Chapter 1 Dortmund Suffers a Heavy Blow on the Road

Dortmund's away game against Stuttgart, and Bayern Munich's home game against Hoffenheim, coincidentally, were scheduled at the same time again.

For those concerned about the league title race, they would once again have to hold their remote controls, switching back and forth between the two channels.

And the fans at the stadiums would have to prepare their radios, multitasking at all times.

Speaking of which, Dortmund's match was more difficult. Although their opponent, Stuttgart, was ranked lower than Bayern Munich's opponent, Hoffenheim, it was precisely because of their lower ranking that it was tough.

As a traditional Bundesliga powerhouse, Stuttgart had performed poorly this season and was mired in the relegation zone. Just two seasons ago, Stuttgart was ranked sixth in the Bundesliga and qualified for the Europa League. Now, they were about to fall into the second division, which was truly lamentable.

In their last ten matches, Stuttgart had only won one game, earning only five points, ranking second to last, only three points ahead of the bottom-ranked Eintracht Braunschweig.

At the beginning of the season, Stuttgart coach Labbadia was sacked after three consecutive defeats. Youth team coach Schneider took over, but Schneider suffered an eight-game losing streak and was sacked in the twenty-fourth round of the league. Dutch coach Stevens then took over. Under Stevens' leadership, Stuttgart had one win, one draw, and one loss. Currently, it seemed very difficult for Stuttgart to successfully avoid relegation under Stevens' leadership.

In the first leg of the season, Dortmund defeated their opponent 6-1 at home. However, times had changed, and the circumstances of both sides were different now than when they last met. Deep in the relegation zone, Stuttgart would certainly not easily let Dortmund off the hook at home.

In addition, Dortmund themselves had some problems. After a period of calm, the team had injuries again. Piszczek had a muscle problem in training and was likely to miss the weekend's game. In addition, Aubameyang and Weidenfeller also missed team training due to colds, and it was questionable whether they would be able to play in the weekend's game.

In addition, because of the Champions League game in the middle of next week, Dortmund would definitely be affected and distracted. Even if Klopp didn't do this in his tactical arrangements, it was hard to guarantee that the players wouldn't think about it.

Unlike Dortmund, who had to passively adjust their lineup, Bayern Munich was much more relaxed. Because of the Champions League game in the middle of next week, they would also make some personnel adjustments for the weekend league game, but these were all proactive. And with the depth of Bayern Munich's bench, even if they rotated players, it would not affect the team's strength. It shouldn't be a big problem to take down a team like Hoffenheim, who had no desires, at home.

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Before heading to the away game, Dortmund announced the squad list for the match. Piszczek, who had muscle problems before, appeared on the squad list. In addition to him, Aubameyang and Weidenfeller were also on the squad list. But whether they could start was hard to say.

The injury list still had the same old faces: Subotić, Gündoğan, and Kuba, plus the newly injured Schmelzer.

This was already considered a time when Dortmund had relatively few injured players this season.

When the starting lineups were announced two hours before the game, people found that Piszczek and Aubameyang were not in the starting lineup.

Weidenfeller seemed to have shaken off the effects of his illness and started the game.

At the start of the match, Stuttgart used aggressive pressing in the frontcourt and constant running to contain Dortmund, while also creating scoring opportunities for themselves.

Under their fierce pressing, Dortmund's defense looked a little embarrassed.

With no teammates in the frontcourt, Hummels took the ball and kicked it forward with a big foot, but naturally no one could receive the ball, and the ball flew straight out of Stuttgart's baseline.

"What was Hummels thinking? There was not a single Dortmund player in front of him, why did he kick it forward?" Marcel Reif didn't understand at all.

"Stuttgart's pressing made Hummels a little flustered. This ball was not a long pass to launch an attack, but a clearance, right?" Duan Xin said.

This was Stevens' tactic specifically aimed at Dortmund. Stevens had coached Schalke 04 twice. In 1997, he led Schalke 04 to win the UEFA Cup, and was considered a meritorious coach of Schalke 04.

His last time coaching Schalke 04 was from 2011 to 2012, which happened to coincide with the current Dortmund team, so he was no stranger to this Dortmund team, and naturally he could design targeted tactics.

In response to Dortmund's current incomplete defense, he asked Stuttgart's players to constantly press them in the frontcourt, forcing them to make mistakes. On the one hand, it was to contain Dortmund's attack—with an unstable defense, Dortmund would naturally not be able to go all out when attacking, always having to look ahead and behind; on the other hand, it was also to create opportunities for Stuttgart to counterattack on the spot.

It had to be said that Stevens was indeed a coach who knew Dortmund very well, and his set of tactics was very effective for the current Dortmund...

Continuous frontcourt pressing put a lot of pressure on Dortmund's defense.

