Chapter 10 Goal!

As the Manchester United team doctor and stretcher-bearers hurried onto the field, the fans in the stands and the commentators on television were still excitedly discussing Chen Hero's powerful kick that had floored Park Ji-sung.

Park Ji-sung was famous in football for his desperate efforts, earning him the nickname "Three-Lang the Desperate."

His first impulse to block the shot was clearly driven by this sense of responsibility and mentality.

And even if he was fouled, unless he was really injured, he rarely lay on the ground faking it. He would always jump up from the ground as quickly as possible and continue playing.

So, the fact that he had been knocked to the ground and couldn't get up showed just how powerful Chen Hero's kick was.

Plus, everyone had heard a dull, powerful "thump!" when he kicked the ball just now.

"It was like a heavy truck driving at high speed crashed into Park Ji-sung…"

"Did you hear that sound? That 'thump'!"

"I heard it too, it was so clear! God, how much power did Hero use in that kick…"

"The latest speed statistics are out. In Chen Hero's kick just now, the ball reached a speed of 150 kilometers per hour! God… imagine Park Ji-sung being hit head-on by a car traveling at 150 kilometers per hour on the highway… I can completely understand why he didn't get up."

"Actually, I think Park Ji-sung was a bit wronged, because even if he hadn't rushed out, judging from the trajectory of the ball, Hero's shot would definitely have been a miss…"

But no matter what, Park Ji-sung was carried off the field on a stretcher.

He had actually regained consciousness. He had only experienced a temporary blackout, and hadn't fallen into a prolonged unconscious state.

Before being carried off the field, he insisted on walking off himself, but as soon as he stood up, his body went limp and he almost fell to the ground again. He had been hit hard in the face by the football that Hero had kicked, and for a moment he was still dizzy and his mind wasn't clear.

Naturally, he couldn't walk off the field, so he had to be carried off on a stretcher.

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Watching Park Ji-sung being carried off the field on a stretcher, Ferguson's face was very grim.

Rio Ferdinand had been sent off with a red card, and Evans was still warming up and hadn't returned. Now that Park Ji-sung was also injured, Manchester United could only play with nine men on the field.

But this wasn't the main thing. The main thing was that he didn't know how badly Park Ji-sung was injured, and whether he could continue to play. If he couldn't continue, and the first half had only started twenty-five minutes ago, would he have to replace two players in a row?

Damn it, there couldn't be a worse game than this!

Now Ferguson didn't think that leading Napoli 1-0 away from home was a good thing at all.

Park Ji-sung was still receiving urgent treatment from the team doctor on the sidelines. He had already woken up, so it was just a matter of testing whether he could still continue the game, such as holding up fingers and asking him what number it was, asking him his name, and giving him a few simple math problems to calculate to see if his mind was clear. Of course, they also had to shine a special flashlight into his pupils to see if there was anything unusual.

After doing all this, Park Ji-sung would probably have to rest for a while before he could continue playing.

Manchester United now had to play with nine men.

The commentators were still talking about Chen Hero's kick just now, and then imagining what it would be like if that ball hit them in the face.

On the sidelines, Park Ji-sung was receiving emergency treatment and examination.

On the field, Chen Hero was repositioning the football. Because Park Ji-sung had rushed out of the wall early, the free kick had to be taken again. This time, Chen Hero was still taking the free kick.

The fact that Park Ji-sung had been knocked off the field by his free kick didn't seem to affect him, although the way his teammates looked at him was a little different…

He carefully placed the football, then took four steps back again, with one leg in front of the other, leaning forward, his eyes fixed on the front… except this time his eyes weren't on the top of the wall, but on the bottom of the wall.

That kick just now, hitting Park Ji-sung, was an accident. But he also realized that it would be difficult to kick the ball over the top and score a goal. His *luoye qiu* (falling leaf kick) hadn't reached that level yet. Even if he retreated ten meters from the edge of the penalty area, he wouldn't be able to do it.

So he decided to try a different approach. If he couldn't get over the top, what about going from below?

Just when he kicked the free kick just now, he saw many people in the wall jump up, trying to prevent the football from flying over their heads. In this way, there would be gaps below them, and even if it was just a crack, Chen Hero saw it as an opportunity.

He was willing to give it a try.

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The football was placed, and the opposing wall was also set up.

This time, Manchester United still dawdled for a while before setting up, and looking at their appearance, each of them was holding their crotches tightly, looking nervous, as if facing a formidable enemy.

