Mancini completely lost his cool when he saw the red card, yelling at the referee. His assistants quickly pulled him away.

After being pulled away, Mancini gradually calmed down. If he continued to make a scene, it wouldn't just be a one-match suspension, but more severe additional penalties.

That would be a great loss.

After thinking it over, Mancini had no choice but to accept being ejected from the field.

This made him very unwilling.

Because at the most critical moment, he couldn't be by his players' sides, which was bound to have some impact on their mentality.

"Ah, let's see what happened. Mancini seemed to object to Hero's goal, and as a result, he was sent off the field with a straight red card!"

"For Manchester City, this is really a case of bad luck coming in pairs! They were already behind on the scoreboard, and now their coach has been sent off with a red card. This is definitely a heavy blow to Manchester City!"

※※※

Not long after Mancini was sent off, the first half ended.

Mancini also walked down from the stands and entered the locker room.

Although he was sent off with a red card, he could still enter the locker room to arrange tactics.

But what changes could these fifteen minutes bring to Manchester City? Even Mancini himself probably wasn't sure.

※※※

In the locker room, Liverpool's players seemed very relaxed. They were leading Manchester City in the first half, which they had become accustomed to. It might be a problem if they weren't leading.

Now that the other side was missing a coach, their on-the-spot command would definitely be affected.

For Liverpool, Manchester City was even less of a threat.

Chen Hero felt a little bored. After Richards was sold, he lacked someone to slap directly on the field, which reduced his anticipation for the game.

Defeating Manchester City? It was almost a certainty, not worth getting too excited about.

As for responding to those fans... he couldn't possibly slap them in the face, could he?

He began to consider what kind of celebration he should use to provoke Manchester City fans if he scored a second goal...

※※※

Mancini's tactics for the second half were offense—there was no need to hesitate, Manchester City had no other option.

Continue to defend and counterattack? Then Liverpool could also play defense and counterattack. Neither side would come out, shrinking back in their own territory, waiting for the game to end. Although the scene would be ugly and they would be accused of playing passively.

Of course, in fact, neither side cared whether the scene was ugly, as long as they could win. The problem was that now Manchester City would not only have an ugly scene but also wouldn't win.

So Manchester City had to attack, maybe attacking would make them lose more goals, but at least there was hope of scoring.

To put it bluntly, even if they lost the game in the end, they could at least win everyone's respect, the scene wouldn't be so ugly, and someone would speak up for them, so they wouldn't be too isolated.

So Mancini finally waved his hand—attack in the second half!

※※※

Seeing Manchester City launch a full-scale offensive in the second half, Martin O'Neill was definitely not the kind of hot-blooded coach who would say, "If you attack, I'll attack with you."

Players can be hot-blooded, but if a coach is still hot-blooded, he would probably have died on the beach long ago...

If the opponent presses forward, there will be a lot of space behind them. It would be foolish not to take advantage of it.

So Liverpool didn't hesitate to choose to defend and counterattack.

Liverpool's reaction was naturally within Mancini's expectations. Because it was impossible to direct on the spot in the second half—no one had expected the coach to be sent to the stands, so naturally it was impossible to prepare communication tools such as walkie-talkies—Mancini told the players everything he could think of that might happen in the second half during the halftime break, telling them what to do in this situation and what to do in that situation. In short, he said everything he could think of, and Liverpool's defense and counterattack was naturally the first thing he talked about.

These fifteen minutes were very busy and tight for Mancini, and he even felt that the time was not enough... so the Manchester City players finally came out of the locker room just before the second half was about to begin.

Now that Liverpool was defending and counterattacking, Manchester City had also thought of it. Their response was... to score as soon as possible. As long as they could equalize the score, both sides would be back on the same starting line.

But the question was, would Liverpool let them score first?

Mancini himself didn't know, he could only do his best and leave the rest to fate.

Anyway, Manchester City was playing at home, so there would always be some home advantage.

※※※

Of course, Liverpool would not allow Manchester City's wishful thinking to succeed.

In fact, Martin O'Neill also thought during the halftime break that Manchester City would launch a desperate attack in the second half, hoping to score early and equalize the score.

And considering that Manchester City was playing at home, once the momentum was built up, their combat effectiveness might explode with the cheers of the fans in the stadium.

It was not impossible for them to score first.

So his request to the team was that they must defend steadily at the beginning of the second half, defend against Manchester City's offensive at all costs, and then counterattack. As long as Liverpool scored another goal, Manchester City would be finished.

So starting to defend was the key.

But there are always accidents.

