Chapter 2 Chen Hero Saw Götze Moving and Started Moving Too

Chen Hero saw Götze moving, and he started moving too. He just needed to run into open spaces, which was easy for someone trained by Inzaghi.

He quickly spotted an opening, but he couldn't run there immediately, or he'd be offside—the opening was behind Aston Villa's defense.

He turned his head to look at Götze.

Now it depended on whether Götze could get the ball out under the siege of Aston Villa's defenders...

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There are several ways to break through a dense defense. For example, a high-level set piece, a moment of brilliance from a star player, or a stroke of good luck.

So Götze dribbling towards Aston Villa's defense was definitely not an act of individual heroism! It was a tactical breakthrough!

His goal wasn't to single-handedly overcome all obstacles and then score into an empty net. Instead, he wanted to attract the enemy's attention as much as possible, like a magnet, and then, when the opportunity arose, pass the ball out.

Sometimes openings aren't so easy to come by, so he had to control the ball at his feet for a while, preferably getting past a couple more players, which would cause panic among the opposing defenders, who would think he was about to break through for a one-on-one.

Under this kind of pressure, all the defenders would concentrate on him and rush up to intercept the ball.

If he could still keep control of the ball without losing it under those circumstances, that would be the most threatening thing.

Facing the first Aston Villa player who came to challenge him for the ball, Götze remained calm. He leaned forward, feinting a direct breakthrough, but then suddenly stopped, faking a shot without actually touching the ball, tricking the Aston Villa defender into retreating early.

Then he abruptly changed direction, and because of inertia, the Aston Villa player froze in place...

Götze pushed the ball aside and continued to break forward.

He was almost at the arc of the penalty area. Two Aston Villa players came up at once, planning to shut him down.

Faced with the two-tiered defense, Götze easily escaped with an *youzha wanzi* (deep-fried meatball) move!

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It wasn't until this moment that the commentators realized what was happening, and they became excited.

"Mario Götze!"

"A beautiful breakthrough! Exquisite footwork!"

"Genius-like skill, this is Germany's Super Mario!"

"He's thrown Aston Villa's entire defense into chaos all by himself, a truly incredible performance!"

"It looks like he's going to go straight for the enemy's heart and break into the penalty area!"

The situation on the field was even more exaggerated than what the commentators were saying. This time, all the Aston Villa players swarmed up.

Just then, Götze passed the ball.

The ball passed through the gap between two Aston Villa players.

But he didn't pass it to any Liverpool player. He passed it to a blank space, where there was no one, neither a Liverpool player nor an Aston Villa player.

He passed to an opening, without regard for whether there was anyone there to receive it.

If a teammate caught such a pass, it would be a fatal, game-winning play, because they would face the goalkeeper with no interference.

But if his teammates didn't understand his intention, it would be a useless pass, and might even put the ball directly at the feet of the opponent, allowing them to launch a counterattack...

So this kind of pass was actually a gamble, betting on the degree of understanding between himself and his teammates. Seeing if there was a teammate who could find that opening and appear in the right position at the right time, not too early and not too late.

Too early, and it's offside; too late, and you can't get the ball.

After he passed the ball, he tilted his head, still curious, wanting to see if his pass could be seized by a teammate...

Just as he tilted his head, the ball flew past, and he saw a figure following close behind, rushing in from another direction.

This figure was so tall and powerful, so broad and strong...

His heart leaped.

It's Hero!

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Chen Hero had already spotted that opening and was just waiting for Götze to pass the ball, while also paying attention to his positional relationship with the Aston Villa defenders.

So the timing of this forward run was extremely important, not a second too early, not a second too late.

When he saw Götze make a leg-swinging motion, he leaned forward slightly, his center of gravity resting on his forward right foot.

When the ball was passed, his right foot also pushed off with force, and his whole body shot out like an arrow.

When the Aston Villa defenders turned their heads and saw Chen Hero, they raised their hands reflexively, without even thinking, signaling that Chen Hero was offside.

But the linesman didn't react at all, just kept running along with Chen Hero.

The referee's whistle didn't sound either.

This meant that Chen Hero wasn't offside!

Chen Hero received the ball without any interference. He didn't make too many adjustments. He received the ball with his back to the goal, led with his left foot, and turned around smoothly. At the same time, he swung his right foot in the process of turning, and when he turned around completely, he used the momentum of the turn to complete a powerful shot!

