Chapter 1 After Fifteen Minutes

After fifteen minutes of rest and adjustment, the second half of the match began.

The Mainz and Bayern Munich match kicked off a little later than the second half of the Borussia Dortmund and Hannover 96 game because Mainz made a substitution right at the start of the second half.

Tuchel replaced Koo Ja-cheol with Szalai. In the first half, Mainz maintained a fast-paced attack, which took a toll on the players' stamina. To continue this momentum, timely substitutions were necessary. Otherwise, if the attacking players' stamina declined, they wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace.

This substitution showed that Tuchel still wanted to defeat Bayern Munich on their home turf.

Sure enough, just one minute into the second half, Choupo-Moting dribbled the ball down the left flank and charged all the way to the edge of Bayern Munich's penalty area before unleashing a long shot!

The ball bypassed all the defenders, even Bayern Munich's goalkeeper, Neuer.

But it ultimately crashed against the far post!

"The post!! A brilliant attack by Choupo-Moting, a fantastic shot, but the post denies him! That was close; Tuchel's team almost broke the deadlock! Bayern Munich escapes!"

Although they didn't concede a goal, Guardiola jumped up from his seat, rushed to the sidelines, and roared, waving his arms, dissatisfied with the players' performance.

He had every reason to be unhappy. He'd said so much during the halftime break, only to almost concede a goal at the very beginning of the second half!

After being scolded by Guardiola, Bayern Munich tried to counterattack.

In the 50th minute, they did get an opportunity, but Mandžukić's volley inside the penalty area went wide, posing no threat to the Mainz goal.

※※※

The match between Borussia Dortmund and Hannover 96 was a different story.

After the second half began, Borussia Dortmund quickly took the initiative, suppressing Hannover 96's momentum with aggressive pressing in the middle and attacking thirds.

In the 52nd minute, Bittencourt, the young player who transferred from Borussia Dortmund to Hannover 96 this summer, tried to dribble the ball down the right flank when Sven Bender dispossessed him. Yan Min, who was providing cover, saw the ball poked out by Sven Bender, stepped forward, and passed it to Zhou Yi in the middle.

After receiving the ball, Zhou Yi sent a long pass to the left flank in the attacking third, where Aubameyang received it and cut inside from the left side of the penalty area, battling his way through a crowd of Andre Hoffmann, Schmiedebach, and Schulz!

"Aubameyang, beautiful twists and turns!"

The Gabonese striker, dribbling to the penalty spot, shot before Pocognoli could make a sliding save!

Goalkeeper Zieler thought Aubameyang would shoot for the far corner, but instead, he went for the near post.

Zieler saw the ball flying in the wrong direction, and it was too late to dive. The ball flew into the goal!

"Aubameyang! A brilliant individual performance! He extends Borussia Dortmund's lead! 2-0! Borussia Dortmund, playing away from home, leads by two goals, and it looks like there's little suspense left in this game!" Marcel Reif, of course, knew what the Borussia Dortmund fans in front of the TV were most concerned about at this moment, so he added, "At the same time, on the other side, the score in the Bayern Munich and Mainz match is still 0-0... Guardiola's team seems to be in a bit of trouble..."

※※※

Guardiola forbade his assistant to tell him the situation of the other match, but he could still sense a slight commotion around him.

But at this moment, nothing had happened on the field that could cause such a commotion.

So he knew that something must have happened in the Borussia Dortmund and Hannover 96 match.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't let anyone tell him, so naturally, no one dared to come over and tell him, and he couldn't very well ask himself.

So, despite being curious, he could only endure it.

Just then, Bayern Munich organized a successful attack on the field. Alaba crossed from the left, accurately finding Mandžukić in the center, who leaped high in the small penalty area and headed for goal!

It was a brilliant header because Mandžukić was not disturbed in any way when he headed the ball. He could swing his head in the air very freely.

It was just like in daily training.

Mandžukić's header was also very powerful, heading for the far corner of the goal. It looked like a very successful and threatening header.

But just as the ball was about to fly into the goal, Mainz's goalkeeper Karius miraculously saved it!

"Karius!! A brilliant save! A crucial save! Wow!! Fantastic! He saved Mandžukić's certain goal!"

The entire Opel Arena erupted in huge cheers as Mainz fans cheered for their goalkeeper.

After Karius got up from the ground, teammates immediately came up to hug him, as if he had scored a goal.

But that was indeed the case. The value of this save was no less than a goal.

If Mandžukić had headed it in, the balance might have been broken... Karius saved the team and preserved Mainz's hopes of winning the match away from home. Moreover, if Mainz eventually managed to defeat Borussia Dortmund, this save could even be the save that determined the league title!

