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As the football soared over the wall and then plummeted into the net, St. James' Park... no, the stands of the Sports Direct Arena fell silent.

But this silence didn't last long, only a second or two.

Soon someone exclaimed.

"Falling leaf ball!!"

When Chen Hero's football flew over the wall, its trajectory was directly upwards. If it continued to fly like this, it would definitely go over the crossbar and then fly into the stands behind the goal.

But just when everyone thought the kick was too high, the football suddenly dropped and plunged into the goal.

This is a typical characteristic of a falling leaf ball!

Chen Hero had once scored a free kick against Manchester City, but strictly speaking, it wasn't a falling leaf ball, because it changed direction horizontally, not vertically like this one.

Krul fell from the air, rolled twice on the ground, and then got up. The first thing he did was look back at the goal. Everything happened so fast just now that he didn't see clearly whether the football flew into the goal, grazing the crossbar, or flew out of the goal...

He saw the football lying quietly on the ground inside the goal.

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When the football flew into the goal, Chen Hero opened his arms and roared to the sky.

I can finally officially unveil this weapon!

The excited teammates around him rushed up and hugged him tightly.

"Woah—Hero! Hero! He broke his long... uh." The commentator thought to himself that a goal drought must be when you haven't scored for a long time, right? So, he added the modifier "long" to the goal drought, but after he said this word, he realized that Chen Hero's goal drought... didn't seem to last very long? It was only two games against Queens Park Rangers and Wigan Athletic, and this half of the game against Newcastle United...

Fortunately, the commentator was quick-witted and immediately realized what he should say.

"Uh... two and a half... game goal drought! Yes, for other players, what does two and a half games without a goal count as? But for Hero, two and a half games without a goal is a huge deal! It's a big enough event to make the news headlines! But now, these problems no longer exist, because Hero scored a goal! And it was a beautiful free kick! We don't know if he got lucky with this free kick, but no matter what, as long as the football goes in, that's good!"

The commentator finally smoothed things over... He secretly wiped away some sweat.

Dalglish also rushed down from the coaching bench after Chen Hero scored, raising his arms and waving his fists vigorously.

His excitement was undisguised. Just like he never hid the fact that his team was "Hero-dependent"... If Chen Hero could score, it meant he was really normal, and then he wouldn't have to worry about anything, and everything would be the same as usual.

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Chen Hero's goal not only relieved head coach Dalglish, but also the fans who supported him, and the Chinese commentators.

Chen Hero's poor performance in these two games has attracted the attention of many domestic fans and media. Everyone wants to know what caused his decline in form.

Chen Hero has become a spiritual symbol for Chinese fans. If he performs well, everyone is happy, and if he performs poorly, many people will be unable to eat or sleep.

Now, when Chen Hero blasted the football into Newcastle's goal, fans in front of TVs and computers all jumped up, waving their fists and cheering for Chen Hero.

"He's back to normal! Hero is finally back to normal!"

"Da Xiong is so awesome!"

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After cheering for Chen Hero's goal, the commentators gradually calmed down. Chen Hero's goal was certainly wonderful, but... it was just luck.

"I've never heard of Chen Hero being good at free kicks before, so Liverpool is really lucky with this goal. Hero scored with his first attempt..."

"He also scored a very beautiful free kick against Manchester City before. Tracing back further, when he played for Napoli, he also scored a free kick against Inter Milan, and there seemed to be one in the Champions League semi-final against Manchester United... Including this one, that's only four free kicks in his career. No matter what, you can't say he's good at free kicks, so Chen Hero is really lucky!"

The Newcastle players and fans also thought so.

"Damn it! What a stroke of luck!" The Newcastle fans in the stands were a little unhappy about the goal they conceded.

"This ball should have flown straight out..." The Newcastle players were also discussing the goal they conceded.

"But who knew..."

"Is this a falling leaf ball?"

"What falling leaf ball, it's a lucky shot! He just got lucky, do you think he can really kick a ball like that? How could such a difficult ball be so easy to master? I haven't heard of him being able to take free kicks, it's all luck..."

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Chen Hero didn't know how his opponents and commentators were discussing him. His teammates were celebrating the goal with him. Perhaps the whole world would think Chen Hero got lucky, but the Liverpool players wouldn't think so. They knew very well that they had all seen Chen Hero's extra practice during this time. There were many players who did extra practice, but who had ever seen such desperate extra practice?

