PS, I'm sorry, my wife suddenly went into labor yesterday and gave birth at 3 PM that afternoon after being sent to the hospital. I've barely slept since early yesterday morning, staying with her at the hospital. I'm covered in sweat and haven't been able to get online to update.

I'm even using my wife's phone for Weibo...

I'll go home at noon today to take a shower and rest, then head back to the hospital in the afternoon.

That's why the update is so late.

I hope everyone can forgive me.

Also, I said that when the baby was born, I would celebrate with a big update, so today, I'll post ten chapters!!

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When the runner-up left the podium, it was time for the champion to step onto the stage and receive their award.

The person awarding the medals was still UEFA President Platini.

Chen Hero stood below the stage, in the middle of his teammates. He watched Platini and said to his teammates, "There are some people who really didn't want us to win the championship. It's like their own father died when we won."

Everyone was puzzled. "Who?"

Chen Hero gestured with his eyes for everyone to look at Platini. "Mr. UEFA President, who else could it be? Didn't you see the look of regret and warmth on his face when he was giving the Barcelona players their medals? Now it's our turn, take another look at his expression..."

Everyone turned their heads to look.

Sure enough.

When Platini turned around, everyone saw the frosty expression on his face.

Although he quickly changed his expression to a smiling one.

But the previous expression had already been etched into everyone's mind.

"Why doesn't he want us to win the championship?" some naive teammates were still asking this question.

"Who knows." The teammate next to him shrugged and snorted from his nose.

"Because we defeated Barcelona. In his heart, they are the team that best represents the beauty of modern football." Chen Hero stared at Platini, a playful smile on his face. "We're like a bunch of reckless barbarians who broke into his house and smashed his carefully collected exquisite porcelain! If it were you, would you like a bunch of people like that?"

"Uh..." The teammate who was asked the question couldn't say anything.

"It doesn't matter. We're the champions, and champions don't need to care about anyone's expressions."

With that, Chen Hero walked out of the crowd and toward the podium, the first to step onto it.

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In fact, Platini's dislike of Liverpool winning the championship was entirely due to hating the crow and the house it sits on, because he particularly hated Chen Hero, so he hated the team Chen Hero was on. Just like he used to hate Napoli. Now that Chen Hero had left Napoli, Platini's impression of the team had returned to normal.

Now that Chen Hero was at Liverpool, he naturally wouldn't give Liverpool any good looks.

But... sometimes you have to say some polite words, and put on a show of being friendly.

So he quickly adjusted his mentality and put on a smile again. But this smile looked a bit stiff and fake no matter how you looked at it.

Especially when he saw that the first person to come on stage was Chen Hero, the smile on his face became even stiffer and faker, and you couldn't see that he was smiling at all.

On the other hand, the smile on Chen Hero's face was particularly bright, like a flower in full bloom.

Of course, not a chrysanthemum.

Platini never expected that the first person to come up to receive the award would be Chen Hero.

He was a little unprepared. He hadn't fully adjusted his mood yet.

If other players came up first, he could at least treat them with a normal heart, and then slowly get into character. By the time it was Chen Hero's turn, he might even be able to say a few polite words and conceal his true thoughts perfectly.

But he miscalculated. He didn't expect Chen Hero to be the first to come on stage.

And why was the smile on his face so bright?

Was he mocking himself?

Did an ordinary player actually dare to mock the UEFA President?

And what right did he have to mock himself?

For a moment, Platini's mind was filled with thousands of thoughts.

The expression on his face also became more and more unnatural.

In fact, as a seasoned politician, Platini's self-control and acting skills were very good. But for some reason, when facing Chen Hero, he could never maintain his self-control, and he couldn't care less about his acting skills.

※※※

Chen Hero finally walked up to Platini and just looked at him with a smile, saying nothing.

But Platini seemed to hate his smile, and quickly turned away, picking up a gold medal from the tray of the hostess next to him... He suddenly remembered an old incident.

Four years ago, also at the Champions League final awards ceremony, Chen Hero was wearing the blue jersey of Napoli. He had won the championship, and he was supposed to award him the medal as usual.

He walked up to him, and in theory, he should have bent over and lowered his head so that he could put the gold medal around his neck.

But Chen Hero didn't do that. He stood in front of him, even sticking his chest out, straightening his back, and holding his head high. He had no intention of bowing or lowering his head to Platini at all.

Platini wasn't very tall. He was 1.78 meters tall as a player, but now that he was old, he had shrunk, and wasn't even 1.78 meters tall anymore. Chen Hero was 1.95 meters tall. With this height difference, Platini could have raised his hand a little higher and put the medal on Chen Hero. But Platini didn't do that. He just raised it slightly, forcing Chen Hero to bend over and lower his head a lot if he wanted to be awarded the gold medal.