Guardiola's attention was drawn to Mandžukić's header, and he was ready to jump up and cheer.

But now, the raised hands could only be put back on his bald head.

The ball didn't go in!

※※※

Aubameyang and his teammates celebrated the goal and returned to their half, and the match restarted.

His goal was a severe blow to Hannover 96's morale. Trailing not long after the second half started made the Hannover 96 players feel a sense of powerlessness.

After observing for a few minutes, Klopp confirmed that Hannover 96 was indeed a little unenthusiastic, so he started making substitutions.

First, he replaced Reus with Mkhitaryan, allowing Reus to rest properly.

In this season, Zhou Yi was the team's undisputed core, Mark was the team's top scorer, and Reus was also very important, so it was necessary to ensure their physical condition.

Although Luis was substituted, Borussia Dortmund still dominated the attack.

"Borussia Dortmund, leading by two goals, has completely suppressed Hannover 96, completely reversing the roles of host and guest. It seems that the home team's hopes of a comeback are very slim now. And on the other side, Bayern Munich has not yet broken the deadlock... If both matches end with these scores, Borussia Dortmund will only be two points behind Bayern Munich, which is a very dangerous gap..."

On Bayern Munich's side, after Mandžukić's header was saved, Mainz quickly responded with a quick counterattack. Choupo-Moting's volley in the penalty area went slightly over the crossbar, scaring the Bayern Munich fans.

Choupo-Moting, who missed this opportunity, also looked very frustrated. He knelt on the ground and punched the turf hard.

His frustration was justified. Choupo-Moting's stamina was declining rapidly, and he didn't know if he would have another chance like this.

It wasn't just Choupo-Moting whose stamina was declining rapidly. The stamina of the entire Mainz attacking lineup was declining rapidly. Tuchel's tactics placed high demands on the players' running ability. Tuchel's tactical arrangements for this match were very targeted.

Faced with Bayern's absolute advantage in ball control, Mainz took the initiative to give up possession to their opponents. From the ball possession statistics, Mainz was at an absolute disadvantage, but from the field, one could not get the same feeling as the possession statistics.

It was because after giving up ball possession, Mainz's counterattacks were very effective, aiming at the space behind Bayern Munich's defense.

Nikolai Müller's cutting shot in the first half and Choupo-Moting's powerful shot that hit the post at the beginning of the second half reflected the targeted nature and correctness of Tuchel's tactics.

But all of this was based on the team's players having enough stamina and speed.

Now that the second half had been going on for almost sixty minutes, Mainz still hadn't scored a goal, and at the same time, the players' stamina was declining rapidly. Under such circumstances, Tuchel certainly had to make further adjustments.

Since relying on quick counterattacks hadn't resulted in a goal, it was time to change tactics. Tuchel decided to solidify the defense and slowly wear down Bayern Munich.

So he replaced Choupo-Moting, who had created chances but was also running out of energy.

After Tuchel made tactical adjustments, the situation on the field began to change. When Mainz could no longer use counterattacks to sneak attacks on Bayern Munich's goal, Bayern Munich could push forward with confidence.

In the 62nd minute, Bayern Munich launched a quick attack. Robben used his speed to dribble the ball into the Mainz penalty area and then cut inside to shoot. The ball was saved by Karius, who reacted quickly.

"Karius is in great form today! Now that Mainz has made adjustments, the pressure on the defense is even greater, so the goalkeeper's performance is even more important..."

Guardiola also realized that the situation was changing, and he certainly had to do something to fuel the flames at this time.

He turned his attention to the bench.

※※※

Götze sat on the bench, watching the field anxiously.

The match had reached over sixty minutes, and Bayern Munich still couldn't score.

If they couldn't win this match in the end...

Götze didn't even dare to think about the consequences.

Although he didn't know the specific situation of the Borussia Dortmund match, he had vaguely heard that Borussia Dortmund seemed to be leading Hannover 96.

Just then, he suddenly heard assistant coach Hermann Gerland's voice: "Götze! Go warm up!"

After being stunned for a moment, he came back to his senses and looked towards the coaching bench. The assistant coach was waving at him.

He realized that the head coach was about to make a change!

And he was the first one he thought of when making the change!

Götze jumped up from the bench with great energy and ran to the warm-up area.

Although they weren't competing on the same field, Götze regarded this as an opportunity for him and Zhou Yi to compete. He wanted to use his brilliant performance to help Bayern Munich defeat their opponent and maintain their four-point lead over Borussia Dortmund!