A well-planned thing may be broken by an accident, and all the hard work will be in vain...

※※※

Manchester City players launched a blitzkrieg at the start of the second half. Their desire for revenge provided them with a constant stream of motivation.

No one wanted to lose to Liverpool again at their home stadium, and even more, they couldn't tolerate being slapped in the face by that annoying Chen Hero at their home stadium. Both of these things were intolerable.

So their enthusiasm was very high.

They besieged Liverpool's goal for five minutes, and it looked like they could score at any time. Hope was beckoning to them in front, and as long as they took another step forward, they could embrace the light.

At this moment, Liverpool cleared the ball directly with a long kick from the backfield.

Instead of flying out of bounds, the ball went straight to the front.

Chen Hero moved his position slightly and then locked onto the landing point of the ball.

Also coming up to fight for the landing point was center-back Kompany.

He didn't think much about it. Seeing Chen Hero running over, he knew that the landing point of the ball must be here.

When the ball fell, Chen Hero slightly lowered his center of gravity, and then pretended to jump up.

Kompany was afraid that Chen Hero would get there first, so he quickly jumped up high first!

Who would have thought that Chen Hero's body did jump up, but his feet didn't leave the ground! He was just pretending to jump, but not really jumping up.

It was as if he wanted to jump but didn't have enough strength...

Chen Hero didn't jump up, nor did he bend over and elbow anyone below like others would have done. If he had done that, and Kompany had lost his balance and fallen down, the referee would definitely have called Chen Hero for a foul.

So Chen Hero didn't do anything else except for a jumping action, he just stood there. Kompany jumped up without any interference or physical contact!

This time he would definitely be able to get the landing point!

Everyone thought so. Chen Hero didn't know why he gave up such a good opportunity, so could Kompany still head the ball without interference?

Even Kompany himself thought that he would definitely be able to head the ball and clear it successfully. So he was even thinking about which side he should head the ball to... He was no longer just thinking about clearing the ball, but also about turning defense into offense.

But when he jumped in the air and went up, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

Because it seemed that the ball was still a little far away from him, and he knew very well that he was almost at his limit...

He was unwilling to fall down like this, so he pushed off with his legs, straightened his waist, and raised his head, trying to head the ball, even if he just grazed it!

At this time, he didn't even think about being the initiator of the defense-to-offense transition...

Unfortunately, even this little humble wish was not realized.

The ball flew over his head!

"A misjudgment!" someone exclaimed.

At the same time, Chen Hero, who was originally standing under him, suddenly turned around, shook off Kompany who was still in the air, and strode towards the ball!

It turned out that from the beginning, Chen Hero didn't think that was the landing point. The reason why he ran here was to get rid of Kompany!

At this time, Kompany was still in the air. Although he saw Chen Hero's actions, he was helpless against Chen Hero and could only watch Chen Hero disappear before his eyes...

※※※

"Hero has broken free! His feint is really beautiful! Everyone thought he would compete with Kompany for the header, but he didn't expect him to pull away at the most critical moment!"

"Hero has received the ball, and now there is only Lescott in front of him! Manchester City pressed forward and attacked continuously before. The defense line has long been empty. Now, they have to pay the price for their desperate move!"

In the roar of the commentators, huge boos rang out from the stands of the Etihad Stadium.

They came at Chen Hero like a storm.

If sound waves could really be used as weapons, Chen Hero would have been pierced by ten thousand arrows long ago. But now, Chen Hero was leading the ball towards Lescott and Manchester City's goal.

Behind him were the desperate and terrified eyes of the Manchester City players!

It was too late to chase back, the Manchester City players could only watch Chen Hero and Lescott's upcoming one-on-one, and pray that Lescott could intercept the ball in the one-on-one.

Some people even couldn't help but shout, "Foul!!"

This completely disregarded Lescott's fate. If he fouled at this time, Lescott would definitely get a red card.

Lescott didn't foul. In fact, he didn't hear the surrounding sounds at all. He was now fully focused on Chen Hero and the ball under Chen Hero's feet.

If he could intercept this ball, he would be the hero of the team...

He knew that Joe Hart was behind him. He was the last line of defense, and he must not fall!

Want to get past me? You can go, but leave the ball behind!

In his eyes, Chen Hero's right foot kept touching the ball, and then suddenly, the ball was passed a little too far!

Lescott didn't know if there would be a better opportunity than this, he didn't dare to gamble, he could only react to what was in front of him. So he quickly stretched out his leg to intercept the ball.

He didn't touch the ball because the ball circled in front of his eyes and disappeared!

Yes! Disappeared!