“Serie A Oscar” was originally called "Italian Players' Association Annual Best Selection", but because the selection and awards ceremony procedures imitated the Oscars, it became known as the Serie A Oscar.

One point can prove it—they even used "Little Golden Men" for the form of the trophy. However, the Oscar's Little Golden Man has his arms crossed over his chest, while Serie A's is a Little Golden Man making a kicking motion.

The awards ceremony was two-thirds of the way through, and some less important awards had been given out earlier, such as Best Goal, Most Popular Player, etc. ... Major awards such as Best Italian Player, Best Foreign Player, and Best Player were of course saved for last.

Chen Hero hadn't gotten up yet.

The Best Goal went to Quagliarella, the Most Popular Player went to Inter Milan's Diego Milito, the Best Goalkeeper belonged to Inter Milan's Julio Cesar, and the Best Team belonged to Inter Milan. Many people thought that as last season's league champion, Inter Milan should be the biggest winner tonight, right?

They already had three awards.

But that wasn't the case.

The Best Newcomer went to Pato from AC Milan, who won the award despite being surrounded by two Inter Milan players, Balotelli and Santon.

This disappointed many Inter Milan fans.

Then, for Best Defender, Maicon, the world's best right back, also lost to Juventus' central defender Chiellini.

The Best Fans went to Sampdoria's fans.

Best Referee Rosetti won the award for the third consecutive year.

Best Coach gave Inter Milan fans some consolation, as Mourinho won the award with an overwhelming advantage.

Mazzarri, sitting next to Chen Hero and Cassano, shrugged his shoulders. He knew he was just there as window dressing...

Next, the main event finally took the stage.

A promotional video began to play on the big screen, highlighting the three nominees.

In the video, Zlatan Ibrahimović first appeared, showing footage of him scoring goals in matches, accompanied by the Inter Milan commentator's signature passionate shouts. After scoring, Ibrahimović spread his arms and looked up at the sky, appearing very arrogant and domineering.

Next up was another foreign player, also wearing an Inter Milan jersey, Diego Milito, with more footage of him scoring goals.

Finally, Chen Hero, wearing a Napoli jersey, appeared. The clip chosen wasn't a video of him scoring, but the arrogant gesture of him lifting up his jersey and standing in front of Mourinho to celebrate a goal.

Seeing this scene, the hall burst into laughter, and the live television broadcast immediately gave Chen Hero a close-up. Chen Hero looked slightly surprised, and Cassano, sitting next to him, kept nudging him with his shoulder, winking at him and saying something. Then Chen Hero laughed.

The television could only show the picture, but couldn't hear what was said.

Actually, what Cassano said was: "I think they're doing it on purpose!"

After the promotional videos of the three nominees were played, the beautiful host, wearing a dark blue spaghetti-strap dress, took the stage, and also invited the award presenter.

When the award presenter came on stage, the audience burst into warm applause, because the guest presenting the Best Foreign Player award was the famous former Italian midfielder, AC Milan legend—Demetrio Albertini.

Albertini held an envelope in his hand, containing the name of the eventual winner.

The applause gradually subsided, and the hall quieted down. Albertini held the microphone and addressed the players, coaches, and chairmen below.

"The past year has been a passionate and wonderful year for the Italian Serie A. I must thank those high-level foreign players, because it is their efforts that have made Serie A competitive and rejuvenated it. In the early 1990s, our league was once known as the 'Little World Cup' because the best foreign players in the world played in our league!"

Here, the hall applauded again. Albertini, who entered the Italian Football Association after retiring, was indeed very good at speaking. He thanked all the foreign players and expressed his hope for the revival of Serie A.

"In the past year, I have been very happy to see foreign players with high-level skills playing in our league. These three nominees are just representatives of them... They are all equally good, and it is really very difficult to choose one of them... At least I would find it difficult..."

There was laughter below.

"But just like there is only one champion, there can only be one Best. So I thought of the Golden Boot battle last season, and then the winner, Hero, said he wasn't used to sharing the honor of top scorer with anyone... Sorry, Zlatan, I didn't mean to bring that up on purpose." As he spoke, he winked at Ibrahimović below.

There was another burst of laughter. The live television broadcast gave Ibrahimović a close-up, and the Swede had a smile on his face, seemingly not minding. But what he really thought... who knows.

Similarly, the live television broadcast also gave Chen Hero a close-up, and Chen Hero had a smile on his face, and didn't look any different.

