Chapter 1 The UEFA Cup Final

Chen Hero was participating in the UEFA Cup final for the first time. However, if everyone considered the UEFA Cup to be a continuation of the UEFA Cup, Chen Hero had not only participated in it, but also had experience in winning the trophy.

Moreover, he set records in both of his appearances. Back when he was with Zenit Saint Petersburg, his goals broke the single-season goal record for the UEFA Cup after the reform, which was previously held by Shearer. Now, in his second appearance, he broke the single-season goal record for the Europa League set by Huntelaar, with twenty-eight goals.

So, if we're talking about psychological advantages, how can we not mention Chen Hero?

Chen Hero was particularly excited at the start of the UEFA Cup final. To what extent was he excited?

He even started actively pressing in the frontcourt!

This was a rare sight, as Chen Hero was a prolific goal-scoring center forward, but his defensive abilities were very weak. Therefore, his previous coaches had all wisely chosen a strategy that would maximize Chen Hero's energy—allowing him to focus solely on scoring goals and not worry about defensive duties.

Chen Hero wasn't the kind of player who was particularly self-aware either. He rarely took the initiative to defend during matches. Even when his team faced immense pressure and had to defend, he thought about how to use his offense to alleviate the defensive pressure, rather than running back to participate in defense.

Such scenes were rare, and frontcourt pressing was even rarer. He was like a wooden stake in the frontcourt. If he did defend, it was only for show. Anyone could easily get past him, completely ignoring him.

But in this match, he surprisingly started pressing in the frontcourt, showing how determined he was to win the championship.

Chen Hero wanted to score goals, he wanted the championship.

He had waited an entire season for this moment.

If he couldn't win the UEFA Cup, his previous twenty-eight goals would be meaningless.

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From the start of the match, Villas-Boas hadn't sat on the coach's bench. He stood by the sidelines, closely watching the field.

Chen Hero's activity worried him a little.

But he had no other choice now. He could only place his hopes on the old guys from Inter Milan.

In fact, he lacked experience in dealing with a normal Liverpool. The reason he was able to defeat Liverpool at home last season was because Liverpool's coach, Dalglish, had already worn Liverpool down to the point where they had no fighting spirit left. Losing was a matter of course.

But what to do against a normal Liverpool plus an equally formidable Chen Hero? He actually wasn't sure... The tactic he had devised for the team was a defensive counterattack, which was a tactic that required him to lower his stance considerably. He had been worried that the old guys wouldn't be willing to cooperate, thinking that this approach would demean Inter Milan and make them lose face.

But the truth was that none of the old guys had any objections. They all agreed and executed it meticulously during the match.

So far, fifteen minutes into the match, the old guys from Inter Milan hadn't disappointed him!

They were high-spirited, going all out, and focused, blocking wave after wave of attacks from Liverpool's attacking lineup led by Chen Hero!

Villas-Boas didn't know that in order to defeat Chen Hero, Inter Milan's players were really sparing no effort. What did lowering their stance matter? As long as they could defeat him, they would have plenty of opportunities to be arrogant and indulge in front of him!

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"Inter Milan's defense is very well-organized in this match, with clear layers, each performing their respective duties, and able to react quickly... Such a performance is truly impressive. Everyone was talking about Inter Milan's internal strife and various problems before, but I think that in this final, based on these fifteen minutes of play, Inter Milan is a worthy opponent to be respected!" Liverpool's commentator Steve Hartsonsaid.

He wasn't the only one with this view.

Many commentators praised Inter Milan's defense.

Inter Milan was playing a defensive counterattack in this match, which was actually very unexpected. Everyone thought that Inter Milan, as a powerhouse, should have the demeanor of a powerhouse when facing Liverpool in the final. Even if they didn't go all out in attack, they should at least be on the same level as Liverpool.

Who knew that Inter Milan would proactively retreat at the start of the match and play a defensive counterattack? Where was there any semblance of a powerhouse? They were almost like a dark horse that had reached the final of the Europa League for the first time.

But strangely enough, this tactic was really effective.

Otherwise, with just Inter Milan's old guys, how could they have been able to withstand fifteen minutes of Liverpool's offensive onslaught?

Liverpool had an attacking lineup of Chen Hero, Suarez, Sanchez, and Gerrard.

They scored eighty goals in a season in the Premier League, ranking third in the league. Their attacking power was undoubtedly strong. Chen Hero alone scored thirty-nine goals, accounting for half of the team's total goals.

And this season, Chen Hero had scored a total of seventy-three goals in all competitions, only three goals short of the single-season record of seventy-six goals set by Messi in the 2011-2012 season. It should be noted that Messi's seventy-six goals included many goals from other competitions, such as the European Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.

Chen Hero only had domestic league, League Cup, Europa League, and FA Cup matches. Among them, due to O'Neill's abandonment strategy in the FA Cup, he only played in one match, and he still scored two goals in that match.

