Chapter 1 Taking the European Super Cup

Winning the European Super Cup wasn't a difficult task for a team of Liverpool's caliber, especially against Feyenoord.

However, major media outlets still dedicated significant coverage to the event after the match. The reason was simple: it was their second title of the season, and their sixth in the past year.

Barcelona had once achieved a sextuple.

This sextuple wasn't calculated by season, but rather by calendar year.

In 2009, Barcelona achieved a remarkable sextuple, winning six titles that year: La Liga, Copa del Rey, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.

Therefore, if Liverpool could win the FIFA Club World Cup at the end of the year, they would become true septuple champions!

This would be an even greater achievement than Barcelona's—although their septuple would benefit from having one more domestic cup, more is still more.

Before Barcelona, the team with the most titles in a single year was Ajax, who set a record of quintuple champions in 1972—winning the Eredivisie, KNVB Cup, European Cup, European Super Cup, and Intercontinental Cup.

Now, Liverpool had matched Barcelona's number of titles.

Such a great achievement naturally deserved significant coverage and promotion.

However, this didn't stop them from continuing to mock Chen Hero's boast.

Because what Chen Hero had said wasn't about becoming a septuple champion within the year, but about winning all the titles in the new season, meaning his septuple ambition was aimed at the new season, not the current year; it spanned across years.

These were two different things, so the media could continue to mock Chen Hero without any psychological burden.

Although they had analyzed that Chen Hero might have misspoke, not understanding the concept and thinking Barcelona's sextuple was for the next season, not one year. So that's why he said such a thing. Maybe he just wanted to collect all the titles in one year, like Barcelona…

But nobody would pay attention to these things; they only needed an excuse to mock and ridicule Chen Hero. So whether Chen Hero misspoke or did it on purpose didn't matter.

However, after returning to Liverpool, Chen Hero issued a challenge to those reporters during an interview.

"The sixth title this year? Yes, I know. But that's not my goal. My goal has always been clear, to win all the titles this season. What's so difficult about getting seven titles in a year? We're only one away now, so don't ask me about it. For me, it's as easy as eating. What I want is to defend four titles and win three new ones. It's that simple. Now we've got two of the three new titles. The last one isn't a problem either. Defending the titles is very difficult, I know, but that's what makes it challenging. And me, Chen Hero, I like doing challenging things the most."

Chen Hero's words were domineering and arrogant: "Winning seven titles in a year is as easy as eating," "What I want is to defend four titles and win three new ones," and "It's that simple"…

How was any of that simple?!

Did he even know how many teams wanted to win so many titles but couldn't?!

"Hero is just tough-talking. In reality, he should be laughing if he can win the FIFA Club World Cup. The FIFA Club World Cup is not easy anymore..." one reporter wrote, as a rebuttal to Chen Hero.

"Flamengo of Brazil, the winners of the Copa Libertadores, expressed their anger at Chen Hero's words. They vowed to give Liverpool a hard time at the FIFA Club World Cup at the end of the year!"

The media had finally succeeded in hyping this up, causing a reaction from the South American side. That's what they wanted to achieve…

This way, the FIFA Club World Cup, which was originally just a sideshow, would be more interesting.

The media would naturally have more gimmicks and reporting resources.

Truly a good plan that killed two birds with one stone!

※※※

Liverpool, returning with a great harvest, faced West Ham United in the third round of the league.

Playing at home, this opponent wasn't much of a challenge.

Although Martin O'Neill rotated the squad, it seemed like an opportunity for Allardyce. But he didn't rotate Chen Hero, so for West Ham United, the rotation was just a trap that looked good.

If West Ham United thought they could take advantage of Liverpool's large-scale rotation, then they would be met with Chen Hero's head-on blow at Anfield.

West Ham United should probably be grateful that they didn't have such thoughts. Even so, they lost 1-3 away, with Chen Hero—who had been in good form recently; he's always been in good form—scoring twice in the match.

Helping Liverpool continue to lead the league standings.

And he himself was ranked first in the scorer list with six goals.

After the third round of the league, the team ushered in a short break.

It was the international match day, and the team's international players had to travel around the world to play for their countries.

Chen Hero seemed very relaxed.

He didn't have any national team matches, so he seemed more relaxed than everyone else.

He didn't have to fly all over the world; he could stay in Liverpool and train with the reserves and youth team.

This wasn't a vacation; it was preparing for the League Cup in October and the FA Cup next year. At the start of this season, Chen Hero had already discussed it with Martin O'Neill: this season's League Cup and FA Cup would still be played by Chen Hero plus the reserves.