Few people would do an hour of extra practice, and even fewer would do it every day, rain or shine. It rains a lot in England, and even when it rained, Chen Hero would insist on going to do an hour of extra practice, which made everyone admire his perseverance.

Even if a player with such persistence and effort has extraordinary talent, he probably wouldn't be successful without such effort.

So, they weren't surprised at all that Chen Hero could score such a beautiful free kick.

Because it was only natural!

Suarez patted Chen Hero on his broad back and shouted, "Quick, thank your master for his careful guidance!"

Chen Hero gave him the middle finger: "Ptooey!"

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Although they conceded a goal, the Newcastle people didn't take it to heart.

Apart from this free kick, Liverpool still didn't have any good chances, and this was their home ground, didn't they understand home advantage!

It wasn't until sixteen minutes later... that their view changed.

Sixteen minutes later, Suarez was once again pushed to the ground outside the penalty area, and the referee blew his whistle again and awarded Liverpool a free kick in the attacking third.

This free kick was a bit further away than the one Chen Hero scored earlier.

Although Chen Hero had just scored a free kick sixteen minutes ago, this didn't attract enough attention. He must have gotten lucky. Since it was luck, how could he get another one? Maybe he wouldn't even be the one to take this kick.

But they were wrong. Chen Hero stood at the spot of the free kick with the football in his hands.

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In fact, when Chen Hero blasted the football into Newcastle's goal, Charlie Adam knew that his right to take free kicks had changed hands.

He knew very well that Chen Hero's goal was definitely not due to luck. He had seen Chen Hero's extra practice every day in the team.

Actually, he should have been prepared for this in training... but luck and unwillingness had kept him going until now.

When a free kick came along, he didn't go up to take it.

Chen Hero picked up the football and even looked back at him, as if asking for his opinion—did he want to play rock-paper-scissors again? Of course, he wasn't asking if he should let Charlie Adam take it. Chen Hero would never give up the opportunity to anyone else.

When Charlie Adam saw him turn his head, he made a "you take it" gesture to him.

There was nothing left to fight for.

He had already scored two direct free kicks this season, and what about himself? None. What could he use to compete with him!

When Chen Hero saw that Charlie Adam directly gave it to him, he didn't stand on ceremony. He directly placed the football on the ground and stepped back once again to prepare to take the kick.

The commentator finally realized something was wrong.

"This ball... is Hero still going to kick it?"

"Wasn't his last goal lucky... why is he coming again? Could he still get lucky?"

"I haven't heard of him being able to take free kicks..."

"Hero is standing in front of the football once again, he's preparing to take this free kick..."

The Newcastle wall was also stunned—why is it him again?

Thinking of the football flying over their heads just now, someone said: "Let's try to jump higher this time!"

"Even if he can score the first one, he can't score the second one! Free kicks aren't that easy to score! Let alone scoring two in one game!" The Newcastle players cheered each other on in the wall.

It must be said that their judgment was correct from a common sense perspective. Free kicks are indeed difficult to score, the scoring rate is very low. Being able to score one free kick in a game is already a very remarkable achievement, let alone scoring twice with free kicks.

The reason why Mihajlovic's free kick hat-trick is still talked about today is because scoring three free kicks in a game is a very difficult thing—a hat-trick itself is a very difficult thing, let alone completing a hat-trick with a more difficult free kick... It seems like free kicks are very simple, because there is no interference, but there is a wall blocking the way. The football has to ensure that it goes around the wall and accurately flies into the goal, without being blocked by the goalkeeper. The difficulty is not ordinary. The most difficult part of a free kick is "accuracy". To ensure that the football goes around the wall and into the goal, the control of the football must be very, very precise.

No one thought that Chen Hero, this rough guy, could control the football so precisely. The previous free kick must have been luck. Amateur players also have the ability to score world-class goals, but does that mean they are already at a world-class level? To be able to consistently score goals with free kicks, that is a free kick expert, otherwise, can any player who scores a few free kicks in their career be considered a free kick master? Then this master is too worthless...

So, even though Chen Hero was standing in front of the football, posing with a "I'm going to take it" posture, no one believed that he could still score. The only thing that surprised everyone was that he was actually taking the kick again, as if he had become Liverpool's number one free kick taker...

The original free kick taker, Charlie Adam, even waved his hand to stay away. It seemed that Chen Hero was about to evolve into a Liverpool "ball hog"...