If Chen Hero could participate in the FA Community Shield, the European Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup, he would have broken Messi's record long ago.

Who wouldn't value such a prolific goal scorer?

Such a prolific goal scorer was actually contained by Inter Milan's old guys for fifteen minutes. Not only did he not score a goal, but he didn't even have a threatening shot. One couldn't help but say that Inter Milan was quite capable.

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Martin O'Neill was originally sitting on the coach's bench, but after more than ten minutes, he also left his seat and walked to the sidelines.

Chen Hero's performance being restricted by Inter Milan's defense surprised him a little. He had originally thought that Inter Milan was relying on that group of old guys, and that our energetic Chen Hero and Sanchez, along with the trident formed by Suarez, would break them down long ago, right?

Who would have thought that the actual situation was completely different?

Inter Milan's veterans were more tenacious than he had imagined. They knew that their physical fitness was not good, and their turning speed was slow. If there was a gap behind them, a direct pass from Liverpool might be fatal.

So they retreated very far back, completely not giving Liverpool's attacking players any space or time to maneuver in the penalty area.

This style of play was not good to look at. It was a bit like when Mourinho led Inter Milan to play against Barcelona away from home with one less player.

But it was really effective...

O'Neill didn't expect Inter Milan to be able to lower their position so much. This really greatly exceeded his expectations. The advantage of lowering one's stance was... you couldn't do anything about them!

It was like two people boxing. A's physical strength and physical quality were weaker than B's. If A had to exchange punches with B, the one who fell first would definitely be A. This was an unwise approach. Although it looked particularly manly and was also admirable, more people would curl their lips in their hearts and curse "idiot". On the contrary, if A did not confront B head-on, but lowered his stance, using his fists and arms to guard his face and head, not letting his vital parts be hit, then he would always have the opportunity to strike at a cold moment, especially when the opponent was panting but found that the effect was minimal, there would always be some slack, then A's counterattack might be fatal...

There were too many such examples to count. There were many people who, when fighting, you saw them rolling on the ground holding their heads, seeming very miserable, but in fact, the real damage they received was not great. Perhaps those who hit them did not hit accurately, and the injuries they received from hitting the ground were even greater than theirs.

And what could B do about A, who was shrinking back and defending desperately? There was really no way, other than desperately aiming his fists and feet at the opponent's body, hoping to knock the opponent down before his strength was exhausted, there was no other way.

As long as you don't hit A's vital parts, in fact, hitting more punches is just waiting for the moment when quantitative change turns into qualitative change.

But football is not a boxing match. If you don't knock your opponent down in a boxing match, you can still decide the winner by points, seeing who has more effective hits, so B has the advantage.

In football matches, it is impossible to not compare who scores more goals, but to compare who has more shots, or who has more ball possession, right?

If that were the case, Barcelona would be very happy, but the whole world would object...

If you can't score a goal, it's all in vain if you shoot fifty times in the previous game. If you can score a goal, even if you only have one shot in the whole game, you are the winner, you can laugh to the end, and laugh the best.

So O'Neill is particularly worried now, if his side can't attack for a long time, should he adjust the rhythm a little, let them slow down, don't press too far forward, if a large number of gaps appear behind them and are caught by the opponent for a counterattack, it will be over...

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Chen Hero is not the head coach O'Neill, and he will not consider the problem from O'Neill's point of view. Of course, he knows why Inter Milan is shrinking back and defending like this, isn't it just to prevent him from scoring?

What he has to do is not to adjust any strategy, what he can do is to be like a battering ram, constantly hitting the city gate and city wall with force.

You build high walls to defend against my attack? Then I'll just knock down your walls!

The problem of the two boxers A and B, which Martin O'Neill has to rack his brains over, becomes very simple on Chen Hero's side—if you shrink back and let me hit you, then I'll hit you hard. Even if I can't hit your vitals, I'll keep bombarding you with these heavy punches. I don't believe you'll still have the energy to counterattack? If you counterattack, you definitely won't be able to guard your face and hold your head, right? You'll definitely have to free up your hands to hit me. As long as you let your hands leave your head, then you can wait to die!

Besides, even if Inter Milan is determined to drag the game into a penalty shootout, Chen Hero is not afraid.

Punching one punch after another might not knock the opponent down, and he might collapse from exhaustion first.

But what if you don't use your fists to hit people, but use a hammer?

How many hits can you withstand?

Therefore, Chen Hero's method usually has no technical content. It is an overwhelming advantage in strength. In the face of absolute strength advantage, all conspiracies and tactics are meaningless!

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ps, I'm back from the annual meeting. During the annual meeting, I still wrote six chapters whenever I had the chance. Although it's not much, it wasn't a waste of time.

The triple update mini-burst begins~~

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