Chapter 469: The Seven Stars Align to Announce Their Return! (Part 1)
Chapter 469: Chapter 470: The Seven Stars Align to Announce Their Return! (Part 1)
Every Liverpool supporter at Anfield applauded as the players walked onto the pitch. It had become a familiar sight, the fans throwing their full support behind a team going through a difficult spell.
“I have to say, even though Liverpool haven’t been in good form lately, I still love watching them play at Anfield!”
“Captain Leo looks a little different today. That new hairstyle suits him.”
Leo greeted the opposing players, then made a point of walking over to the touchline to embrace Gerrard.
“Gerrard, you’d better be ready to take Villa home in tears today.”
Gerrard burst out laughing and patted Leo on the back.
“I’ve been ready for that since last night. Whenever I see you on the other team, I know I have to prepare for the worst.”
Over the years, Leo and Gerrard had become extremely close friends.
The Liverpool players were ready.
Leo looked at Núñez and gave him a nod, while Díaz and Salah were poised to burst forward at any moment.
“Beep!”
“Premier League Matchweek 16, Liverpool against Aston Villa, is underway!”
“Liverpool kick off. Núñez plays it back!”
Núñez immediately sent the ball backward. Leo received it and switched play to the right, where Alexander-Arnold began showing off his superb long-range passing.
“Alexander-Arnold clips a beautiful ball from the right toward Díaz! Díaz is up against Cash, and he’s so quick on his feet!”
“He squeezes into the box from the wing!”
“Díaz crosses!”
Díaz forced his way into the penalty area and was just about to send the ball across when Cash suddenly stuck out a foot.
He had meant to block the cross, but instead caught Díaz on the foot.
Díaz went down with the contact.
The referee pointed to the spot!
“The Colombian left winger has won Liverpool a penalty!”
“The match has barely started, and Liverpool already have a penalty!”
Leo stood over the ball, ready to take it.
Emiliano Martínez was famous for saving penalties, and now he was doing everything he could to get inside Leo’s head.
“Emiliano, I’m going to score.”
“Even if you guess the right way, no matter what you do to distract me, I’m still going to score.”
Leo said it so calmly that, for the first time, the Argentine goalkeeper began to wonder whether his own mental strength was really enough.
The referee gave the signal.
Leo began his run-up and drove the ball straight down the middle without even looking at Martínez.
Martínez dived to his left.
Wrong way.
“Leo scores from the spot!”
“Less than thirty seconds into the match, Leo converts the penalty! Liverpool lead Aston Villa 1-0!”
“What a perfect start! Cash gives away a penalty almost immediately, and Liverpool haven’t had a goal come this easily in a long time!”
An Aston Villa fullback quickly carried the ball back toward the center circle, desperate to restart and find an equalizer.
But Liverpool immediately began pressing at full speed.
Leo directed the front line to close down Villa’s defenders. Konsa wanted to move the ball wide, but both Targett and Cash were tightly marked.
Konsa had no choice but to send a long ball toward midfield.
Rodri intercepted it immediately and played it to Mac Allister.
Mac Allister’s first touch brought the ball under control. He then turned and dribbled past McGinn.
At that moment, he remembered the advice Leo had given him during their extra training sessions.
He immediately carried the ball toward the right, away from McGinn.
That instantly bought Mac Allister far more time to look up and assess his options.
Díaz continued occupying Cash, while Mings and Konsa were both focused on Núñez.
Villa hadn’t left anyone unmarked, so they weren’t about to give Mac Allister an obvious opening.
Then Leo looked at Mac Allister, glanced toward Núñez, and made the forward burst Liverpool supporters knew better than anything else.
The run they loved most.
Leo exploded forward!
Mac Allister launched the long pass!
Salah received it on the right and knocked it across!
Núñez broke free of his marker and, the instant the ball reached him, drove a through ball forward with everything he had.
Straight toward Leo, who was charging into the penalty area.
Konsa watched Leo’s terrifying acceleration and almost felt as though the Liverpool captain existed in a different space from him.
Leo seemed fast enough to tear straight through the space in front of his eyes.
Núñez’s through ball was rolling toward Leo’s right.