Actually, he was feeling very good—Well said, Demi!

"Now, these three must be separated into a winner. So who is the winner?" He began to open the envelope.

After taking the paper out, he glanced at it, and then put the paper back into the envelope.

He looked up and said to everyone with a smile, "The winner is a very individual player..."

The television broadcast directly ignored Milito, because Diego Milito was definitely not an individual player. Even Milito himself sighed softly in his heart, with a slight disappointment on his face.

He knew that this Best Foreign Player was not for him, and obviously the Best Player wouldn't belong to him either.

Both Ibrahimović and Chen Hero could definitely be considered "individual players".

"Last season, there was one thing that I enjoyed watching very much, and it filled me with hope for the revival of our league, because I saw a long-lost passion in it. It wasn't the battle for the league title, nor the competition for Champions League qualification, but the duel between two shooters!" Albertini began to reveal the answer little by little, whetting people's appetites and stirring up the atmosphere.

"I don't remember how long it's been since I've seen such a wonderful show. Yes, for me, last season's battle for top scorer was simply comparable to a Hollywood blockbuster."

Albertini paused here.

The television broadcast gave close-ups of several people in turn: award presenter Albertini, and the two nominees, Ibrahimović and Chen Hero.

Ibrahimović had a bad feeling—Albertini kept talking about the top scorer, which meant that the winner must have a great connection with the top scorer, and individual honors would be more dominant than collective honors here... In this way, he couldn't rely on the league title to suppress Chen Hero, since he didn't get the top scorer award.

Albertini opened his mouth again and announced the winner: "2009 Serie A Best Foreign Player—Hero!"

"Yes!" Cassano shouted.

A burst of warm applause followed.

There was no surprise on Chen Hero's face, as if he had expected this result. He just stood up from his seat with a smile on his face, and walked onto the stage with the look of a winner.

When Ibrahimović heard the answer, he was stunned for a moment, and then he followed the people around him and applauded, but it looked like a routine. There was no smile on his face, and he looked very serious.

He wasn't happy, not happy at all. Ibrahimović didn't hide his thoughts at all. He knew that the television cameras must be pointing at him at this time, desperately giving him close-ups. So let them film!

He didn't like that arrogant guy in the first place!

Arrogant and flamboyant people may all have this idea—it's enough for there to be one awesome person like me in this world, there's no need for a second!

So the two of them didn't like each other.

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Chen Hero walked onto the stage and stood next to Albertini. Albertini was still introducing him to everyone: "... He only scored six goals in the first half of the season, and no one would have thought that this guy could win the top scorer award. Even I didn't expect it..."

There was laughter below.

These whispers sounded like a blatant slap in the face to Ibrahimović—they were excitedly discussing the top scorer, and he was losing on this battlefield, and he lost at the last moment. At this moment, he became Chen Hero's foil, green leaf, and background. How could Ibrahimović, who had always been proud and conceited, tolerate this treatment?

You know, he was the kind of person who dared to challenge Messi's status in the team even after going to Barcelona—even if Messi is the best in the world now, he never thinks he is inferior to Messi.

"But he broke out starting with the match against Roma. From then on, he became unstoppable. One goal after another stunned us onlookers. Twenty-one goals in half a season, two hat tricks in the game, and a super comeback in the last game! What an amazing achievement, Hero!"

When Albertini said this, the hall was already thunderous with applause.

Unlike awards such as "Best Goal", "Most Popular Player", and "Best Team" that are voted on by fans, the "Best Foreign Player" is definitely voted on by players from the twenty Serie A teams, so this award can mean a player's status in the eyes of his opponents.

Although from the results of this award, he has conquered many people, but listen to this applause, this is the most direct impression.

It was indeed quite amazing. He only scored six goals in the first half of the season. At the time, he ranked twenty-second on the scorer list... Who would have thought that such a person could win the league's top scorer in the end?

That second half of the season was simply a legend.

Chen Hero's own crazy goals conquered his opponents, his peers, and made them willing to cast their valuable votes for him.

In addition, after the start of the new season, he is still scoring goals constantly, and is currently leading the scorer list in the Champions League. Isn't this performance enough for him to be elected the Serie A Best Foreign Player last year?

Ibrahimović's expression wouldn't be good-looking, because Albertini used him as a sacrifice to set off Chen Hero's greatness. But at this time, no one cared what he thought...

