Chen Hero's two goals became the focus of media discussion after the game.

On the one hand, Chen Hero's return to form with a brace was news in itself.

On the other hand, both of his goals were scored from free kicks. Chen Hero had scored free kicks before, but very rarely. They were negligible in his career of over a hundred goals. He himself had never claimed to be good at free kicks. He was never the designated free-kick taker for any team.

Yet, under such circumstances, he scored two free kicks in one game.

After the game, Chen Hero, who had broken his goal drought, also accepted interviews with reporters again. Regarding the two goals, he said, "...Yes, I scored two free kicks. Beautiful, right? Of course, I can take free kicks. There's nothing surprising about it. Isn't a free kick just a long shot without interference? There's a wall? It doesn't matter, just blast through it! Hahaha! I think you'll see my free kicks often in the future!"

"...Chen Hero seemed to be in a good mood after scoring the goals. He also revealed a very important piece of information, which is...he may have mastered the free-kick technique. I think this is definitely not news his opponents want to hear..."

On a television program, a news anchor was broadcasting the news of the game that had just ended that afternoon.

It was not unusual for Chen Hero to score two goals in a game; he often did that. But it was rare for him to score two free kicks in a game, not to mention that both free kicks scored in one game were all... *luoye qiu* (falling-leaf kicks)!

The *luoye qiu* was originally invented by the famous Brazilian star Didi, but Didi's era was too far away. Therefore, many people thought that the *luoye qiu* was invented by the Italian star Albertini. In fact, he was the one who promoted and developed the *luoye qiu*.

Currently, among active players, the people who play the *luoye qiu* relatively well are Pirlo, Juninho Pernambucano, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo is a bit special. According to the nickname given to his free kicks by the media, it should be called the "elevator ball," but his free kicks are of the *luoye qiu* lineage. Ronaldo himself has said that he referred to a large number of Juninho Pernambucano's *luoye qiu* when practicing free kicks.

In fact, "*luoye qiu*" is just a collective term. If classified carefully, "*luoye qiu*" can be divided into many types. Everyone who is good at this type of free kick has their own characteristics and is completely different from others.

But there is always a common feature, otherwise all free kicks could be called *luoye qiu*, which is obviously not acceptable. The uniform characteristic of the *luoye qiu* is the sudden drop in front of the goal.

This is mainly achieved in two ways: one is rapid forward spin, and the other is no spin at all.

This sounds contradictory. Spin and no spin are completely two different actions. How can they achieve the same result?

But in reality, this is indeed the case. If you want the football to spin and fall, you have to have an upward lifting action when you touch the ball. In this way, the football will continue to spin forward during the flight and rub against the air. Then, when it reaches the front of the goal, the force generated by the friction will change its flight path and cause it to fall.

This type of ball drops mainly through rotation.

A non-rotating football uses another method to achieve the result of making the football drop, which is unbalanced airflow disturbance.

Anything that flies in the air will generate air turbulence around it. This is a natural phenomenon, just like airplanes and birds. The kicked football will also have this situation.

Generally speaking, the football we kick will have some spin. The force of the football's own rotation will counteract the force exerted on it by the constantly appearing airflow around it, so the trajectory of the football's flight is stable and controllable—in order to make the football turn to the right or to the left, we need to make the football produce self-rotation in different directions.

But what if the football doesn't spin?

The football itself is almost stationary in the air, relying entirely on external force to send it forward. The air around it, up, down, left, and right, will rub against it to produce unbalanced forces, and these forces will affect the flight of the football. If the force on the left side prevails, the football will deviate to the right. Conversely, if the force on the right side prevails, the football will deviate to the left. And most of the time, due to the influence of the football's own mass and the earth's gravity, the football will fall whether it goes to the left or to the right, but the process of this fall is generally traceable, which is a parabola. However, because the force around the football itself is unbalanced, once the force above it prevails, the football will suddenly fall at a certain point, and with the pressure of forces in other directions, it will also produce horizontal displacement while falling.

And this kind of ball, in the goalkeeper's view, is erratic when flying in the air, sometimes to the left and sometimes to the right. The entire flight process is almost producing an offset movement from its original center position. This movement, to put it romantically, is like a falling leaf fluttering from the treetops. Because it is too light, it will not fall directly to the ground like a stone, but will continue to sway left and right, fluttering and falling. When it lands, that place may be far away from its original starting point...

The name "*luoye qiu*" vividly describes the characteristics and power of this kind of ball.

Generally speaking, goalkeepers are not afraid of shots with large arcs, nor are they afraid of shots with great power, because there is always a trace to follow. Whether the football is a banana ball that turns to the left or a banana ball that turns to the right, there is always a trajectory that can be seen through in advance. Then, they can pounce in the direction they judge. If they don't catch it, it is either because the ball is too fast and they react too slowly, or because they didn't pounce far enough and the force was not strong enough. Anyway, there is always a possibility of saving it.

But when they face the *luoye qiu*, they will be very at a loss—the football is erratic, and even the person who kicked the football does not know which side the football will deviate to in the next second, which is really坑爹 (keng die, a pain in the ass). So they simply don't know which way to pounce. What if they pounce to the right and the football deviates to the left? What if they pounce to the left and the football deviates to the right? Is it okay to stand still? Even worse, the football is about to fly in front of you, and your hand has already opened to try to save the ball, but the football suddenly deviates to any direction, and it can fly into the goal from your side...