Leo cushioned it with the outside of his right foot, then spun backward with the ball in one smooth motion and left Konsa behind.
He raised his left leg and immediately smashed the shot toward the left side of Emiliano Martínez’s goal.
Martínez threw himself across at full stretch.
His palm reached Leo’s shot, but there was simply too much power behind it.
The ball struck the upper part of his hand and continued bouncing forward, as if it had hit an upward slope and simply carried on climbing.
Martínez had gotten his right hand to it.
It still flew into the net.
Anfield erupted.
Liverpool supporters couldn’t remember the last time their team had produced an attacking move this beautiful.
They couldn’t remember the last time Liverpool had scored two goals this spectacular in such quick succession.
“Two-nil to Liverpool!”
“Leo has led Liverpool into a two-goal lead over Villa!”
“We haven’t even played ten minutes yet!”
“Leo already has two goals!”
“Rivaldo, I have a feeling this match could end up meaning something!”
Scholes watched Leo celebrate by pointing toward the captain’s armband on his arm as he faced the Liverpool supporters.
That feeling of always finding a way to score when the opportunity came.
That feeling of leading his team into battle and tearing through anyone in their way.
The Leo who had led Liverpool to a UEFA Champions League title even with an injured elbow.
The young genius who had scored four goals in a single FIFA World Cup match.
Liverpool’s greatest legend.
The youngest player ever to complete the Grand Slam of major international titles.
A three-time Ballon d’Or winner.
The first football superstar ever to reach a market value of 300 million.
Leo.
The King had returned!!!
“I feel like it’s been a long time since we’ve seen Leo attack like this, and just as long since we’ve seen Liverpool play this way.”
“For more than a season now, across dozens of matches, every game seemed harder than the last for Liverpool.”
“They struggled to find the best ways to score, while repeated injuries to key players made their defense far less reliable.”
“Finishing last season without a single trophy must have hurt the confidence of Klopp and his players, and this season hasn’t started nearly as smoothly as the supporters expected.”
“But in the opening ten minutes today, Liverpool have already shown us a completely different side.”
“Leo’s return, along with Rodri and the others playing at full strength, has clearly changed the entire feel of this team.”
As a former attacking midfielder, Rivaldo naturally paid close attention to assists, and Núñez’s vision had caught his eye.
“Did nobody notice how good that through ball from Núñez was?”
“It didn’t just split Villa’s defense. It dragged Konsa completely out of position and gave Leo an immediate one-on-one opportunity to shoot!”
The broadcast cameras found Núñez.
He was running just behind Leo with an arm around Salah, and there was a rare smile on the Uruguayan striker’s face.
At least, rare on the pitch.
Liverpool supporters could hardly remember the last time they had seen Núñez look this happy during a match.
“Ever since Núñez joined Liverpool, the image I remember most is him trying for the far corner, missing, then frowning and sighing. I honestly can’t remember seeing him smile this much on the pitch before!”
“That’s our captain for you. Liverpool really can’t do without Leo!”
“Hold onto this feeling, keep this form going, keep scoring, and tear Villa apart!”
On the touchline, Gerrard was urgently going over instructions with his defenders.
Just as Scholes had said, nobody understood Liverpool better than Gerrard.
Nobody except Leo.
That was why Gerrard knew that if Villa couldn’t stop Liverpool from building momentum, more goals were likely to follow.
Play resumed, and Liverpool kept pressing.
They pressed at full speed.
Under Leo’s direction, Díaz and Núñez became sharper both in the intensity and timing of their pressure. Almost every time they stepped forward, they arrived in the crucial areas and forced Villa’s defenders into hurried clearances.
It was the kind of coordinated press Liverpool had failed to produce in match after match before today.
The 22nd minute!
“Villa look completely overwhelmed right now. Liverpool have 66 percent possession, and it feels like the only thing Villa can do is get the ball out of their own half and then brace themselves for the next Liverpool attack!”
Mac Allister had once again dropped into the number six role.
That was exactly what Klopp had asked of him tactically.
Rodri stayed behind Leo, making sure he was always available to feed him the ball.
