Chapter 1 Liverpool Narrowly Escapes at the Away Game

Liverpool's 1-0 away victory against West Bromwich Albion was considered a narrow escape by the media and commentators, which seemed reasonable. After all, considering the flow of the game, Liverpool's eventual win was indeed fortunate. If Chen Hero hadn't managed to direct the ball just past goalkeeper Foster's fingertips, who knew what the final result would have been?

Especially after Martin O'Neill stubbornly insisted in the post-match press conference that Liverpool was still the top favorite for the league title, these people were even more convinced of their opinion—Liverpool was now strong on the outside but hollow on the inside. Besides bluffing and being stubborn, they had long lost their power.

Their ability to beat West Bromwich Albion was simply because teams like West Bromwich Albion were too weak.

In fact, no one expected teams like West Bromwich Albion and Bolton to really stop Liverpool's progress. Everyone's attention was still focused on the decisive battle at Old Trafford. In their view, only Manchester United was a threat to Liverpool, and only Manchester United had the strength to pull Liverpool down from their perch.

Although there was still a Round 35 league game against Bolton, the English media had already begun to eagerly discuss the Round 36 showdown.

The Liverpool players, however, did not participate in these discussions. After finishing the game against West Bromwich Albion, they set off for Munich to prepare for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

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For the game against Bayern Munich, although Martin O'Neill wanted to give up in his heart, he still put on a flawless performance—he sent out the full starting lineup.

After receiving Liverpool's starting list, the reporters shook their heads.

"It seems O'Neill really wants to gamble on the Champions League..."

"But if they don't win the Champions League in the end, and they get reversed in the domestic league, how will he explain himself?"

"I think Martin O'Neill is playing with fire. By betting everything like this, he may not get the result he wants in the end, and it may even cause the team to collapse!"

Everyone discussed it, but they couldn't change Martin O'Neill's mind.

Bayern Munich was not surprised at all that Liverpool sent out their main players—Bayern Munich knew that Liverpool intended to fight them to the death at the Allianz Arena, after Liverpool did not send out all their main players in the last Premier League game but made extensive rotations.

Naturally, they did not dare to neglect it either. Although they had an away goal, they were still behind on aggregate, after all. Liverpool still had the advantage, even if it was only a slight one.

In addition, they also had Chen Hero, who was a freak who had just broken Messi's single-season record of eighteen goals against them.

Such a person could not be underestimated for even a second.

Therefore, Bayern Munich dared not relax.

Perhaps in the eyes of the English media, Liverpool was at the end of their rope, but Bayern Munich was unwilling to test the waters. What if they failed? Wouldn't they be extremely unlucky?

Bayern Munich also fielded their strongest possible lineup at home.

Their attitude of fighting to the death with Liverpool was obvious.

Martin O'Neill could tell Bayern Munich's attitude just from their starting list. They would definitely not be eliminated in their own stadium.

But this was also good. In the end, no one could say that he had deliberately given up if the team was eliminated.

Everyone knew that now that the game had reached this point, with the team's incomplete lineup, it was already very difficult for Liverpool to persist until the semi-finals.

Gerrard could not play in this game, and Suarez could not play because of a two-game suspension. In fact, Liverpool did not have their strongest lineup.

All hope rested on Chen Hero.

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Chen Hero didn't know that his boss intended to give up this game. He was wholeheartedly trying to reach the final. It was good to move forward even one step. He didn't care if entering the final would create a problem for Martin O'Neill. He didn't consider this kind of problem at all.

But from the very beginning of this game, luck was not on Liverpool's side.

Bayern Munich scored first in the 23rd minute, tying the aggregate score.

"Mario Gomez! This is his ninth Champions League goal of the season! Although he can't compete with Hero in terms of number of goals, his goal is very crucial! This goal has put Liverpool in trouble! If this score holds until the end, Bayern Munich will advance to the final with the advantage of more away goals!"

The entire Allianz Arena was boiling. This huge roar was telling every Liverpool player and fan: Here, you are all outsiders! We are the masters here!!

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Although it didn't matter much whether Liverpool could reach the Champions League final, Ferguson was still watching the game on television.

He wasn't gloating over Liverpool's elimination. If he had to choose, he might prefer Liverpool to reach the final.

But now that it had come to this, Ferguson no longer dwelled on such minor issues.

