Chapter 1 Messi Accepts the Challenge

If Messi had only mentioned it to his father, it wouldn't have been considered accepting the challenge. After all, Messi was already competing with Chen Hero in reality.

But others didn't know that. The world needed a clear, established fact—Messi and Chen Hero were truly going head-to-head, and both sides acknowledged it.

Therefore, Messi had to not only make a promise to his father but also announce it to the world.

So, a day later, during an interview with an Argentinian TV station—an interview his father Jorge had specifically arranged for Messi to accept the challenge—Messi personally admitted that he would engage in such a competition with Chen Hero.

"He sent me a challenge? I'm happy to accept it because I have confidence in myself. I won't lose to him."

The Argentinian reporter wore a flattering smile. "I think so too, Leo. You're leading him by twenty-seven goals right now. That's an insurmountable gap!"

Messi didn't take the reporter's flattery to heart. Whether it was an insurmountable gap would only be known after they competed.

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"Yes, I accepted the challenge. I'm happy to accept it, and I will defeat him."

Messi's words quickly appeared on the front pages of major media outlets and in television news.

The media widely reported on the matter and commented on it.

"Breaking news! Messi has accepted Chen Hero's challenge. A showdown between the two greatest players in modern football is about to begin!"

"Who is stronger, Messi or Hero? This question is no longer just a debate among fans… The two superstars will compete on the Champions League all-time goalscorer list!"

"...As the highest-level competition in modern football, the Champions League all-time goalscorer list clearly demonstrates a player's ability. The two players chose to use the total number of goals as a comparison, which is a very clever approach..."

"Obviously, this is a feast for our fans. A contest between two masters is like a decisive battle at the Forbidden City in a wuxia (martial arts) novel. It's a major event in the martial world, and we are lucky to witness such a real competition..."

"Messi's acceptance of the challenge silenced those who previously criticized him for being timid and afraid to confront Chen Hero head-on! Messi's approach is correct. Although he has always been the world's top player, he must now use practical actions to tell those who doubt him that he is indeed the best in the world!"

……

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In the past two days, the media was flooded with news about Messi accepting his challenge, but Chen Hero didn't have time to read it. He learned about Messi's acceptance from the mission system.

Because he had a new mission, and the content of the mission was to compete with Messi for the top spot on the Champions League all-time goalscorer list.

This mission was a branch mission in the "Nemesis" series of missions. The mission duration was very long, lasting until Messi's retirement and his own retirement, because only then could the final result be seen. Simply surpassing Messi during the process didn't count, because Messi wasn't a wooden dummy; he would also work hard to catch up. Therefore, this competition had to continue until both of them retired before it could be finalized.

The long duration didn't matter, because Chen Hero didn't propose this challenge for the sake of completing the mission. He didn't even care what rewards he would get for completing the mission. He just wanted to defeat Messi. The great sense of accomplishment from defeating Messi was the best reward in itself, not to mention that defeating Messi would also allow him to be crowned as the world's top footballer.

Surpassing Messi's total number of goals was a long process, and Chen Hero was well aware of this, so he wasn't in a hurry. He knew that as long as he could continue to participate in the Champions League, he would eventually surpass Messi—he had strong confidence in this.

His current focus was temporarily on the league.

Everyone knew that the thirty-sixth round, Liverpool's away game against Manchester United, was the decisive battle. Before that, no one could afford to fall behind. If they lost a game before facing Manchester United, then the battle at Old Trafford would be a farce.

In the thirty-fourth round of the league, Liverpool played West Bromwich Albion away.

In fact, in the final stage of the league, Liverpool's schedule was in their favor, because they had more home games. In the last five games, they had three home games and only two away games.

But Liverpool couldn't have all the advantages, could they?

Therefore, although they had an advantage in home and away games, their opponents were not easy bones to gnaw on.

Take their opponent in the thirty-fourth round of the league, West Bromwich Albion, for example.

They seemed relatively weak and had been swept 4-0 by Liverpool at Anfield before.

But the situation was different now. The league was coming to an end, and West Bromwich Albion needed to stay in the Premier League!

West Bromwich Albion was currently ranked sixteenth in the league, two places away from the relegation zone, but their points were only two points away from the relegation zone... This was a very dangerous situation. If they weren't careful, West Bromwich Albion could fall into the English Championship League at the end of the season.

This time it was their home game, and they would definitely seize this opportunity to give Liverpool a hard time.

Ferguson hoped so too.

Therefore, when heading to West Bromwich Albion, Liverpool coach Martin O'Neill didn't dare to be careless at all. Facing reporters' questions, he didn't show any relaxation.

This was quite in line with the media's positioning of him and Liverpool during this period—don't look at Liverpool being ranked first in the league and winning the first leg of the Champions League semi-final. They seemed to be thriving, but in reality, they were being roasted on a fire, and only they themselves knew the deepest feeling.

Liverpool was actually full of crises, both internal and external, and Martin O'Neill had long been overwhelmed.

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Martin O'Neill was indeed quite overwhelmed now, but not in the way the media thought. What was giving him a headache was how his team could continue to win games while still looking very embarrassed.

This was really a technical job.

In the past, Martin O'Neill only needed to worry about how to win games when he led a team. He never expected that after coming to Liverpool, he would have to worry about how to win games in an embarrassed manner.

