"Hello, everyone. I'm Firmino, and I currently play striker for Liverpool."
"I'm fairly tall, but most importantly, I'm handsome. I'm posting this video because I hope every fan who supports me will go to the Liverpool Supporters' Association website and vote for me."
"We're currently holding a Team Heartthrob contest inside Liverpool. Right now, I'm in third place, behind Alisson and Lin. I think those two have been stuffing the ballot. I'll work hard to find evidence, but before that, I need your help to overtake them!"
Leo Lin clicked on Firmino's video. It was 9:00 a.m. on January 20. The Liverpool Supporters' Association had officially launched the Liverpool Team Heartthrob contest the previous night, and any fan whose status had been verified by the association could vote.
Leo Lin quickly surged into first place with unstoppable momentum, earning a higher share of votes than anyone else in the squad. Alisson, who had only just transferred in, was also very popular with the fans and received plenty of votes.
Firmino had originally been sixth, but he used a few little tricks to overtake Van Dijk and Henderson and climb to third.
Then, to canvass votes for himself, he even released a video accusing others of exactly what he was doing, trying to make the fans believe Leo Lin and Alisson were rigging the vote so he could keep climbing toward first place.
It was not just Alisson. Van Dijk also posted a video, because he found the whole contest very entertaining.
"I have very good reason to suspect that Firmino used improper methods to overtake Henderson and me in the rankings."
"I never care about so-called player ability rankings. Who's stronger, who's weaker, none of that matters to me. But for this poll, I hope everyone can vote for me. At the very least, let me finish above Firmino!"
All the Liverpool players were interested in the Supporters' Association's poll. On the surface, Leo Lin pretended not to care. He did not post any videos, nor did he make any posts calling on fans to vote for him.
But Maria and Barnett both came out one after another to support Leo Lin, posting messages to help him gather votes.
Of course, neither of them had done it willingly. Leo Lin had forced them. Every ten minutes, Leo Lin would pick up his phone and refresh the poll, worried that someone might overtake him.
Because he had always lived by one principle: whether he was strong or not did not matter, but when it came to who was the best-looking, he had to crush everyone.
He would not accept losing to anyone.
That afternoon, the players arrived at the club for training. After training ended, Klopp also picked up his phone to check. Among the coaches, Zubizarreta had joined the ranking as their representative.
At that moment, Zubizarreta was ranked 23rd. It was not because he was not handsome enough, but because his bald head made many fans unwilling to vote for him.
"If Zubizarreta is willing to wear a wig, I'll give him one of my votes."
"No offense intended, but whenever my six-year-old daughter sees Zubizarreta, she gets scared and starts crying."
"Am I the only one who thinks Zubizarreta looks like the kind of villain who wears a mask, rushes into the street, and steals lollipops from children?"
Reading the comments online, Zubizarreta could only comfort himself by remembering that he was a master of defensive tactics. Klopp and Krawietz tried their best not to laugh at him, unless they really could not hold it in.
Firmino had already used every trick he had. With only two hours left before voting ended and himself still stuck in second place, he started thinking about doing something shady again.
But the gap between him and first place was simply too large. If he did whatever it took to seize first place within two hours, the fans would only get suspicious.
Helpless, he could only give up and hope for a miracle.
A miracle did appear. Once the voting entered its final hour, a large number of fans rushed in to cast their final votes, and the rankings began changing constantly.
The competition between second and sixth place was especially fierce, and the miracle Firmino had been hoping for became reality at the last moment.
He dropped from second to fourth. Van Dijk overtook him and rose to third, while Alisson finished second.
"No!!!"
"Van Dijk, be honest. How much did you spend buying votes? I refuse to accept this!"
Van Dijk seized the chance to mock Firmino mercilessly. His video had performed better than Firmino's and attracted more votes.
But none of that mattered anymore, because the final first place had already been decided. With more than 50 percent of the vote, Leo Lin became the most handsome man in the Liverpool squad according to the fans.
The Liverpool Supporters' Association immediately made a trophy, engraved with the words Liverpool Team Heartthrob.
If it had been any other trophy, Leo Lin might not even have made time to collect it, but this trophy was different.
That same day, Leo Lin wore his best outfit, styled his hair exactly the way he liked it, arrived on time at the Liverpool Supporters' Association headquarters, and received the trophy from the fan representative.
He immediately posted the photo on his social media and tagged his Liverpool teammates.
[I'm very grateful to have been voted Liverpool Team Heartthrob. I know this result is what everyone wanted. Thank you, Firmino. Your campaign video made the creation of this trophy even more meaningful.
That said, my most worthy rivals were still Alisson and Van Dijk. After all, the two of them finished in the top three with me!]
Leo Lin was not just twisting the knife. He was twisting it again and again, without mercy.
Firmino decided that for the next week, he would steal Leo Lin's boiled egg on time every day and drink half a glass of his milk to vent the anger in his heart.
Early the next morning, Leo Lin was the first to arrive at the club. He sat at the entrance of the club lobby, making sure every player who came in would see him first.
The reason Leo Lin did this was that he was still holding a trophy. It was the custom-made Liverpool Team Heartthrob trophy he had received just the day before from the Supporters' Association.
He placed the trophy on his lap, afraid that even one person walking in might not see it.
"Lin, take that trophy away from me, or I swear I'll risk everything to destroy it!"
Firmino was trying his hardest to control the impulse in his heart, but Leo Lin completely ignored what he said. He simply held the trophy in his hands, brought it into the locker room, and placed it right on top of his locker.
"Handsome Lin, once you're done showing it off, let me display it for a couple of days too. I did finish second, after all."
Alisson and Firmino were both from Brazil, but even as a fellow countryman, Alisson did not stand on Firmino's side.
He chose to support Leo Lin, just so he could also get his hands on the Team Heartthrob trophy.
Leo Lin gladly agreed. After that, Van Dijk and the others began lining up one after another, waiting for the day they could place the Team Heartthrob trophy on top of their own lockers.
Firmino stood off to the side, watching everyone give in to Leo Lin. He rubbed his hands together, hesitated, then cautiously moved closer to Leo Lin and said, "Dear Lin…"
"Let me display it for a couple of days too, okay?"
Leo Lin: "O…"
"Ugh…"
...
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