"......Ibrahimović? Ah, I'm happy for him, genuinely happy. Because after I left Serie A, he could finally win the Serie A Golden Boot. You know, when I was there, it wasn't so easy..."

That's what Chen Hero said in an interview with reporters, amusing everyone present. Anyone who knew the grudges between Chen Hero and Ibrahimović understood why he said that.

When Ibrahimović was still at Inter Milan, he had a chance to win the Serie A Golden Boot, but Chen Hero snatched it away in the last round.

The following season, Chen Hero successfully defended his Golden Boot title, while Ibrahimović transferred to Barcelona. At the time, his move was interpreted by many media outlets as fear of tension with Chen Hero, so he went to La Liga.

Seemingly to prove that he wasn't afraid of Chen Hero, Ibrahimović returned to AC Milan after only one unhappy season in Barcelona. AC Milan acquired the Swedish star, who was said to be no less than Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, in a loan-to-buy deal.

But Ibrahimović's first season back in Serie A witnessed Chen Hero creating the Serie A single-season goal record. Chen Hero became part of Serie A history, forever etched on the wall, while Ibrahimović... was not mentioned.

So if Chen Hero hadn't left, everyone believed that Ibrahimović would never have won the Serie A Golden Boot.

When Chen Hero transferred away, Ibrahimović seemed to be on drugs and won the Serie A Golden Boot.

But despite this, some media outlets still criticized Ibrahimović's "softness." Not only was he not good at fighting tough battles, but he also performed poorly against strong teams. He also seemed weak when facing powerful players, the most typical example being Chen Hero. In several competitions with Chen Hero, he never really proved that he was better than Chen Hero. On the contrary, Chen Hero repeatedly used the Swedish star to prove that he was the most dominant center forward in Serie A!

Only when Chen Hero went to England could the Swede win the Golden Boot. He happily accepted the Golden Boot award, but many reporters grumbled in their hearts—what's the use of winning so many Golden Boots without Chen Hero? Show us you can snatch one from Chen Hero!

So when Chen Hero brought up this old joke, everyone couldn't help but smile knowingly.

※※※

When Ibrahimović heard Chen Hero's sarcasm, he was immediately furious.

Ibrahimović has never been the kind of gentleman, nice guy, or good boy. He is a thorough "bad boy." If he is angered, he will never choose to swallow his pride, he will definitely fight back.

Chen Hero mocked him for winning the Golden Boot only in his absence, so he retorted in an interview with reporters: "A heartless guy who sacrifices his teammates to fulfill himself is not qualified to talk about the Golden Boot in front of me!"

The reporters were particularly happy—neither Chen Hero nor Ibrahimović were easy to deal with, and it would be a good show to watch these two fight. Not only now, but also in the subsequent games, these two would have their tempers flared, and it would definitely be a never-ending situation!

Everyone began to look forward to the start of the game.

※※※

Compared to the strong smell of gunpowder between the two forwards, the two coaches were very low-key.

Allegri, as the coach of AC Milan and the former coach of Cagliari, had played against Chen Hero many times in Serie A and knew Chen Hero very well.

At the pre-match press conference, he said in a low-key manner that both sides were very familiar with each other, so there would be no surprises or tricks in this game. The main thing was to compete in overall strength.

"...I know Hero very well, and I believe Hero is also familiar with AC Milan. This game is a duel between two old opponents, and they know each other very well. We have no hidden tricks, everyone knows that. This game is a head-on confrontation between two powerful teams..."

Martin O'Neill was also very low-key: "Away first and home second is not a good schedule, but we can't pray that every time it's away first and home second. So we will do our best to deal with it. AC Milan is a strong enemy, and we can't take it lightly..."

In the eyes of the reporters, such conversations were completely uninformative.

Because they couldn't dig up any gimmicks from it...

They all wanted to force the two coaches to say more, but both coaches were old foxes, not those energetic players who easily got carried away.

No matter how the reporters lured them, the two coaches just wouldn't budge, saying very ordinary things, and in the end, the reporters didn't get their wish.