Finally, in the ninth minute, Stuttgart forced Dortmund players to pass back through a series of frontcourt pressing, but at the same time, the distance between people was compressed to the extreme. In too short a distance, passing became very difficult.

So when Sven Bender got the ball in the backcourt and faced Stuttgart players pressing, he had Hummels and Papastathopoulos next to him, but the distance between these two people and him might be only two or three meters.

Sven Bender wanted to pass the ball back to Hummels, but because the distance was too close, he didn't dare to use much force.

Under the interference of Stuttgart midfielder Gentner, his pass back was too weak and did not reach Hummels' feet at all. It was intercepted by Gentner in one stride!

"Wow wow wow wow wow!"

Stuttgart's home stadium, the Mercedes-Benz Arena, erupted in huge cheers the moment Gentner successfully intercepted the ball.

Gentner's interception also caught Hummels off guard. Gentner only used a simple feint to get rid of Hummels.

Gentner, who had shaken off Hummels, broke into the penalty area and shot a curler in front of the penalty spot.

The ball passed over the goalkeeper Weidenfeller, who had come out to attack, and flew into the goal along the inside of the right post!

"tooooooooooor!!! Less than ten minutes into the game, Stuttgart took the lead! Gentner! A beautiful frontcourt counter-attacking attack!"

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"Damn it!" After seeing the goal, Klopp angrily punched the roof of the coaching bench.

He knew that it was difficult to play against relegation teams, but he didn't expect to concede a goal in less than ten minutes of the game.

It had to be said that Stevens' tactical arrangement was indeed beyond his expectations. He didn't expect Stuttgart to use such a method, using crazy frontcourt pressing to deal with Dortmund, and it was quite effective...

Faced with such pressing, to be honest, he couldn't come up with any good solutions for a while.

This made him even more angry.

Stevens was like hitting the snake right on its vital spot.

Klopp turned his head and glanced at Stevens, who was standing in front of the Stuttgart coaching bench. They were old rivals, having played against each other in the Revierderby before.

At that time, in the Revierderby, Klopp was always the one who laughed last. Stevens was also sacked for his poor performance coaching Schalke 04. It seemed that even though he had left the coaching position at Schalke 04, he had not given up on continuing to study Dortmund...

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"Dortmund conceded a goal..." In Bayern Munich's coaching bench, this news quickly spread.

Guardiola also heard it from the whispers of his colleagues next to him.

He didn't react at all. But the coaches next to him were a little excited.

Before the game, everyone analyzed that although Dortmund had passed the Schalke 04 hurdle, Stuttgart would not be easy to deal with next. After all, they were a relegation team. At the last moment of the league, even if Bayern Munich encountered the fighting power of a relegation team, they would still have to be wary.

The actual development of the game was as they expected. At the beginning of the game, Dortmund fell into the mire on the road, and now they had conceded a goal... What good news!

Unlike Dortmund, who were stuck in the mud and playing very embarrassingly, Bayern Munich, playing at home, were playing easily and freely. Although they had not yet scored, they took the initiative, and they believed that scoring was only a matter of time.

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After Dortmund conceded a goal, they tried to counterattack. In the twelfth minute, Großkreutz, who replaced Piszczek in the starting lineup, passed back after reaching the bottom line on the right, and Mark shot hard from the edge of the penalty area, but it was blocked by the Stuttgart defender.

Two minutes later, Reus' long shot from the edge of the penalty area was saved by Stuttgart goalkeeper Ulreich.

However, Dortmund's counterattack did not have any effect, but allowed Stuttgart to seize the opportunity to counterattack.

In the nineteenth minute, Traoré got the ball on the right side of the penalty area. Facing Dortmund left-back Durm, who came up to defend him, Traoré accelerated and forcibly broke through!

He dribbled the ball and used his body to squeeze Durm aside, successfully breaking into the penalty area!

"Traoré! He's in, danger!" Duan Xin exclaimed.

Before he finished speaking, he saw Traoré dribbling the ball towards the goal. After attracting Weidenfeller out, he decisively chose to cross.

The ball slipped past the leg that Hummels shoveled out to defend and the leg that Weidenfeller stretched out to block the angle, and passed to Stuttgart player Harnik, who had already responded in front of the goal. Facing the empty goal in front of him, Harnik hooked his foot and kicked the ball into the goal!

"2:0!!! Stuttgart took a two-goal lead at home! Dortmund suffered a heavy blow!"

The entire Mercedes-Benz Arena was filled with the cheers of Stuttgart fans.

At the critical moment of relegation, if Stuttgart could beat Dortmund at home, they could not only get valuable three points, but also greatly improve the team's morale and confidence, which would be very helpful for Stuttgart's subsequent relegation path.

The Mercedes-Benz Arena was like a volcano that was erupting. Dortmund's players were in the crater, being roasted on hot lava, as if they were in hell.