Obviously, Park Ji-sung's fate just now had shocked them.

It was a good thing that ball hit Park Ji-sung in the face. What would it feel like if it hit him directly in the balls… no one was willing to risk their body.

So it was better to cover his crotch.

Not only did they have to cover their crotches, but no one would be foolish enough to rush out to block the shot again. If another one was taken down, Manchester United would probably have to replace three players in a minute…

With fear and tension in their hearts, the Manchester United players waited for the referee to blow the whistle.

"Bee!"

The referee's whistle sounded.

Chen Hero took a deep breath and began to run.

The initial steps were exactly the same as the previous shot.

But at the last step, it was different.

His body didn't lean back slightly to make it easier for his right leg to generate force and create an arc, but… instead, he leaned forward, pressing his entire center of gravity forward. With his right leg swinging over, the instep of his foot hit the middle and upper part of the football hard.

Sure enough, no one rushed forward to block the shot. Everyone was shocked by Chen Hero's previous kick.

But it wouldn't do to just stand there like a wall without moving, would it?

So everyone cleverly… jumped!

They jumped straight up.

Naturally, there was a gap under their feet.

This action was done at the same time as Chen Hero kicked the football.

So when they were in the air, they realized that the football wasn't flying towards their heads, and horrified expressions appeared on their faces—of course, they weren't horrified that the football was coming towards their crotches.

They were horrified that the football was flying almost along the turf!

In the blink of an eye, the football rushed past under their feet!

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No one expected that Chen Hero would shoot the football under the wall, not even the goalkeeper Van der Sar.

The wall was blocking the near post, and he was guarding the slightly farther post, but still in the middle of the goal, so that he could take care of both the near and far posts.

But his habitual thinking made him focus on the threat from above.

This free kick was very close to the goal, at the edge of the penalty area, basically about eighteen meters. What was a distance of eighteen meters to someone who could unleash a shot with a speed of 150 kilometers per hour? Not even a second, just the blink of an eye.

Van der Sar watched helplessly as the football suddenly appeared from under the jumping wall. The shocking feeling was like seeing a giant dragon rising from the bottom of a cliff.

He watched the football appear, but couldn't make any save, because… it was too close!

The distance of eighteen meters, the wall retreated nine point one five meters according to the rules, and in less than the blink of an eye, the football had crossed this distance. From the wall to the goal line was less than nine meters, such a short distance was nothing to a football traveling at a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour.

So Van der Sar didn't have time to react at all. His brain reacted, and he issued the command to save as soon as he saw the football, but his forty-year-old body couldn't react so quickly.

The football flew low along the turf and plunged into the net!

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"Ah… this… the goal is in! The goal is in!!!"

The commentator reacted after a brief moment of astonishment.

"GoooooooooooooooooL!!! GoooooooooooooooL!! Napoli!"

"They have tied the score! Hero! Hero! Unbelievable! His tenth goal in this season's Champions League! He has finally surpassed Messi for the first time on the top scorer list!"

"Ten goals in five games! I think even if God came, his performance would be about the same… it's really amazing…"

"Hero scored with a free kick? I didn't see it wrong, did I? Who has ever heard of him being good at scoring with free kicks?"

"In order to surpass Messi on the top scorer list, Hero has used every trick in the book, and even secretly practiced free kick skills…"

Amid the commentators' exclamations and guesses, Chen Hero didn't run wildly with his arms open, but stood still. He clenched his fists tightly, then slammed his right fist upwards.

He lowered his head, making his right fist the sole protagonist.

If anime fans saw this pose, they would probably find it very familiar—isn't this the gesture that Luffy and his crew made with Princess Vivi at the end of the Alabasta story in *One Piece*, raising their left hands to reveal their farewell X-shaped marks?

Of course, Chen Hero didn't have an x-shaped tattoo on his arm.

For Western commentators, they could easily regard this action as a demonstration of power with a fist, a triumphant celebration.

But He Ping was different. With the meaning of those previous celebration actions, he could already guess it—Chen Hero was using gestures to count his goals, but the gestures he used were common Chinese gestures, which Westerners didn't know much about.

So according to the meaning of his previous gestures, today's gesture was naturally—ten!

Yes, it was ten. Five fingers clenched into a fist, ten!

My, Chen Hero's tenth goal in this season's Champions League!

Ten goals in five games!

Are you all!

Convinced! Or not! Convinced!!

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ps, for such a violent and passionate goal, please give me more monthly tickets!