He watched Liverpool's games simply to understand the state and performance of every Liverpool player, and to find exploitable weaknesses.

In fact, he didn't need to do this work himself, especially since he was already seventy-three years old. There were specialized scouts who would collect the opponent's information he needed for Ferguson.

But this season's duel with Liverpool was so important and so difficult. At this crucial moment, Ferguson didn't quite trust those scouts, even though he knew their abilities. But he just felt that only by seeing it with his own eyes could he truly grasp the movements of everyone in Liverpool.

Seeing Gomez score, he lowered his head and began to scribble on the small notebook in his hand, recording. As he got older, his memory was not as good as before, and he had to think about many things every day, so he really didn't have more energy to waste on memory. He used a pen to write down anything he could.

This page already had a lot of things recorded on it, and there was almost no space left. These things were the "secrets" Ferguson used to deal with Liverpool.

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When Martin O'Neill saw the team concede a goal, he didn't show any frustration or disappointment. He even felt a sense of relief in his heart—it's finally here!

After sitting on the chair for a while, he got up and walked to the sidelines, pretending to supervise the game.

He turned his attention to Chen Hero. He hadn't told Chen Hero about his intention to give up the Champions League game. His intuition told him that Chen Hero would strongly oppose it.

Sure enough, Chen Hero proved Martin O'Neill's concern in the following game.

Chen Hero searched and created scoring opportunities like a madman.

But this time, Liverpool was really tired… Although they fielded the full starting lineup, Chen Hero lacked support.

In fact, Liverpool had been holding on with a single breath before. That breath was completely released after Bayern Munich scored a goal.

Now it was difficult to force it up again.

It could be said that if Liverpool still wanted to reach the final, they could only count on Chen Hero. Only Chen Hero was truly fighting.

But today, for him, it was destined to be the most difficult battle he had ever encountered!

Just in the thirty-seventh minute, Chen Hero still hadn't helped the team score, but Bayern Munich scored another goal. Full-back Lahm suddenly rushed forward, dribbling the ball all the way to the edge of the Liverpool penalty area, and then shot. The ball flew directly into the goal guarded by Reina.

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"This is really bad! Liverpool are two goals behind! They are also behind on aggregate... Now Liverpool must score..."

The commentator said this while looking at Chen Hero. Not only him, but all Liverpool fans turned their attention to him.

Especially those Liverpool fans at the Allianz Arena.

We need a hero!

This thought popped up in everyone's mind.

Then let's call out his name!

"Hero!"

They shouted loudly.

"Hero!"

But as soon as they opened their mouths, they almost couldn't hear their own voices—at the Allianz Arena, being two goals ahead made the Bayern Munich fans go crazy. They made huge cheers and noises. Except for themselves and the voices they allowed, no other voices were allowed to appear in the sky above the Allianz Arena.

Liverpool fans were an important group targeted by Bayern Munich. There were some Bayern Munich fans located around the Liverpool fans, responsible for monitoring the movements of the Liverpool fans. As long as they planned to cheer for Liverpool, the Bayern Munich fans would make huge noises to interfere with them.

The Liverpool fans didn't believe in evil. They raised their voices and continued to shout: "Hero!!"

They were still drowned out by the storm-like shouts of Bayern Munich fans.

"Damn it!" Tom Jackson cursed unhappily.

They couldn't make any sound, as if their mouths were blocked.

They turned their attention to the field. In the field, Chen Hero was running, looking for opportunities.

But he can't hear our voices…

The Red Giant Bear and the idol they supported were disconnected for the first time.

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In the first half, Chen Hero didn't score. Liverpool lost to Bayern Munich 0:2 away from home.

During the halftime break, Martin O'Neill didn't seem to have any other way. Besides encouraging the players, he couldn't come up with a more effective way to change this.

Chen Hero was not reconciled. He clenched his fists.

O'Neill saw Chen Hero's reaction and knew that Chen Hero was showing that he was not reconciled.

He knew that Chen Hero would definitely fight harder in the second half.

Will this not hurt him?

A thought flashed in Martin O'Neill's mind, but it was quickly squeezed out—kidding, I have coached Liverpool for more than a year, and I have never seen that monster get hurt!

He decided to leave Chen Hero alone and let him play freely.

He only hoped that all the unwillingness and depression in the Champions League could be vented on Manchester United at that time…