After thinking about it, he finally decided to rotate the squad.

Not the kind of rotation that only involved one or two people, but a rotation that replaced at least two-thirds of the main lineup.

He wanted to continue to lower the old fox Ferguson's guard, making him think that Liverpool was going to focus on the Champions League and decided to give up the domestic league to strive for a place in the Champions League final.

Logically speaking, this was also a normal choice. After all, the league title was very important to Liverpool fans, but he was a coach who had only coached Liverpool for less than two seasons, and he had no connection with Liverpool before that. He wouldn't understand Liverpool fans' desire for the league title. As a coach, the Champions League, the top honor, was obviously more attractive than the league title. In a choice between two evils, choosing the Champions League and giving up the domestic league was a very normal approach.

As long as Ferguson thought so, he would further relax his guard. Then, when the decisive battle at Old Trafford came, Manchester United might suffer because of the coach's mindset...

Of course, no matter how he rotated the squad, Chen Hero had to stay on the field. After all, those were just for deceiving the enemy. If he played himself to death, it would be too unworthy. In any case, he had to win the game.

West Bromwich Albion might be a very difficult opponent, but as long as Liverpool had Chen Hero, the balance of victory would tilt in their favor.

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Sure enough, when Liverpool announced their starting lineup, many media outlets believed that Liverpool was going to give up the domestic league to prepare for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich. In the first leg, Liverpool conceded a goal at home and only led Bayern Munich by one goal, which was very unsafe. Therefore, Liverpool had to go all out in the second leg away game, so he had to rotate on such a large scale.

Wasn't it just hoping that the main players could get more rest?

As for why Chen Hero wasn't rotated... In this entire season, who had ever seen Chen Hero being rotated? He, Chen Hero, needed to score goals, so how could he accept being rotated?

No one thought there was anything wrong with Martin O'Neill's arrangement, and no one doubted their speculation about Liverpool.

Including Ferguson himself.

Many Manchester United fans even hoped that West Bromwich Albion would win Liverpool at home in order to stay in the Premier League. In this way, the two teams would be tied. Although Liverpool would still occupy the top spot with a goal difference advantage, their mentality would be completely different, and Manchester United would be more confident in defeating Liverpool at home.

At this time, Martin O'Neill was talking to Chen Hero.

His plan needed Chen Hero's help. Before this, Chen Hero had always been unaware of the coach's true intentions.

"Do you want to win the league title, Hero?"

Martin O'Neill's question made Chen Hero roll his eyes, disregarding the difference in status between them.

"If I didn't want to win the championship, why would I be working so hard, boss?"

O'Neill ignored the irony in Chen Hero's tone. He smiled and said, "I also really want to win, Hero. But now, if we want to win the championship, in addition to strength, we also need some tactics."

"Tactics? What tactics?"

"Simply put, it's acting for others to see, deceiving our enemies, making them relax their guard, so that our chances of winning will be greater..."

Chen Hero understood, "Acting? I'm good at acting!"

The movie "Liverpool Love Story" starring him and Taylor Swift had good box office results. Although it couldn't compare to Hollywood blockbusters, as a low-budget film with unknown newcomers as the director and screenwriter, and non-professional actors as the male and female leads, achieving such box office success was worth celebrating.

This also made Chen Hero more confident in his acting skills.

"So, I hope that you, uh, you don't perform so... how should I put it, so actively in the game against West Bromwich Albion."

Chen Hero was a little surprised, "Your request is really weird, boss."

It's no wonder Chen Hero said that. Coaches generally want their players to go all out in the game and bring victory to the team. What coach wouldn't want their players to go all out in the game? This request was indeed quite strange.

O'Neill smiled, "I know you'll be surprised, but this is the key. We must make Manchester United think that we are really on the verge of collapse. In this way, when we go to Old Trafford, we can defeat an unprepared, arrogant, and complacent Manchester United."

Chen Hero was skeptical about his boss's idea, thinking that he was oversimplifying the opponent. "Is Ferguson that stupid?"

O'Neill shook his head, "He's not stupid, he's very smart, but sometimes being too smart is not a good thing." O'Neill was too lazy to explain the error of experientialism to Chen Hero. It would take too much effort to explain this, and it wasn't necessary to waste words on it.

"In short, we must win West Bromwich Albion, but we can't win too easily. We have to make others think that we won narrowly, by luck, and by chance, but they won't think that we defeated our opponent with strength."

"In other words, it's playing dumb to trick the tiger..." Chen Hero understood. He was no stranger to this. When he was in Naples, the first time he played against Barcelona, he and his teammates played a game of "playing dumb to trick the tiger", praising Barcelona as the best in the universe before the game, looking particularly humble and particularly afraid of Barcelona. As a result, in the game, they nearly overturned Barcelona on their home turf.

"You understand, number nine, Hero. So I hope that you can hold back a little in the game, and I believe that even if you don't use your full strength, you can still score goals in the game against West Bromwich Albion, right?"

Praising Chen Hero and putting a high hat on him was more effective than anything else.

Sure enough, as soon as he heard the coach's words, Chen Hero immediately puffed out his chest, "That's right! I only need half my strength to defeat them! You just watch, boss!"