Chapter 173 The Two Champions

The final battle was almost at hand. Before the match, news spread that because Bayern Munich still had a theoretical chance of winning the championship, the Bundesliga had prepared two sets of plans and two championship trophies. However, one of these championship trophies was genuine, and the other was a replica.

The genuine trophy would be taken to Berlin's Olympic Stadium. If Borussia Dortmund won, it would be awarded to them.

The replica, on the other hand, was taken to the Allianz Arena. If Bayern Munich managed a miraculous comeback and won the championship, this trophy would appear at their award ceremony.

However, this displeased many Bayern Munich fans. "The real trophy goes to Dortmund's game, while the replica comes to the Allianz Arena. Isn't this making it clear that the Bundesliga officials believe Dortmund is more likely to win? This is discrimination!"

Some even elevated it to a conspiracy theory, believing it proved that the Bundesliga officials favored Borussia Dortmund and had already decided internally that Dortmund would be the league champion.

Borussia Dortmund fans and the media naturally responded to this claim, mocking Bayern Munich for being poor losers. Similar situations had occurred many times in the past, so why hadn't Bayern Munich's media and fans made such a fuss then?

Dwelling on such trivial matters now was simply a sign of a sore loser mentality.

Furthermore, it highlighted the desperation on Bayern Munich's side. If they had any other options, would they even care about such minor details?

Preparing two sets of plans was actually quite common. Even Munich's own media had prepared two sets of reports before the final round of matches.

If Bayern Munich won the championship, they would use plan one; if they lost, they would use plan two.

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Finally, amidst great anticipation, the final round of the Bundesliga season was about to begin.

Because the gap between Hamburg in third-to-last place and Stuttgart in fourth-to-last place was five points, the relegation suspense was practically gone.

Eintracht Braunschweig in eighteenth place and FC Nürnberg in seventeenth place would be directly relegated to the 2. Bundesliga.

Hamburg in sixteenth place would face the third-place team from the second division in a two-legged promotion-relegation playoff.

So now, the only remaining suspense in the league was the championship and the Champions League qualification.

The Champions League qualification was also just about the Champions League qualifying round spot. Because Bayer Leverkusen had lost to Borussia Dortmund previously, they were now level on points with Wolfsburg. However, their goal difference was seven goals better than Wolfsburg's, so if they could win their final league match and Wolfsburg didn't win their home game against Borussia Mönchengladbach by eight goals or more, Bayer Leverkusen would hold onto fourth place in the league and earn a spot in the Champions League qualifying round.

Bayer Leverkusen's final-round opponent was Werder Bremen.

Yang Muge's Schalke 04 had already secured their spot in the Champions League group stage for next season. They currently had sixty-one points, four points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen's fifty-seven, securing their Champions League spot with one round to spare.

The biggest suspense was whether Borussia Dortmund or Bayern Munich would win the league title.

Although Bayern Munich's chances of winning were very low, and the odds offered by bookmakers didn't favor them, the most appealing aspect of football was that many unimaginable miracles could be created.

Who would have thought that Borussia Dortmund could turn things around for two consecutive seasons, even when they were completely suppressed by Bayern Munich?

In addition, there was one more suspense in the final round of the league season: who would win the title of top scorer in the league?

Currently, Mark Wagner led the scoring charts with twenty goals, followed by Robert Lewandowski with nineteen goals in second place.

The final round would determine who would be the top scorer.

As for the assist king competition, there was no suspense.

Zhou Yi currently led all other players with twenty-three assists, far ahead of the rest. Zhou Yi's teammate Marco Reus was second on the assist chart with only thirteen assists, a full ten behind Zhou Yi.

Some media outlets joked that with Zhou Yi around, there was no point in discussing the assist chart; it was meaningless.

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At 9:30 PM Beijing time on May 10th, all nine matches of the final round of the Bundesliga kicked off simultaneously.

China's CCTV-5 broadcast the match between Borussia Dortmund and Hertha Berlin live, while Bayern Munich's match against Stuttgart was broadcast on the pay-per-view channel, CCTV Fengyun Football.

Since Zhou Yi joined Borussia Dortmund, this had been the standard arrangement whenever the two teams played at the same time.

There was no way they would put Borussia Dortmund's match on a pay-per-view channel; otherwise, the fans' spittle would flood the CCTV building…

After the match started, Borussia Dortmund, playing away, didn't immediately launch a fierce attack. They played steadily according to their pre-match tactical arrangements.

On the other hand, Hertha Berlin had no worries about relegation and no desire to achieve anything. However, this was their home ground, and they weren't willing to let Borussia Dortmund lift the championship trophy on their turf easily, so they couldn't simply surrender.

