"Look at this ball—Hero!!! Goal!!!"

When Gerrard's through ball penetrated Manchester United's defense, and Suárez received the ball behind the line without being offside, the cheers from the stands had already resounded through the sky. Then, in a flash of lightning, Chen Hero slammed the football into the goal, and the cheers rose to another level.

"Hero—!!!" The entire Anfield stadium was cheering this name.

Amidst the deafening cheers, Chen Hero ran toward Suárez, who had passed him the ball, and hugged him tightly.

The other teammates swarmed up, surrounding the two of them.

Chen Hero's goal had really greatly inspired all the players.

Now they only needed one more goal to take the lead!

Having finally broken free from his teammates' embrace, Chen Hero, having finished celebrating, ran toward his own half. However, he deliberately took a curved route, running in front of the coach's bench, and then waved his fist at the head coach, Martin O'Neill.

Martin O'Neill, of course, understood what that meant.

He smiled.

This Liverpool in the second half was the Liverpool he wanted to see.

It wasn't that if Liverpool was strong, they had to always be in the lead, couldn't concede goals, and certainly couldn't fall behind. That wasn't the standard for measuring whether a team was strong.

The true standard of whether a team was strong was the reaction they made when facing adversity. Weak teams often gave up on themselves, while outwardly strong but inwardly cowardly teams panicked. Only truly strong teams would react correctly when faced with difficulties.

Liverpool in the first half was a bit like those teams that looked strong but were actually just embroidered pillows. Only in the last ten minutes or so of the second half had he seen a truly strong team.

Liverpool once had such momentum, but after all, they had declined and fallen into disrepair for more than twenty years. That momentum and spirit had diminished over time, like sand blown away by the wind.

Now, if they wanted to regain their strength and restore Liverpool's past glory, it would take time.

※※※

When Ferguson saw Chen Hero score, his heart almost stopped beating. Fortunately, the pacemaker he had implanted in his heart earlier played an important role, forcibly restarting his heart.

So the time his heart stopped beating was less than a second, almost negligible. But this brief palpitation was still clearly conveyed to Ferguson.

When the game restarted, Liverpool's offensive continued like a tidal wave, while Manchester United could only shrink back into their own thirty-meter area and defend desperately.

When had Ferguson's Manchester United, the Premier League's overlords, ever been so embarrassed?

Looking at the situation on the field, Ferguson only felt that his heart, which had almost stopped beating just now, was now beating very fast, very fast.

He was a little恍惚—could he have returned to the 1990-91 FA Cup quarter-final?

It was truly a coincidence, but he couldn't be blamed for having such thoughts, because the opponents in front of him were all wearing red jerseys...and they were all on someone else's home ground.

The situation was so similar.

If he could defeat his opponent, Manchester United's dynasty could continue. But if they lost...no!

No!

Ferguson shook his head, waking up from his illusion.

Twenty-three years ago, he still needed to prove his ability to others to avoid being fired. But now he no longer needed to prove anything to anyone. He could leave at any time, and he believed that no matter how bad the ending was before, as long as he left, those voices criticizing him would be drowned out by overwhelming nostalgia.

Now he wasn't as helpless as he was twenty-three years ago.

Ferguson's coaching career had always been about fighting against others, but this time, he wasn't fighting against others, but against his own執念 that he couldn't let go of, it was himself.

This was probably the strongest opponent he had faced in his coaching career, and the most difficult battle to fight.

Ferguson now had two choices: A, admit defeat here, then relax and give his heart a comfortable space, so that it wouldn't always have to rely on a pacemaker to work. B, put pressure on himself, put pressure on his heart, grit his teeth and continue to fight against himself and against fate, break through and the sky would be clear, fail and everything would be destroyed.

He chose B, almost without hesitation. This was also his belief and principle.

Alex Ferguson never admits defeat.

Just like Manchester United.

※※※

Ferguson began to make adjustments. He replaced Modrić, who had performed reasonably well in this game. This substitution wasn't because Modrić wasn't playing well, but because of purely tactical needs. When Manchester United was in the lead, Modrić could fully utilize his ability to control the ball, helping Manchester United to keep possession, which could, to some extent, curb Liverpool's tidal wave of attacks.

But when the team had already been tied and needed to fight a tough battle, Modrić was no longer suitable. Ferguson needed a midfielder who could run actively in midfield, complete sweeping and defensive tasks, and also help the team transition from defense to offense.

Carrick was a good choice.

When Modrić came off the field, Ferguson also comforted him, whispering in his ear, telling him that he was not replacing him because he was dissatisfied with his performance. On the contrary, he highly praised Modrić's performance.

※※※

Ferguson was making adjustments, and O'Neill was also making adjustments on his side.

In the seventieth minute, he replaced Suárez with Götze.

Again, not because Suárez was playing badly, but because in the current situation, Götze's role was greater than Suárez's, because he could pass threatening through balls that could directly threaten Manchester United's defense.

Suárez was still a little lacking in this regard.

After Götze came on, he would take on the heavy responsibility of organizing the attack in the frontcourt. And Gerrard would retreat to complete the task of connecting defense to offense.

※※※

The two head coaches were fighting wits and courage on the sidelines, and the players on the field were also fighting wits and courage.

Rooney, wearing the captain's armband, had retreated from the front line and frequently participated in defense, with only "Little Pea" Hernández in the front, ensuring that Manchester United would have someone to respond in the front if they counterattacked.