As for the kind of falling *luoye qiu*, the main purpose is to bypass the wall and the goalkeeper's hand. Generally, if you want to bypass these two obstacles at the same time, the end result is often that the ball flies straight out of the crossbar and straight into the sky—it's directly blasted away. However, the *luoye qiu* can bypass these two at the same time, and fall very close to the crossbar, barely avoiding the goalkeeper's fingers and the crossbar's obstruction, and finally fall into the goal.

Although the banana ball can also do this, it won't work if the distance is too close or too far, and in order to make the football rotate with enough arc, it is necessary to sacrifice the power and speed of the football, and the goalkeeper will have enough time to save the ball.

And the *luoye qiu* is still very threatening even if it is forty meters away from the goal.

Close to the goal? It's even easier. Arrange a teammate to squeeze into the crowd, and suddenly withdraw when the free kick is kicked, exposing a gap in the wall, and the free-kick taker will kick the football into this gap...

In general, the advantage of the *luoye qiu* is that it is unexpected. As long as you can hold down the football and let it eventually fall within the frame of the goal, it has a very high scoring rate.

This can be seen from the famous Brazilian free-kick master Juninho Pernambucano. During his time with Lyon, he used the *luoye qiu* to break through the opponent's goal many times, which shows the power of this free kick.

And the *luoye qiu* has another advantage, that is, it can not only reflect its value in free kicks, but also can be transplanted into long shots in motion. Generally speaking, players who are good at this kind of *luoye qiu* are good at long shots. Because the *luoye qiu* requires a lot of explosive power when kicking the ball—most people kick the *luoye qiu* with force from the part below the knee. Their kicking action is not as stretched as the banana ball represented by Beckham. They are somewhat "contracted," with their chin tucked in, chest held, and feet raised. After kicking, the whole person is not leaning back like Beckham, but a "C" shape.

Because they can only exert force from below the knee, the requirements for leg explosive power are very high. People who kick this kind of ball are一流 (yi liu, top-notch) at long shots, such as Juninho, Pirlo, and Cristiano Ronaldo...

It just so happens that Chen Hero's long shot skills are also very good, and his strength is also very great.

So they can kick the ball with the footwork of a *luoye qiu* when shooting from a long distance, so that the football shot out will be more difficult for the goalkeeper to defend, and the chances of scoring will be much greater.

So, it is clear how terrifying Chen Hero is after learning the *luoye qiu*—he can not only use free kicks to score in the game, but also add *luoye qiu* factors to his long shots, making it more difficult for the goalkeeper to judge.

I'm afraid that in the future, when Chen Hero raises his right leg in the game to prepare for a long shot, the best defensive method is to stop him before he hits the football, whether it is a tackle or a foul...

※※※

Liverpool players also confirmed to the media that Chen Hero was working hard to practice free kicks, which also indirectly confirmed the fact that Chen Hero had mastered the unique skill of free kicks.

"Yes, he does extra free-kick practice after every training session, starting with half an hour and then increasing to an hour. Every day, as long as the team has training, he will do extra practice, even light rain will not stop him... He is simply the most diligent genius I have ever seen!"

"Hero has shot the two goals in this game many times in training, so we are not surprised..."

"Hero is really a genius! He has only been practicing for a month, and he has been able to perform like this, scoring twice with free kicks in one game. I have nothing but admiration!"

Everyone expressed their admiration for Chen Hero, and their words scared the hell out of others—he only used the time after training to do extra practice, and he has this ability after practicing for a month? Then how变态 (bian tai, perverted/abnormal) is Chen Hero! Even those free-kick masters can't succeed in just one month, right?

This is too恐怖 (kong bu, terrifying)!

Is he still human!

They don't know that Chen Hero had already started practicing free kicks in the instance, and had been practicing hard for more than a year. In addition, the instance also has a training effect bonus factor, which is why he was able to complete his training. Otherwise, no matter how hard ordinary people work, even if they don't eat, drink, or sleep, they won't have this effect after practicing for a month...

Of course, Chen Hero wouldn't be so stupid as to tell them his shocking secret.

So he could only look at the media's surprise and admiration for him, and secretly laugh in his heart.

He also had a harvest through this game, which was what he wanted most...

The team has an "free-kick practice" item in the training class. In the past, Chen Hero didn't have a share. Now he was called to practice with Charlie Adam and the others, and Dalglish announced a decision in front of Charlie Adam: "In the future, all direct free kicks in the team's games will be taken by Hero. Indirect free kicks will still be taken by you, Charlie."

Chen Hero glanced at Charlie Adam.

Adam nodded, without any objection, and his face was also normal.

It seems that the two goals in that game had completely服 (fu, convinced) Charlie Adam.

Dalglish could also guess why Chen Hero suddenly started to practice free kicks, because he would try to use fewer headers in the future. In this way, the scoring ability at his feet is particularly important. A free kick is another scoring weapon. If he wants to make up for the lack of headers, he must master free kicks.

He was actually very surprised by Chen Hero's speed of learning free kicks. But when he thought that this kid was only twenty-three years old and had already won so many honors, what was it to master the *luoye qiu* in a month...