“Actually, my heart is old, Stephen.”

After Carragher said this, the locker room suddenly fell into a deathly silence. The air seemed to become heavy.

A former tough guy had said such a thing in front of everyone. One could imagine how determined he was about retiring.

It seemed that no matter who tried to persuade him, he would not change his decision.

“You’re only thirty-six, Vice-Captain. You can play until you’re forty, right? Didn’t Maldini play until he was forty?” Chen Hero broke the suffocating silence in the room. Often, the only person who could break the deadlock, and dared to do so, was someone like Chen Hero, an impulsive fool.

Carragher turned to look at Chen Hero and smiled at him. “I had my leg broken before, Hero. I don’t think I can last until I’m forty like Maldini. Retiring at thirty-six is a good age. My performance has been pretty good before this, but after that, I don’t know what will happen… I don’t want to leave any stain on my career.”

This veteran, even with leg cramps, had persisted in clearing a certain goal-scoring opportunity for AC Milan in front of the goal. Every defense he made seemed like a life-or-death struggle. His simple sentence, “My performance has been pretty good before this,” was actually something he earned with his health and life.

For a traditional English player like him, nothing was more important than a player’s honor and pride.

It was just as Chen Hero said, the game could be lost, but the spirit must never be lost!

Looking at the Vice-Captain, Chen Hero also fell silent.

※※※

Martin O’Neill was considering whether to push the door open or not, because he could feel the team’s morale declining due to Carragher’s retirement declaration.

Don’t forget, this is halftime in the game against Chelsea! There are still forty-five minutes left in the second half!

If morale is already low now, what will happen in the second half?

Although he knew that if he went in, it would be a buzzkill, he had to push the door open for the sake of the team’s performance.

Just as he was about to do so, Chen Hero’s voice rang out again.

“Okay, no matter what, Chelsea and that Hulk are the culprits. Let’s win against them and avenge the Vice-Captain! Dare to call yourself a giant in front of me? Humph!”

“Hero is right.” Gerrard also spoke. “No matter what, Jamie is still one of us in this game. Let’s win this game first.”

He was thinking of having a good talk with Carragher after the game to persuade him to change his mind.

How could such an important matter as retirement be decided because of a mistake in a game?

Carragher also realized that his words had affected the team’s morale, so he smiled at everyone. “Yes, first we have to kill Chelsea! Martin, don’t interfere, this is a contest between me and that Hulk. I’m not afraid of him!” He turned to Skrtel, who seemed to want to say something.

This was the Vice-Captain that everyone knew…

※※※

Seeing the atmosphere in the locker room revitalize, Martin O’Neill breathed a sigh of relief. Then he realized that he seemed to have been absent for too long…

So he stood at the door, waited for a while, and seeing that the inside was still full of excitement, he pushed the door open and walked in.

Everyone stopped shouting when they saw the head coach come in.

Martin O’Neill asked with a smile, “What’s going on?”

“Hehe, boss… no, nothing.” Suarez smiled awkwardly.

“Yeah, nothing, we’re just cheering everyone up, to take down Chelsea in the second half!” Chen Hero waved his hand, as if he had cut off Chelsea’s head with a knife.

O’Neill applauded. “That’s right, we have to take down Chelsea in the second half. I’m glad you weren’t scared by the tie in the first half. It’s no big deal! It’s just a tie! They’re so determined to attack behind us, so we’ll shrink our defense and not give them that space, and then our attacking players will be better at seizing opportunities during counterattacks. Actually, taking them down is that simple…” He spread his hands, looking confident.

※※※

When the second half of the game restarted, no one would have thought that Liverpool’s center back Carragher had already decided to retire. No one knew what had happened in Liverpool’s locker room during those fifteen minutes.

But they could see that Carragher was performing more actively and diligently than in the first half.

During the halftime break, the commentators and pundits were discussing Liverpool’s conceded goal. The main responsibility for the goal was naturally on Carragher, but they also said that the result was not surprising that the strong Hulk was up against the old and frail Carragher.

Carragher certainly wouldn’t have an advantage. Although Carragher was known for his toughness when he was young, he was old now…

This was a natural law, whether you wanted to accept it or not.

In their opinion, Carragher should indeed be at a disadvantage in the confrontation with Hulk.

But after the second half started, the situation changed. In Carragher’s frenzied defense, Hulk was actually in trouble!