※※※

Albertini took the Little Golden Man from the beautiful host and handed it to Chen Hero, and patted Chen Hero on the shoulder to show encouragement and appreciation.

"That was just your first Serie A season, Hero. What else can we expect from you?" He said half-jokingly.

Generally speaking, interviewees would not take it seriously, and shy people could just smile, while lively people could joke around, heat up the atmosphere, and make a group of people laugh.

Chen Hero tilted his head and leaned in front of the microphone in Albertini's hand.

Seeing that he had something to say, Albertini handed the microphone to his mouth.

"You can expect me to continue to win the league's top scorer this season." Chen Hero said this without any expression on his face, very seriously, and not at all as if he was joking.

Even Albertini didn't know how to respond, and he was stunned.

Not only him, but basically everyone in the audience was stunned. After this sentence was said, the hall was silent...

They were all frightened.

Wasn't this too arrogant?

Only one person's expression was a little different—Ibrahimović curled his lips and snorted from his nose.

A smile quickly appeared on Chen Hero's face, and he said to everyone with a hippie smile: "Just kidding, look how scared you are!"

So Albertini took the lead to laugh, but the laugh was still a bit fake, not smooth enough, and sounded like a fake laugh.

"I want to thank the Italian Players' Association for giving me this award." Chen Hero raised the Little Golden Man in his hand. "For me, this is a very high honor, because these are not the votes filled out by those national team coaches who have never even heard of my name, nor are they the evaluations of reporters who think they are superior and can criticize us at will..."

The first was because he was still complaining that his ranking for the FIFA World Player was too low. And the second reason resonated with many players, so he once again received applause, laughter, and whistles.

This time, the atmosphere at the scene was much more active and enthusiastic than before. Some people breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts. The scene was really too embarrassing just now...

"Because this is your vote for me."

※※※

"He doesn't look like a newcomer who is receiving an award for the first time at all..." Below, Cassano was whispering to Mazzarri. "I think it's like he's received this kind of award many times already."

Mazzarri smiled: "He's a genius like you, Antonio. He has to have the temperament to not be afraid of big occasions."

Cassano stared at Chen Hero for a while, tilted his head and said, "He will have a brighter future than me..."

※※※

"I thank every brother who voted for me. If I knew you were all drowning, I'd treat you to... a meal!" He originally wanted to say drink, but fortunately he suddenly thought that professional players shouldn't drink in principle, although everyone drinks privately, it's not good to say it publicly... so he temporarily changed it to "meal".

"As for those who didn't vote for me... you have to be careful!" Chen Hero said to the people below with a smile.

There was a burst of laughter from the audience, and everyone knew that he was joking. You could tell from his expression.

After saying these words, he walked off the stage, and the awards ceremony continued.

But soon he was invited back up again...

※※※

"2009 Serie A Best Player... Hero!"

Amid the applause and cheers of the crowd, Chen Hero walked onto the stage again.

This time, the person in charge of presenting the award was the president of the Italian Players' Association, Sergio Campana, who was already seventy-five years old, with white hair and wrinkles all over his face.

This was the most important award in this award event, because the Best Player was produced by a pk between the Best Italian Player and the Best Foreign Player.

It can be called the best of the best. Of course, the president of the players' association had to personally present this award. You know, this Campana has been the president of the players' association for forty-two years, and is highly respected and is a leader in the hearts of many players.

The 2009 Serie A Best Italian Player was De Rossi, but obviously, his influence couldn't compare with Chen Hero, who miraculously won the season's top scorer and reversed Ibrahimović, so this Best Player was undoubtedly taken by Chen Hero, and he deserved it.

The kind-eyed Campana handed the Little Golden Man to Chen Hero and said to him, "Say a few words, Hero?"

Chen Hero frowned: "Uh... I've already finished speaking just now..."

The people below laughed happily.

"Next time, I will be more prepared! Thank you, I will use better performance to prove that I deserve this honor." He raised the Little Golden Man in his hand.

"But... I don't think this is good news for you, right?" He smiled again, speaking in a joking tone.

So the people below continued to laugh.

But some people didn't laugh, because they felt that Chen Hero was right—the better he performed, the more headache it would be for them as his opponents...

Who knew if Chen Hero was really joking, or if he was serious?

※※※

ps, in the name of "Serie A Best Foreign Player" and "Serie A Best Player", I ask everyone for the monthly votes in your hands!