It wouldn't be easy for Borussia Dortmund to defeat them.

At the same time, in the match between Bayern Munich and Stuttgart, Bayern Munich launched a fierce barrage of attacks on Stuttgart's goal right from the start.

They had to first ensure they could win and then see the results of Borussia Dortmund's match against Hertha Berlin.

As for Stuttgart, they also had no worries about relegation and no desire to achieve anything, but they also didn't want to become the backdrop for Bayern Munich's coronation.

Faced with Bayern Munich's fierce barrage, they tightened their defense.

For a time, Bayern Munich couldn't break down Stuttgart's goal.

Of course, what made them feel slightly better was that Borussia Dortmund hadn't scored either.

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This situation, where neither side scored, didn't last too long.

In the twenty-first minute of the match, Bayern, playing at home and attacking with all their might, finally broke the deadlock.

At that time, Götze dribbled the ball and forced his way into the penalty area, where he was tripped by Stuttgart's Japanese defender, Gotoku Sakai.

The referee immediately awarded a penalty kick.

Similarly, Robert Lewandowski unhesitatingly seized the right to take the penalty.

Everyone knew he was competing with Mark for the top scorer title, so no one expressed any dissatisfaction.

Lewandowski placed the ball and then scored with one swift kick.

The ball flew into Stuttgart's goal, and a huge cheer erupted in the Allianz Arena.

Amidst the cheers, the first message from Bayern Munich's coaching staff was about Borussia Dortmund: "They haven't scored yet!"

Only then did everyone begin to celebrate and cheer.

"Bayern Munich has scored!" The live league table was immediately displayed on the television screen.

With this goal, Bayern Munich was now winning. If the matches all ended with the current scores, Bayern Munich would return to the top of the league table with a one-point advantage, and Bayern Munich would surpass Borussia Dortmund to become the league champion.

The entire Allianz Arena was filled with cheers.

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The news from the Allianz Arena quickly reached Borussia Dortmund. Someone on Borussia Dortmund's coaching staff immediately received the news. Assistant coach Buvac wanted to tell Klopp, so he called out, "Hey, Jürgen."

Klopp didn't respond to him, but instead stared intently at the field.

Currently, Borussia Dortmund was launching an attack on the field and had reached the edge of Hertha Berlin's penalty area.

Because this wasn't Borussia Dortmund's home game, there were no sounds from the stands to remind them when Bayern Munich scored.

Borussia Dortmund's players could concentrate on the match without being disturbed.

Everyone was running and supporting each other. The situation on the field was constantly changing.

Zhou Yi was able to find an opportunity in it.

Now he saw one.

Yan Min was trying to cut inside from the left, attracting the attention of Hertha Berlin's players, while Mark quietly switched positions with him, moving towards the left side.

Because Yan Min's cut inside took away Peter Pekarík, Hertha Berlin's right-back who was originally marking him, and also attracted the attention of central defender Levan Kempf, who was defending in that area.

Mark, on the other hand, had an opening.

Observation and thought only took a moment. Zhou Yi didn't stop his feet, adjusted slightly, and then sent a lofted through ball!

The ball went straight towards Mark on the left side!

And there, with almost no one marking him, Mark calmly chested the ball down and then unleashed a direct volley!

The ball went straight towards the near upper corner. Hertha Berlin's goalkeeper, Thomas Kraft, made a save, but Mark's chest control and volley were so fluid that Kraft had very little reaction time. He couldn't save the ball…

The ball flew into the goal, almost scraping the bottom of the post!

Klopp jumped up from his seat and raised his arms in celebration.

Then he turned around and asked Buvac, "Hey, Željko, what did you want to tell me just now?"

"Uh… it wasn't anything important." Buvac spread his hands, then stood up and high-fived the person next to him.

Behind Klopp, the Borussia Dortmund players ran towards Mark with their arms raised, ready to celebrate the goal.

※※※

Guardiola had just finished celebrating, sat down, and Bayern Munich's players had returned to their own half one after another.

At this moment, Hermann Gerland's legs went weak, his face sank, and after hesitating, he leaned over to Guardiola's ear and whispered, "Dortmund scored too, just now…"

Because the Allianz Arena was still very noisy at this time, Guardiola didn't hear Gerland clearly. He asked again, "What did you say, Hermann?"

"I said, the damned Dortmund scored too!" Hermann had to raise his voice to answer Guardiola. "They're level with us!"

This time, Guardiola heard clearly.

He didn't swear, but instead froze there, like a deflated ball…