Chapter 1 The Beginning

Two days after Christine settled down in Liverpool, Chen Hero invited all the players of the team, as well as their girlfriends, wives, and children, to a party in his backyard. They ate delicious Italian food while chatting and playing games.

He also took this opportunity to formally introduce Cabrera to his teammates. His teammates had only known about Chen Hero's girlfriend from the media and had seen pictures, but no one had ever met her in person. Even Škrtel hadn't seen her.

After Chen Hero's careful grooming, Christine Cabrera became the shining star of the party that night. Chen Hero's teammates' eyes were glued to her, and who knows how many of them would have to endure the jealousy of their wives when they got home that night...

※※※

Cabrera came just in time, because Liverpool was about to welcome the Merseyside derby against Everton at home.

If Chen Hero's form was unstable, even playing at home, Liverpool might not be sure of taking Everton.

But now with Cabrera, Chen Hero has no worries.

His form is even better than before. Why? Because Cabrera will be at Anfield to watch the game, which will make Chen Hero high-spirited.

It is said that in ancient times, our ancestors fought each other, possibly for food, or possibly for mating rights—that is, for women. This competition made their blood boil and their morale high. They fought with extra strength and were especially good at fighting.

Even after entering civilized society, it was not uncommon for two men to duel for a woman, or for men from two countries to go to war.

It can be seen that women are the source of motivation for men.

This is especially obvious on the sports field—when you are sweating on the field, if there are many women standing around, and among them are women you admire, will you feel more motivated and high-spirited? You may also have some extraordinary performance.

It is also said that an agency specializing in collecting sperm did an experiment. Through investigation and research, they discovered a very interesting phenomenon. When male sperm donors were asked to collect sperm while watching an adult film of two men and one woman, the quality of the sperm collected was higher than that of watching an adult film of one man and one woman. As for why this is, experts interpreted it as because when the sperm donor sees another man appearing in the video, he will unconsciously feel a sense of crisis and competition. Men with a sense of competition will ejaculate more excellent sperm.

So competition makes mankind progress, and women often play a very important role in competition. Even now, it is common to see two young men fighting to the point of bloodshed for a woman, and in literary works, the plot of two brothers turning against each other for a woman is also common.

For women, men can not only die, but also challenge the whole world and change their fate against the will of heaven.

With Cabrera watching the game live, Chen Hero's state is probably already maxed out.

Everton is destined to be something on the coffee table.

※※※

Before the game, no one really linked Everton's fate in this game with Chen Hero's girlfriend coming to Liverpool. Although after Cabrera came to Liverpool, the photo of her and Chen Hero kissing passionately at the airport the next day was already on many English tabloids.

But everyone thought it was Chen Hero's private matter, and what did it have to do with the game?

This league match on March 13th was a postponed match from the 26th round, so there was only this one match. As a city derby, this game has attracted much attention.

Liverpool played against Everton at home. This was the 217th Merseyside derby in history. In Premier League history, Liverpool and Everton have played against each other 39 times, with 20 red cards, making it the most red card-filled match between two teams, and it can also be regarded as the most explosive derby.

Gerrard and Lucas were still absent due to injuries in this game. But they have Chen Hero and Suarez, which is Liverpool's magic weapon to defeat the enemy.

Before the game started, Everton fans put up banners in the sky with the words "Van Persie! Van Persie! Van Persie!" It seemed that they were cheering for Van Persie, but in fact they were stimulating Chen Hero. Van Persie is Chen Hero's opponent in the league's top scorer battle, and currently maintains a four-goal lead. Chanting Van Persie's name will stimulate Chen Hero, and maybe even make him lose his cool, become angry, and greatly reduce his performance?

But all this is useless to Chen Hero!

Chen Hero's mind is now full of the idea of performing well in front of his girlfriend. He didn't expect to run into the Merseyside derby, which is really killing two birds with one stone—he can not only show himself in front of his long-lost girlfriend, but also defeat his city rivals and win the hearts of Liverpool fans.

※※※

The game started for thirty minutes, and the two sides fought back and forth, which was quite lively. Liverpool, playing at home, had a strong offensive, but Everton, playing away, also had an accurate understanding of their position, which was to defend and counterattack.

They didn't go out easily and made sure to maintain their numerical advantage in the backcourt. Although it looked a bit ugly on the field, it was safe.

This is a city derby, and the result is above all else. As long as you can win, no matter how you win, you are the winner and can laugh at the loser to your heart's content.

No one wants to be a loser...

Although Everton is playing away, they also have ambitions.

Judging from the odds offered by the bookmakers before the game, Liverpool was favored, but the advantage was very limited. Although they defeated Cardiff City and won the League Cup, their recent performance in several games has been really disappointing. Apart from winning against Arsenal before, the other games were either draws or losses. Starting from the 23rd round of the league, they only won one game in five rounds, which can be described as a slump. Moreover, Liverpool has had many draws at home in the league this season. Facing the aggressive Toffees this time, Liverpool can only hope that Suarez and Chen Hero, the two offensive cores, will perform well in order to avoid continuing to lose.

