Chapter 1 The Football Mecca

The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, also known as the San Siro, in Italy is a football mecca in the hearts of many Chinese fans. Back when Serie A was at its most glorious, Chinese television happened to begin broadcasting the Italian league, which was the first time a foreign league was broadcasted in China. This cultivated a large number of loyal Serie A fans.

That time also happened to coincide with Sacchi's Milan dynasty, and many Serie A fans were directly AC Milan fans.

This very distinctive stadium has appeared in everyone's field of vision many times, and thus its reputation spread far and wide.

Today, this stadium looks a bit old compared to those younger, more modern stadiums, but its charm remains.

When Chen Hero began to like football, he caught the tail end of the Milan dynasty, and when he started playing football, Serie A was still infinitely glorious, so he was most familiar with Serie A, and he was no stranger to this stadium.

However, he is not an ordinary fan who would come here with a pilgrimage mentality.

As early as when he played for Napoli, this well-known stadium had been captured by him countless times. He has no reverence for this stadium in his heart at all.

In his eyes, the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza is no different from any ordinary stadium on the European continent... Oh no, that's not right. This stadium is still one of his seventy-two blessed lands.

When the beautiful figure of the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza appeared outside the car window, Chen Hero didn't even turn his head to look at it. He was discussing with Suarez how to celebrate his twenty-eighth birthday after winning the Champions League final.

Actually, celebrating his birthday was just an excuse. The key was that everyone wanted to go out and have fun.

Martin O'Neill, the head coach, did not object to this.

After the Champions League final, it meant the end of the season. Since the season was over and there were no more games, there was naturally no need to strictly control the players. If they want to have fun, let them play. It's understandable for young people to have a little crazy fun...

After the Champions League final last season, many Liverpool players ran out to enjoy themselves that night and didn't return until late at night. Martin O'Neill didn't ask where they went or what they did.

His attitude is seen by some as indulgence towards the players. But the Liverpool players all like him very much. Therefore, Martin O'Neill's position as Liverpool's manager has become more and more stable—everyone hopes that this nice guy can continue to be their manager, so that their good days can continue. What if O'Neill leaves and a coach who is unfeeling, very strict, and likes to interfere comes along?

Therefore, under O'Neill's leadership, Liverpool's stars are relatively honest. There is no infighting in the locker room, and there is no discord between the coach and the players. O'Neill occasionally puts on a stern face, but when everyone thinks of his usual leniency, they don't have any rebellious feelings.

Chen Hero is naturally the host in Milan. Although he has never played for either of Milan's two teams, when he played in Napoli, he led the Napoli eating, drinking, and playing group and almost visited all the famous nightclubs and bars in Italy.

As a major city in northern Italy, a fashion capital, and a kingdom of nightclubs, how could Milan be without Chen Hero?

Chen Hero knows Milan's famous nightclubs very well.

On the way from the hotel to the stadium, Chen Hero introduced them to Suarez one by one.

Which one has a high cost performance, which one has more beautiful women, which one has the most distinctive service, which one is the most luxurious, which one is the most famous, which one is the most exotic...

Chen Hero knows these things like the back of his hand.

At first, it was just Suarez who was talking, but later half of the bus gathered around Chen Hero's seat, listening very carefully to Chen Hero talk about his romantic past, each of them with shining eyes, full of longing.

Chen Hero was originally a showman, and seeing so many people watching, he spoke even louder, gesticulating and using body language, speaking with a lot of saliva and full of energy.

The older players and coaches in the front of the bus shook their heads secretly when they heard it.

If it wasn't Chen Hero who was speaking, they would have scolded him long ago. But if it was Chen Hero, even if someone couldn't stand it, they could only shake their heads secretly and dare not say anything. You know, Chen Hero is someone that even head coach Martin O'Neill doesn't dare to offend. Such a person who can constantly bring victories and championships to the team is worshiped by the whole team, fearing that they won't serve him well enough, so how dare they scold him loudly?

Those players are also very smart. Seeing that it was Chen Hero who was talking here, they dared to come up and listen. If it were someone else, even Suarez, they wouldn't dare to be so blatant even if they had ten times the courage.

This is the upcoming Champions League final! But looking at Chen Hero and looking at those players, where is there any sign of nervousness?

If Real Madrid saw this scene, they would probably be so angry that they would vomit blood—Liverpool actually despises them so much!

However, Martin O'Neill did not shake his head. On the contrary, he had a smile on his face.

Sammy Lee saw his expression and asked him curiously, "You don't seem to be worried about the players' mental state at all, Martin?"

O'Neill nodded with a smile: "Yes, I'm not worried. Seeing them like this, what do I have to worry about? If they were all sitting upright and serious, I think we should start worrying."

"Aren't you worried that they're too relaxed?"

"I have absolute confidence in my players." O'Neill's answer made Sammy Lee unable to continue asking.