This would also serve as training for the team, while giving the first team more rest time.

As for Chen Hero… If Chen Hero wasn't there, these reserves wouldn't be able to last more than three rounds.

So Chen Hero was the guarantee that the reserves could go further.

In fact, Martin O'Neill hadn't agreed to Chen Hero's request so easily.

He was very troubled by Chen Hero's idea. After all, the team's goal this season was the septuple, and the League Cup and FA Cup were no longer just sideshows. What if something went wrong with the reserves…

Last season, they were lucky. What about this season?

He always felt uneasy.

There was nothing he could do; this cautious man had this characteristic. He was always worried about this and that.

He always felt that an accident could undo everyone's efforts.

He was the team's head coach. If something went wrong, he would have to bear all the responsibility. Chen Hero, who had sworn so confidently before, couldn't help him much. So he had to be careful.

Chen Hero spent a lot of effort to persuade him, making him agree to continue trying this combination to play in the League Cup and FA Cup.

And he guaranteed that they would definitely win the title. If Liverpool lost one of the titles, he would no longer insist on his idea.

That's how Martin O'Neill reluctantly agreed to Chen Hero's request.

Then, on these international match days, it was a good opportunity for him to train with the reserve players. They could improve their understanding, integrate their lineup, and increase their understanding in training.

Although Chen Hero had been playing with the reserves for two consecutive seasons.

But this summer, Liverpool's reserves sold a lot of players, which brought a small income to the team.

Now those players who fought alongside Chen Hero in the League Cup and FA Cup had been sold, and a new batch of players had been promoted from the youth team. These players usually didn't have many opportunities to train and play with Chen Hero, so they naturally needed to reintegrate—this was actually the main reason why Martin O'Neill didn't agree with Chen Hero's approach. If it was the reserve team from last season, he would have agreed with only a slight hesitation, after all, their strength was there, their experience was there, their understanding was there.

Now this team was starting from scratch, everything had to be done again, which inevitably made Martin O'Neill have the thought that "this idea is too unreliable."

Liverpool's first League Cup match was on October 25th. Before that, the team had to be prepared.

During the first joint training session with the reserves, Chen Hero explained this to all his teammates: "Hi, guys. I have good news and bad news to tell you. Which one do you want to hear first?"

Chen Hero didn't wait for them to choose and continued, "The good news is that I will be participating in the League Cup and FA Cup with you in the new season…"

Before he could finish, the reserve players burst into cheers.

But Chen Hero raised his hand to signal them not to cheer yet.

"Yes, just like you guessed. Just like last season, you have the opportunity to participate in the finals of the League Cup and FA Cup. But!"

He paused heavily, looking at his new teammates. At this moment, he didn't seem like their teammate, he seemed like their coach, their commander, giving a pre-war mobilization to a group of rookies.

And those players didn't think there was anything wrong with Chen Hero talking to them like that. Chen Hero was the absolute core main force of the first team. In front of them young people, wasn't he a senior? With his current ability and status in world football, it was normal for him to talk to a group of newcomers like this.

As soon as he said "But," everyone immediately fell silent.

"But, but you have to be prepared. It's very hard to participate in the League Cup and FA Cup with me. You need to put in more effort than now and make greater sacrifices than now! Those who can't keep up with me in training and can't keep up with me in the game will face the fate of being eliminated. – That's the bad news. I won't be merciful to you, and I'm not here to help you kindly. I'm just here to win more titles. To win the title, I need people who can be my qualified teammates. Are you?" He looked at those players.

He could see something flashing anxiously in the eyes of these young people.

So he asked, "Now that you know the good news and the bad news, do you still want to follow me?"

As he expected, a huge shout broke out in the locker room: "Yes!!"

The light in everyone's eyes grew stronger and stronger, and finally radiated from their eyes, filling the entire locker room with the power of dreams and hope.

Chen Hero laughed, very satisfied with his influence and the reserves.

※※※

Training with the reserves went smoothly. Chen Hero had become an idol for the younger players. Training with their idol and being able to play with their idol in the future was the wish of many Liverpool reserve players. No one wanted to miss this opportunity. Naturally, everyone worked hard and strived to be the first in training.

Martin O'Neill didn't expect Chen Hero to be able to make this team explode with such great energy with just a few words. He felt that his evaluation of Chen Hero might have to be adjusted again…

Such a player is definitely a treasure of the club!

However, the treasure classmate suddenly received a call from Dekura.

In the call, Dekura told Chen Hero: "The Chinese Football Association is looking for you."