Chen Hero naturally wouldn't do that, and Platini wouldn't accommodate him. So after a few seconds of stalemate, Platini directly stuffed the gold medal into Chen Hero's hand. The two of them didn't even shake hands, spreading their terrible relationship to the world.

Now, it was time for him to give Chen Hero an award again.

Platini felt very frustrated when he thought of this old incident. He was the dignified UEFA President, a man who would later compete for the FIFA presidency, but he couldn't do anything about an ordinary player.

If it weren't for the hope of becoming FIFA President, he really wouldn't want to be UEFA President, because as UEFA President, he had to attend the Champions League awards ceremony. The thought of giving Chen Hero an award made him feel that being UEFA President was frustrating.

Chen Hero, standing in front of Platini, was still standing tall and had no intention of bending over to let Platini put the gold medal around his neck. But this time, he didn't embarrass Platini too much. After all, this wasn't like last time, when everything Platini had done at Lyon's home stadium had infuriated Chen Hero, so he had recklessly embarrassed Platini at the Champions League awards ceremony.

This time, he was in Liverpool and hadn't felt Platini's hostility as much.

So he gave Platini a step down.

His upper body was straight, like a javelin.

But his lower body was different from usual. He spread his legs apart and squatted down, making a horse stance, eventually lowering his height to about the same as Platini's.

This way, Platini wouldn't have to stretch his arms too high to put the gold medal around his neck.

Platini looked down at Chen Hero's strange posture...

He didn't put the gold medal around Chen Hero's neck, but put the gold medal directly into Chen Hero's hand.

"Damn it! You should have said so earlier!"

Chen Hero rolled his eyes as he clenched the gold medal, then quickly bounced up, as if he had hydraulic pumps installed on his knees. He was still muttering in Chinese.

If you had told me earlier that you were going to just shove it in my hand, why would I have done such a weird movement?

Chen Hero miscalculated.

Platini smiled when he saw the expression on Chen Hero's face. This wasn't the stiff smile he had put on, but a genuine smile from the heart—in the duel with Chen Hero, he had finally won back a game.

※※※

It wasn't easy for Platini to get the better of Chen Hero, which made him feel pretty good for the rest of the time. He was much more relaxed when awarding the medals to the Liverpool players, with a casual and friendly smile on his face. He even pulled Gerrard aside to praise his performance and congratulate him on winning another Champions League title at the end of his career—he had opinions about Liverpool and was very unhappy with Chen Hero, but he still liked Gerrard very much.

This kind of loyal player met his requirements for football morality.

After chatting with Gerrard for a while, he picked up the Big Ears Cup that was placed on the side and handed it to Gerrard.

Gerrard didn't take it right away. He said to Platini, "I'm sorry, Mr. Platini. I'd like to find someone else to lift the trophy with me..."

Platini nodded and said with a gentlemanly demeanor, "No problem."

So Gerrard shouted to the crowd next to him, "Hero! Hero!"

When Platini heard this voice, the smile on his face stiffened again, but he instantly adjusted it.

Chen Hero heard Gerrard's call and saw Gerrard waving to him.

He ran over. "What's the matter, Captain?"

"I think you and I should lift this trophy together, Hero." Gerrard pointed to the trophy that Platini was holding in both hands.

Chen Hero turned his head to look, and the smile on Platini's face became even stiffer.

They were chatting here, and Platini was like their waiter, specially responsible for holding the trophy for them...

Chen Hero wasn't being pretentious. "Okay!" he agreed.

Gerrard beckoned. "Then come on!"

Platini handed over the trophy. Gerrard stood on his right side, reached out with his left hand, and grabbed the handle on the right side of the Champions League trophy.

Chen Hero stood on Platini's left side, reached out with his right hand, and grabbed the handle on the left side of the Champions League trophy.

"The trophy has been handed over to Liverpool's two captains!" the commentator said excitedly.

The fans in the stands made a low buzzing sound, which continued without interruption.

Chen Hero and Gerrard looked at each other and then nodded.

Then, they simultaneously raised their arms high!

The trophy was raised high by them!

At the same time, the buzzing sound in the stands suddenly increased.

"Hail! Liverpool!"

"Hurrah! Hurrah—!!"

The sound went straight into the sky.

Countless red confetti fluttered down over the Gazprom Arena.

The Queen's famous song "We Are the Champions" resounded in the stadium's broadcast.

In the song, Gerrard and Chen Hero held the trophy high, and the surrounding teammates all surrounded them, crowding them in the middle, reaching out to touch the trophy that represented the highest honor in European club football!

Everyone's faces were filled with excited and happy smiles.