Sammy Lee said in his heart: "You have absolute confidence in Hero, right..."

Even though he was complaining, Sammy Lee also felt the same way. He also had absolute confidence in Chen Hero.

At first, he didn't believe it either, but so many seasons have passed, and he has watched Chen Hero take down one seemingly powerful and almost invincible opponent after another. With such brilliant results in front of him, he couldn't help but believe it.

※※※

As the bus drove into the square outside the San Siro stadium, a large number of fans from both sides had already gathered there. Liverpool fans were wearing red jerseys, while Real Madrid fans were all in white.

The visual effect in the square was very distinct.

The red crowd surged when the Liverpool bus arrived.

Their huge cheers interrupted Chen Hero's滔滔不绝 (tāo tāo bù jué – unceasing torrent). No matter how much of a big shot he was, he couldn't not respond to the fans' enthusiasm at this time.

They returned to their seats one after another and waved to the Liverpool fans outside the window.

However, they all felt a little unsatisfied, feeling that they hadn't listened enough...

As for the Champions League final and Real Madrid, they had long been thrown to the wind!

※※※

There's nothing to say about changing into jerseys and warming up in the locker room.

However, the Liverpool players used this process to slowly calm down. They adjusted their mentality from the nightlife of singing and dancing to the battlefield of the final.

Chen Hero's adjustment speed was much faster than theirs.

It's like he can switch his posture with one click.

When he entered the stadium to start warming up, he had already completed the posture switch.

After warming up, he followed the team back to the locker room.

Martin O'Neill had already arranged everything.

After seeing all the players come in, he closed the door and said to everyone.

"This is the last game of the season, guys. You know the weight of this game, so I won't waste any more words here. I'll say something simple—our tactic for this game is a stable defensive counterattack. Of course, our opponent Real Madrid will also adopt a defensive counterattack. At this time, don't be impatient, and don't pay attention to boring little things like how long the game has been going on or what the score is. You have to be more patient than them. Because this game is a competition of patience between the two sides!"

※※※

At the same time, in the Real Madrid locker room, Mourinho was saying almost the same thing.

"Patience! Patience! Patience! Besides patience, it's still patience! This is my only requirement for you! In this game, whoever is more patient will win. This is not the kind of game where you can score four goals in the first half! This is an extremely dull final. But as long as we win the championship, all the ugliness on the field is not a problem!"

Mourinho waved his arms vigorously, instilling his tactical ideas into every player. Real Madrid is the team he has coached for the longest time. He has put a lot of effort into it. Under his transformation and rule, Real Madrid's players have long been following his lead.

Whatever he says, everyone does. There's absolutely no second word.

In addition, Liverpool's strength this season is obvious to all. Even Real Madrid's superstars can't help but feel any contempt and don't dare to be careless.

※※※

The players from both sides met in the player tunnel.

Only Pepe greeted his acquaintances in the Real Madrid team. The other Liverpool players didn't do this. They stood quietly in their own teams, looking straight ahead without squinting.

Even Pepe didn't keep chatting with his friends. After saying hello, he returned to his team, stood behind Chen Hero, and became as quiet as his teammates.

He has deep feelings for his teammates, but this will definitely not mean that he will be lenient towards Real Madrid. In fact, in a sense, Pepe is here to seek revenge.

Because after Real Madrid was eliminated from the Champions League, they pushed the responsibility to him and made him a scapegoat, which made him very unhappy in itself. Then, when facing Liverpool's pursuit, Pepe himself was initially unwilling to leave the team. He had his friends here, and coach Mourinho also valued him very much. He couldn't think of why he should leave Real Madrid.

But the reaction of the Real Madrid club disappointed him, even despaired him. Because the Real Madrid club not only did not help him defend himself and reduce the pressure, but also spread the news that they wanted to actively sell him.

This made him feel chilled.

It also ultimately prompted him to leave Real Madrid.

Now that he and Real Madrid have reunited again, he is eager to prove to the high-ranking Florentino how serious a mistake it was for Real Madrid to abandon him, Pepe, and how successful he has been since leaving Real Madrid!

Since he came to Liverpool, Liverpool has been constantly winning championships. The number of goals conceded in the defense has also been decreasing, all thanks to him.

Before this game, some Madrid media played the warmth card—warmly recalling Pepe's outstanding performances when he played for Real Madrid, and interviewing many fans and celebrities, who praised Pepe's performance during his time at Real Madrid.

They wanted to use this method to make Pepe think of old feelings, and then perform more gently in the game, and it would be even better if he was more abnormal...

Unfortunately, they miscalculated.

Pepe still remembers very clearly that they fiercely criticized Pepe for tarnishing Real Madrid's tradition and white jersey.

How could Pepe not know what they want to do now?

This is simply insulting his personality and IQ!

If those self-righteous Madrid media knew that their actions not only failed to win Pepe's favor for Real Madrid, but also angered him, they would probably want to die...