Near the penalty spot, Chen Hero unleashing such a shot, the result was predictable.

There were only two possibilities: either it goes into the goal, or it flies out!

The ball didn't fly out, because it was stopped by the net.

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"goooooooooooAL!!! Hero! Hero! Hero—he scores twice! Extending the team's lead!"

Although Chen Hero's shot was beautiful, decisive, and full of the beauty of power, the biggest contributor to this goal wasn't him, but Mario Götze!

You could tell from the commentators' shouts after the goal.

"Eighty percent of the credit for this goal goes to Mario Götze!"

"His breakthrough attracted the attention of the entire Aston Villa defense, and then he passed the ball into the open space... A truly wonderful performance!"

"This assist reflects Götze's talent! He finally made people feel his ability as Germany's number one super-genius!"

The commentators all turned their coats, they were just cursing him before, now they were as sycophantic as they could be. Luckily, Götze couldn't hear them, or his legs might have gone weak and his knees might have lost their strength.

Of course, Chen Hero agreed with their assessment.

After scoring, he turned and ran towards Götze, who had passed him the ball, and opened his arms to hug him. Then the other Liverpool players swarmed up and surrounded the two of them.

Everyone patted Götze's head and shoulders hard.

"Well done, Mario!"

"Beautiful dribbling!"

"Timely assist!"

"Now you don't have to worry about those idiotic media outlets!"

Everyone cheered Götze on and encouraged him.

This made Götze feel for the first time that Liverpool was his team... He accepted this new team from the bottom of his heart, and temporarily put Dortmund in the back of his mind.

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Martin O'Neill and Sammy Lee, like everyone else, applauded Götze's brilliant performance on the sidelines.

They looked at each other, their eyes full of relief.

Hero completed the task well, and they were relieved.

The team was finally on the right track... and this time it was a high-speed railway, a high-speed train with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour!

Any obstacles in Liverpool's path forward will be removed!

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Aston Villa's manager, Alex McLeish, was dreaming of taking three points away from Anfield when Chen Hero's two goals gave him a hard slap in the face.

He watched the Liverpool players celebrating their goal to their heart's content on the sidelines, his heart filled with frustration.

But this goal also woke him up, letting him know that this was Anfield, this was their home ground, and their opponent was Liverpool, a resurgent Liverpool, a resurgent Liverpool with Chen Hero!

Damn it!

I actually fantasized about beating them here? I must be out of my mind!

McLeish was now very glad that he hadn't told his players about the counterattack yet, otherwise, changing his tactics twice in such a short period of time, slapping himself in the face like that, would definitely confuse the players and make them feel lost.

Now, he carefully buried the mistakes he had made before in his heart, so that no one would know—it would be too embarrassing if word got out.

Then he walked to the sidelines and shouted at the Aston Villa players who were turning their heads to look at him: "Defense!! Keep—defending!!"

Winning the game? A point?

These were all illusions!

It's better to lose less than to win, losing the game 0:2 is better than losing the game 0:5, right?

With Manchester United's 5:0 defeat in front of them, if Aston Villa could only lose to Liverpool 0:2, everyone would think it was Liverpool's failure and offer their respect to Aston Villa.

This was Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish's wishful thinking.

But because of an unexpected accident that he hadn't anticipated before, Götze's appearance, his plan fell through...

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After Götze came on, the impact wasn't just a single assist; his breakthroughs and passes in the frontcourt put a lot of pressure on Aston Villa's defense.

Because they had to defend him, the intensity of their defense against Chen Hero, Suárez, and others decreased.

If they didn't defend him, watching him break through like that was really frightening—if you don't defend him, or if your defense against him is lax, what if he shoots himself? There's no such thing as regret medicine in this world.

So Götze's appearance added many possibilities to Liverpool's attack, and at the same time, it gave Aston Villa's defenders a few more options when defending, diverting more of their energy.

When he dribbled past a player on his first touch and assisted Chen Hero to score, everyone perked up and stared at Mario Götze, wondering what other surprises he could bring them.

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Götze, who was being watched by everyone, clenched his fists secretly.

Is the time ripe?

Yes, I'm sure, the time is ripe!