As for Everton, after entering mid-January 2012, they suddenly burst out with strong fighting power in the league. The team not only achieved an undefeated record of three wins and four draws in the last seven league games, but the opponents they won were Manchester City, the league's top team, Chelsea, a giant, and Tottenham Hotspur, a strong team. It can be seen that they are in good form now. In addition, Everton's strength in all three lines is actually not much worse than that of the home team Liverpool. The only difference is the front line, but they are only missing one Chen Hero on the front line. It's just that many teams lack a freak like Chen Hero compared to Liverpool...

After such an analysis, Everton felt that they were not much worse than Liverpool, just one Chen Hero.

Didn't he fail to score in the last game against Sunderland? If he is so awesome, then he should be able to turn the tide when the team is not performing well.

Although Wenger's Arsenal lost to Liverpool at Anfield, it gave some other Premier League teams such an inspiration—perhaps the key to defending Chen Hero is not on Chen Hero himself, but on other Liverpool players. Restraining Liverpool's overall performance is more useful and easier than simply restraining Chen Hero alone.

Moreover, they can also compete with Liverpool in scoring goals. Liverpool's defense is not very solid. Agger and Škrtel are tall and have good aerial defense capabilities, but they are slow to turn around, which has become their weakness. As long as they are paired with fast and flexible forwards who specialize in attacking behind them, I believe they will always gain something.

Just like Wenger did in the second half against Liverpool, he arranged for Song to frequently make through balls, and it really worked. Van Persie scored the team's second goal. If Dalglish hadn't asked the team to shrink the defense, I'm afraid they would have conceded more goals.

Moyes' plan for this game was the same, to play more through balls. The advantage of through balls is that once they penetrate the defense, they can be directly fatal, but the disadvantage is that the success rate is too low. But Everton is not afraid of the low success rate, because they all shrink the defense. Even if they fail, it will not affect the defensive formation. Through balls are the tactic that causes the least damage to the defensive formation, because after the players get the ball, they do not need to go through various complex cooperation and running positions in the midfield before passing the ball out. They can pass the ball directly, and the overall formation will not be pulled apart and scattered due to frequent passing and running positions.

For Everton, it doesn't matter if they fail ninety-nine times out of a hundred, as long as they can succeed once, they may win the game.

In these thirty minutes, Everton defended very tightly. Although there were not many counterattacks, they were quite threatening. It seemed that Liverpool was not necessarily able to win at home, and Everton not only had a good chance of getting a draw, but also had hope of winning.

※※※

But whether they can win depends on one person.

How is Chen Hero's form in this game?

In the thirty minutes of the game, he had three shots, two of which were on target, but were saved by Everton goalkeeper Howard.

The performance is normal, not bad, but not very good.

Didn't Cabrera work?

When the game was broadcast on television, they also took the time to cut to a shot of the stands. In the VIP box, Cabrera was sitting in her seat, concentrating on watching the game.

This shot also made many male fans excited. They were shocked by Cabrera's temperament and eyebrows.

The commentators also began to joke about Chen Hero's girlfriend: "I heard that the relationship between the two of them used to be a bodyguard and a protectee..."

"Yes, that's right. When Hero first arrived in Naples, he angered the Naples fans, so his agent, Dracula, found him a bodyguard... In this way, they lived under the same roof for three years... I really think they may have already confirmed their relationship, but it has not been exposed..."

"In this way, Hero's skills in picking up girls are indeed extraordinary, hahaha!"

The commentators and guest commentators were happily gossiping about the story of Chen Hero and Cabrera, and for a while they forgot to comment on the situation in the game. They only saw Liverpool launching another attack on the field. Because Everton retreated relatively far, Liverpool did not directly pass the ball long to find Chen Hero, but sent the ball forward layer by layer. Finally, they surrounded Everton's penalty area to fight a positional battle, passing the ball back and forth to find opportunities.

But this time Chen Hero did not wait in the penalty area, he pulled out again.

Now that Chen Hero has more scoring weapons, he has many choices. He can wait in the penalty area for his teammates to send the ball to him from the air, and then head it in. He can also start outside and shoot from long range after receiving a pass from his teammates. He can also run out of the penalty area to play one-on-one with his back to the goal.

From his running position, opponents can easily guess what he is going to do, but just because you guessed it doesn't mean you can defend against it.

This is exactly what makes Chen Hero feel terrifying.

For example, now, after he pulled out, Everton's defenders all know that he is going to take the ball with his back to the goal, but unless you can defend in front of him and intercept the ball one step ahead when the opponent passes the ball to Chen Hero, it will be difficult to defend. Moreover, defending in front also carries such a risk—if you go up, Chen Hero will take advantage of the situation to move sideways and let the ball pass, while also blocking you behind him. What should you do when he turns around and enters the penalty area?

Before Everton's defenders could figure out what to do, the ball had already been passed over.

"Hero received the ball, and he is now facing away from the direction of attack. Everton's defenders are suddenly facing a formidable enemy!"