He just found the whole thing too ridiculous... Especially when he saw the media seriously criticizing two goals and one assist in three league matches as a sign of poor form, he couldn't help but think—where do you place the other players when you say that?!

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Martin O'Neill didn't know if Chen Hero would be affected by the media's criticism, but based on his experience of working with Chen Hero for a season, he knew that he had to stand up and support Chen Hero at this time.

And what Chen Hero wanted to say made it very easy for him to use Chen Hero's thoughts as a reason to defend him.

"Two goals and one assist in three league matches, and his contribution was crucial to all three match victories. He didn't perform poorly in any of the matches. If such a performance can be criticized as being out of form, I don't know what you want the other teams' forwards to think?"

Chen Hero himself also defended himself in an interview.

"The new season has only just started for three rounds, and you're all so anxious... What's the rush? In my first season at Liverpool, let alone three rounds, I only scored one goal in the first five league matches. What happened then? If I remember correctly, I scored thirty-seven league goals that season and won the Golden Boot. So, I think you're all just bored. Nothing to worry about..." He waved his hand. "Anyway, I'm definitely going to be the league's top scorer this season."

He said these words casually, with no expression on his face, as if he were saying something like "one plus one equals two."

But in the hearts of many reporters, it was like a boulder had been dropped, creating huge waves—everyone thought that Chen Hero would be a strong contender for the Golden Boot this season, but they weren't sure that Chen Hero would definitely win it. After all, it depended not only on form but also on luck. Chen Hero might be able to guarantee his form, but could he guarantee that his luck would always be good?

Winning the league's top scorer award for three consecutive seasons was something that only three people had done in the long 115-year history of the English top flight—Jimmy Greaves of Tottenham Hotspur had done it in the 1962-63 season, 63-64 season, and 64-65 season. After the Premier League was established, Alan Shearer dominated the league's Golden Boot for the three seasons starting from the 94-95 season. The third person was Thierry Henry of Arsenal in the 21st century, who performed an "English Premier League Golden Boot hat-trick" in the 2003-04, 04-05, and 05-06 seasons.

That wasn't the key.

The key was that none of these three had announced that they would defend their Golden Boot title with such casualness and a matter-of-fact expression when the third season had only just started for three rounds.

Compared to the three-peat, this attitude was what shocked the reporters the most...

Chen Hero was completely looking down on the heroes of the world!

What do you think the powerhouses of the Premier League are!

Everyone felt indignant at the time, but after they left the training base, they gradually calmed down and realized that he might really have the right to look down on the heroes of the world...

He broke the Premier League's single-season goal-scoring record in his first season in the Premier League, and then scored thirty-nine goals in his second season. And that was after he missed eleven league matches. If he could play all thirty-eight league matches, how many goals could he score?

Some of them suddenly thought of Chen Hero's ferocious goal celebration expression, and some people felt a chill in this hot summer...