Since they couldn't find anything valuable from the coaches, everyone had to start with the players.

They ran to rummage through old papers to popularize the grievances between Chen Hero and Ibrahimović again. It must be said that these reporters really had the means to dig three feet into the ground, almost no less than tax officials.

They even dug up old things like Chen Hero and Ibrahimović once having a "short-distance sprint" at the Serie A Oscar awards ceremony...

Through this small matter, one could very clearly see the relationship between the two people—they were definitely not friends, and they didn't even bother to maintain a "good relationship" on the surface, so they nakedly revealed their dislike for each other.

When those fans and readers see such things, they will further understand the relationship between these two people, and at the same time realize how intense the Champions League semi-final in the middle of the week will be!

Chen Hero will definitely not let Ibrahimović win the game at his home ground, and Ibrahimović will desperately try to score at least one goal in the game, because this away goal may become the key goal that determines the fate of both sides next week.

Under the media frenzy, the game was finally about to arrive.

※※※

In the locker room at Anfield, even with the doors closed, you could still hear the songs of the Liverpool fans from the stadium.

Anfield Stadium is not the Stadio San Paolo. The soundproofing of the away team's locker room here is quite good, but you can still hear it with the doors closed, so you can imagine how enthusiastic and crazy the Liverpool fans are on site.

Allegri looked back at the door of the locker room, then turned back to his players and said, "Anfield Stadium lives up to its name. You've all experienced the atmosphere here very clearly when you warmed up just now. This away game will be very difficult, but we have an advantage in the schedule, so the most important thing for everyone in the game is to be stable. No matter what happens, you must not panic and mess up your formation. Just play according to the tactics I arranged before the game."

He made very comprehensive considerations and arrangements for this game, thought of any situation that might be encountered in the game, and then found countermeasures to tell the players, and then let them follow them in the game to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Allegri did not intend to attack Liverpool in this game, that would be too risky. It would be a stupid move to attack at the opponent's home ground. He was cautious and hoped not to concede a goal in the away game. If there was an away goal, that would be a pleasant surprise.

He knew that Ibrahimović wanted to score in this game, but he would not support the Swede's approach.

He would not let his players support Ibrahimović's approach either. Because this approach was too dangerous. Offense is not a matter for one person, but a matter for a team. The whole team must support him and provide help, so that he can compete with Chen Hero. But such a competition would break the strategy he had formulated before, which was too risky.

Allegri didn't want to take this risk.

As long as he could get a draw in the away game, he was confident that he could defeat Liverpool at home.

Home advantage is still very powerful.

Allegri attached great importance to these two semi-finals. In recent years, Italian football has been plagued by various factors, and its position in the international football world has declined year by year. On the top stage of the Champions League, which tests the level of clubs in various countries, Serie A teams have not appeared in the top four for many years, let alone enter the final.

This season, AC Milan is the only seed of Italian football. Allegri wants to make a breakthrough. If possible, this will be the first time in his coaching career that he has led a team to the Champions League final. At the same time, he also wants to take this opportunity to make AC Milan the hegemon of Italian football again, and take it a step further to return to the throne of European hegemon.

Therefore, he cannot afford to lose these two semi-finals!

If Ibrahimović wants to act up, he would rather replace him than allow him to ruin his big plan...

Poor Ibrahimović, you must know that at the same time, in the Liverpool locker room, Chen Hero received the support of all the players and coaches, supporting him to completely beat Ibrahimović in the game...

It's no wonder that Ibrahimović was not convinced. He felt that Chen Hero's achievements were piled up by Liverpool with the entire team. He was just an image spokesperson pushed out by the Liverpool club, and those achievements were not achieved by relying on his true strength.

If the whole team didn't help him with all their strength, could he have achieved better results than me?

Ibrahimović felt that Chen Hero must be inferior to himself.

But the Swede never thought about why Chen Hero would get the full support of the entire team, while he would be secretly tripped up by the coach...