With Gvardiol supporting him, Alisson calmly held possession and showed no urgency to release it.
Liverpool’s ability to play out from the back was now extremely strong.
Trailing on the scoreboard, Villa pressed with everything they had.
Ashley Young and Watkins charged toward Alisson, but Jacob was half a step late with his press.
That was enough for Mac Allister to see the opening.
The Argentine midfielder quickly shifted two steps to his right, creating a passing lane for Alisson.
The Brazilian goalkeeper immediately played it short into Mac Allister.
On the touchline, Gerrard pointed furiously at Jacob.
“Jacob!”
“Get after Mac Allister! He’s your man!”
Jacob hurried forward, but Mac Allister kept carrying the ball toward Rodri and away from him.
To continue chasing Mac Allister, Jacob was forced to leave his position on the right wing.
Mac Allister then passed to Rodri.
Rodri immediately drilled a powerful diagonal pass toward the left.
With Jacob out of position, Robertson had the space to receive Rodri’s pass and drive forward.
Liverpool had found their opening.
“Robertson is carrying the ball down the left, and nobody from Villa is closing him down.”
“Cash still has to deal with Díaz, so Robertson can keep advancing.”
“Liverpool have a two-on-one on the left! Díaz makes the run and takes Cash with him!”
Díaz’s movement dragged Cash away.
Robertson was preparing to cross, but Douglas Luiz had already moved wide to cover.
A product of Manchester City’s youth academy, Douglas Luiz had seen his market value rise steadily since leaving the club and had become one of the Premier League’s most highly regarded young defensive midfielders.
“Douglas Luiz has been forced out wide to defend Robertson, and now Villa’s midfield is opening up!”
That was exactly what Leo had been waiting for.
The moment Douglas Luiz left the middle.
As soon as the Brazilian midfielder moved away, Leo stepped into the attacking midfield position and looked toward Robertson.
Robertson found him with the pass.
Leo received the ball and immediately slipped a delicate through ball forward.
Núñez exploded into motion.
His pace had been one of the biggest reasons Liverpool had paid so much to sign him in the first place.
Núñez pulled away from Konsa.
The moment he reached the ball, he went straight for the curling finish.
Once again, the Uruguayan striker aimed for the far corner.
Leo watched the ball leave Núñez’s foot and tracked its flight.
He knew this one had a real chance.
A curling shot toward the far corner was extremely difficult for a goalkeeper to stop.
It had bend, power, and a difficult angle all at once.
Emiliano Martínez had no time to adjust his position and could only throw himself into the save.
Liverpool supporters had seen this exact situation far too many times before.
Almost every time, Núñez had failed to score.
But not today.
Today, Núñez proved himself with that curling finish.
Scholes grabbed Rivaldo and pointed toward Núñez’s goal, looking almost as excited as if he were watching the Uruguayan score for the very first time.
“Núñez finds the far corner!!!”
“Núñez makes it 3-0 in the 22nd minute!!!”
“It really looks like they’ve found their best attacking form again!”
“Núñez!”
“He’s finally scored one of those!!!”
“He’s been trying to score that exact kind of goal ever since he became Liverpool’s center forward, but it just wouldn’t go in. This time, Núñez finally curls it perfectly into the far corner!”
The moment Núñez struck the ball, he could already tell it felt different from his previous attempts.
After Leo’s guidance during their extra training, there was more power behind the shot.
He kept his eyes fixed on where he wanted the ball to go and controlled the speed and trajectory of the curl as carefully as possible.
At last, the perfect far-corner finish arrived.
Leo slid across the grass toward Núñez.
Núñez grabbed him and pulled him down underneath him as Salah and the others rushed over, patting the Uruguayan striker on the head in celebration.
“What did I tell you, Núñez? As long as you believe you can score it, sooner or later you’re going to put one of those away!”
“This is only the beginning, boys. Keep scoring!”
“With this match, we’re going to remind every Premier League supporter just how terrifying Liverpool’s attack is supposed to be!”
“It’s time to tell the Premier League, tell Manchester City, and tell Chelsea!”
“The game is over for the Premier League, because Liverpool are back!!!”