There was a scene that could explain the problem very well—in a physical confrontation, Carragher didn’t look like he was playing football, but more like he was fighting for his life. He used his entire body and all his strength to slam into Hulk. As a result, Hulk, who was unprepared, was knocked away, and the soccer ball at his feet was kicked away by Carragher!

This was just an ordinary defense. In a game, such scenes would appear countless times. But right after this, Skrtel went up and hugged Vice-Captain Carragher, who was getting up from the ground, and roared loudly, as if he had just blocked the opponent’s certain goal on the goal line. But in reality, this was just an ordinary defense…

Carragher was not excited, he patted Skrtel, who was much more excited than him, and said softly, “Okay, Martin. Go defend, don’t let the opponent succeed in a sneak attack.”

※※※

“Oh! That’s a really beautiful defense. In a head-on physical confrontation, Carragher and Hulk faced each other head-on, and he actually won!”

The commentator was quite surprised.

Liverpool fans in the stands and in front of the TV shouted, “Jamie! Jamie! Our forever Vice-Captain!”

Carragher also heard the fans’ shouts, but he didn’t respond in any way. He was not like that showy Chen Hero. He liked to use practical actions to respond to the fans’ support and love, rather than striking a pose during a show…

※※※

Chen Hero saw Carragher’s defense in the frontcourt, and he smiled.

It seemed that the Vice-Captain didn’t need him to worry. And he also had his own mission.

What he had to do now was… score! Score against Chelsea! Defeat Chelsea, and vent this anger for the Vice-Captain!

Yes, it was anger.

This anger was also his own at the same time.

How could Chen Hero let that little guy be called the Hulk?

Someone like himself deserved to be called a “giant”!

Although it was a bit bullying to use strength against old Terry, you all bullied our Vice-Captain, so it’s okay for me to bully your captain like this, right?

Next, thirty-three-year-old John Terry was in trouble…

He was forced to confront Chen Hero with his body again and again.

And every time he was at a disadvantage.

This feeling made him very uncomfortable.

Once or twice, he still thought it was accidental, but when it happened every time, he began to wonder if something was wrong.

Because Chen Hero had rarely used such a powerful style of play, he was now relying more on skill than on his body.

Even Advocaat on the sidelines frowned, and couldn’t quite figure out what was going on with Chen Hero.

What Chen Hero had shown during this period reminded him of what Chen Hero was like when he first debuted at Zenit Saint Petersburg. At that time, Chen Hero had nothing but his body and headers. His body was his only weapon, so he made every game look like a fight. After a game, his body was covered with bruises and scars. But if he didn’t do this, he wouldn’t win the game, and he wouldn’t be able to score goals. It could be said that Chen Hero’s current status was earned by risking his life at that time.

Now everyone saw Chen Hero’s glory, but they didn’t know the hardship he had when he first debuted… But even those who had been watching Chen Hero since Zenit Saint Petersburg may not know these things. Because Chen Hero only showed his arrogant and unyielding side, no one thought that behind the arrogance, Chen Hero also had an unknown side…

Although playing like this was fierce and visually impactful, it was not a long-term solution after all. Later, as Chen Hero continued to improve, his attacking weapons became more and more numerous, and his skills became better and better, he began to abandon the way of playing that only relied on his body.

Gradually, his desperate style of play naturally became less and less common.

Advocaat was in his second season coaching Chelsea, and he was paying more attention to Chen Hero in the Premier League. He found that Chen Hero was now using his body less and less to play football. He was becoming smarter. This was one of the signs of a player’s maturity. It was impossible to always squander his physical talent. The body would always age one day. Technology and consciousness were eternal.

So Chen Hero suddenly playing like he was going to fight John Terry made him very uncomfortable.

John Terry was already thirty-three years old, he was getting old, and his physical qualities were not as good as before.

If he was younger, he could still wrestle with Chen Hero. At that time, he was the world’s top center back, dominating the Premier League and the world football scene. Who was he afraid of?

But now… he lacked the strength to do what he wanted!

Facing this sturdy man, Terry felt powerless, wanting to kill the enemy but unable to do anything!

So now he really felt depressed.

Chen Hero’s performance was still normal in the first half, so why was there such a big change in the second half?

People who didn’t know might have thought that Chen Hero and John Terry had a feud over a woman… Anyway, Terry had a previous record, so if something like this really happened, everyone would think it was normal…

But this time, John Terry was really wronged.