Kagawa Shinji's position was more flexible. His running ability and dribbling were excellent, making him most suitable for disrupting Liverpool's defense during counterattacks.

But the problem now was... Manchester United had very few counterattack opportunities.

After Liverpool brought on Götze, Gerrard moved back and formed a midfield iron gate with Inler. Manchester United's counterattacks basically ended here. Inler's defensive ability was beyond doubt, and Gerrard was also an experienced player.

Most importantly, Liverpool had a Chen Hero, who could ensure that the team held the ball in the frontcourt, so Liverpool's defense wouldn't face a sudden loss of possession and the opponent's counterattack.

In fact, Ferguson's analysis before the game was correct. Judging from the players' abilities in each position, Manchester United was really not much worse than Liverpool.

He only miscalculated one person. That was Chen Hero.

Chen Hero's ability was probably much stronger than Manchester United's number one star, Rooney.

Moreover, Chen Hero's nerve index was very high. Even if he played averagely, he was still better than Rooney. If he suddenly had a brainwave and performed exceptionally well, then it was hard to tell how many times better he would be...

You have to know that he was the kind of player who could defeat Barcelona and Real Madrid on his own. And in recent years, Rooney's momentum had not been as good as before. Perhaps this was related to him becoming the captain, increasing his sense of responsibility, and taking on too many defensive tasks?

※※※

Liverpool continued to bombard, while Manchester United launched surprise counterattacks.

The competition between the two powerhouses was so tense and exciting that it was hard to breathe.

The Manchester United fans in the stands had completely lost their voices. They were suppressed by the Liverpool fans and couldn't make a sound. In addition, Manchester United's performance was not as good as in the first half, which also weakened their morale.

On the other hand, the Liverpool fans became even more energetic after the score was tied.

All kinds of songs were sung thunderously.

Under such momentum, Liverpool's offensive became more and more fierce.

※※※

In the seventy-seventh minute, Martin O'Neill's substitution paid off.

After Götze got the ball in midfield, he suddenly dribbled along the side, making a feint to break through from the side, tricking Fletcher, who was defending him, into pulling to the side with him.

At the same time, Sánchez switched to the肋部, temporarily in an unmarked situation.

Götze decisively passed the ball, a through ball!

The football drilled into Manchester United's defense's 肋部, Sánchez quickly moved forward, then made a shooting motion, but flicked his wrist and passed a倒三角 cross out! (back pass)

The cooperation between the two people actually had a bit of a problem. Chen Hero was moving forward with all his strength, but Sánchez passed a倒三角!

Everyone thought Chen Hero would miss this ball.

Even Liverpool commentator Harry Levy shouted in frustration, "Sánchez's cross... oh no!"

Smalling was even happier. He simply reached out and grabbed Chen Hero's clothes tightly. Anyway, this kid couldn't fall in the penalty area and cheat a penalty. He didn't want to be accused of faking a fall!

Now everyone knew that Chen Hero never faked falls, and Chen Hero was proud of this. But having taken on such a burden and earned a reputation, he would naturally have to pay some price.

Smalling felt that Chen Hero wasn't really not faking falls, he was just trying to earn a reputation. So he especially looked down on Chen Hero's approach. He declared so ostentatiously that he never faked falls, where did that put the other players?

Since you don't fake falls, then just wait to miss this goal!

Huh?

Smalling suddenly felt that something was wrong. His right hand seemed to be pulled forward by something...

He didn't have time to consider where this force came from, and suddenly pulled back!

With a tearing sound!

His hand suddenly felt light, and upon closer inspection—all that was left of the fabric of Chen Hero's jersey that he was pulling on was this wisp of rags in his hand...

Chen Hero, wearing a ragged jersey like a sack, completed his escape. He quickly recovered and stretched out his leg to hook the football. However, his center of gravity was also lost because of this, and more importantly, he lost the opportunity to shoot immediately!

Sánchez's pass was originally intended to catch the opponent off guard, but now it was meaningless.

But could he just give up shooting?

Obviously not!

When Chen Hero hooked the football back, he was already facing away from the goal.

Smalling saw this and didn't bother to be surprised at how he had gotten rid of him. He threw away the rags in his hand and rushed towards Chen Hero, intending to stick close to him and prevent him from turning around.

Who would have thought that he had just started when he discovered that Chen Hero was bumping into him.

Reflexively tilting his head, Chen Hero bumped into his chest. The force wasn't great, not enough to make him fall, but enough to stall his figure.

In fact, Chen Hero didn't deliberately bump into him, but to avoid Carrick who was rushing up to tackle the ball.

He pulled the football in front of him, and his body naturally had to retreat, which happened to bump into Smalling who had come to his door.

Smalling didn't expect that he would instead help Chen Hero stabilize his figure.

He watched as Chen Hero avoided Carrick's pressing and then stabilized his figure with Smalling's help, and then turned around and shot!

He didn't even look at the relationship between the goal and himself, and the goalkeeper. He just took this shot!

The power was incredible!

The football whistled towards the goal.

※※※

David de Gea didn't expect that Chen Hero could still shoot so decisively in this situation. There were no other feints or anything, just such a simple turn and a shot, as simple as if he was just casually shooting in training...

But the football he shot out was like a cannonball, full of power and amazing momentum!

The most glorious thing was... because the shot was sudden and clean, De Gea didn't react!

He reached out to block, that was just a conditioned reflex.

In fact, the football had already flown into the goal from above his head—he had even reached out in the wrong direction!