The two matches progressed with an eerie understanding, drawing closer to the end of the first half.

Neither Guardiola nor Klopp could sit on the bench, standing on the sidelines, constantly using gestures to direct their teams.

In the forty-second minute, Zhou Yi suddenly sent an overhead pass from outside the penalty area. Yan Min rushed in, successfully beating the offside trap, and received the ball in the box.

He chose to shoot himself again.

And his shot was once again saved by Hannover 96's goalkeeper, Zieler, out for a corner.

Dortmund earned a corner kick.

"Yan Min's shooting choice isn't the best, but he always manages to get into position to receive Zhou Yi's passes... If he could just be a little calmer when handling the ball after receiving it, that would be great. I think that's the difference between Yan Min and Zhou Yi. Why does Zhou Yi seem so much more mature, even though they're not that far apart in age? Because he's calm enough on the field." Duan Xin subtly criticized Yan Min's performance.

Yan Min is currently Dortmund's most frequent shooter, but he hasn't scored a goal for Dortmund, and is even one of the reasons why Dortmund hasn't gained an advantage.

Duan Xin's criticism of Yan Min is also in the hope that Yan Min can perform better and make greater progress, even though his progress since coming to Dortmund from China has been astonishing.

But considering the upcoming World Cup, Duan Xin certainly hopes Yan Min can be more mature. After all, no one wants Yan Min to become the next "Nani"—when Cristiano Ronaldo transferred from Manchester United to Real Madrid, Manchester United introduced Nani, a winger of the same nationality as him. At the time, the media considered Nani to be Cristiano Ronaldo's successor. But later it proved that although Nani was exceptionally talented, he was far from being able to become Cristiano Ronaldo's successor.

The qualities Yan Min sometimes displays are very similar to Nani. This makes Duan Xin a little worried.

※※※

Yan Min's shot earned Dortmund a corner kick.

Reus went to take it, but Zhou Yi followed him.

When Reus positioned the ball and stood up, he saw Zhou Yi's gesture in the distance, signaling that he wanted to take a tactical corner.

So instead of kicking the ball directly into the box, he passed the ball to Zhou Yi, who came up to support him.

Because it was a corner kick, all of Hannover 96's players had retreated to the front of the goal, so no one was defending Zhou Yi when he got the ball.

Zhou Yi didn't immediately pass the ball after receiving it, but paused for a moment.

While Hannover 96's players were pressing outwards, some of them rushed towards Zhou Yi. It was too dangerous to leave such a big threat unmarked.

Zhou Yi looked up and observed the penalty area.

Normally, Hannover 96 only needed to run outwards, leaving Dortmund's players in the penalty area. It was very simple. But today, because he unexpectedly got the ball on the wing, Hannover 96's defensive players were distracted, and their movements weren't so uniform.

This gave Zhou Yi an opportunity.

He swung his leg and crossed!

A forty-five-degree cross, the ball flew towards the center of the penalty area.

There, Sokratis Papastathopoulos jumped high. He was not offside. Instead of heading the ball directly into the goal, he gently flicked it back, a headed pass!

The ball was passed to Hummels in the inside channel!

Hummels was also not offside, and he slid into a shot at the edge of the six-yard box!

The ball rolled towards the lower left corner of the goal.

This time, although Hannover 96's goalkeeper, Zieler, made a save, it was too late.

The ball rolled into the goal!

"Hummels!! Dortmund breaks the deadlock! The goal is not offside, no problem at all!"

The previously noisy Hannover HDI Arena suddenly quieted down, with only the cheers of the Dortmund players and the few Dortmund fans.

Klopp, who had been pacing on the sidelines, finally smiled at this moment.

He can breathe a sigh of relief for now—this goal is crucial, and the timing is also good. If Hannover 96 were to go back to the locker room with a tie, it would undoubtedly be a big boost to their morale and a blow to Dortmund's morale, making the second half even harder to play.

But now, just before the end of the first half, Hummels scored a goal, which immediately made the Hannover 96 players feel that all their efforts in the previous forty-odd minutes had been in vain... This is a big blow to their confidence and morale.

After Hummels scored, the TV broadcast showed the real-time league standings.

According to the current scores, Bayern Munich has seventy points, still ranking first in the league.

But Dortmund has increased from the original sixty-five points to sixty-eight points, still second in the league, but now only two points behind!

※※※

Just as Hummels broke the deadlock for Dortmund, at the Opel Arena, Mainz's home stadium, Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos took a long shot from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball went over the crossbar.

This was Bayern Munich's last shot in the first half, and the closest they came to scoring.

After that, neither side scored again, and the first half ended.

At this time, Bayern Munich's coaching staff already knew that Dortmund was leading Hannover 96 by one goal away from home. Although they didn't discuss it, everyone's expressions betrayed their anxiety.

Hermann Gerland even smelled a hint of danger.

After Guardiola came to Bayern Munich, he also brought his coaching team. Most of the people who originally assisted Heynckes at Bayern Munich had left, and Hermann Gerland was one of the few remaining. He had experienced Bayern Munich leading for almost an entire season last season, only to be overtaken by Dortmund in the end.

So what was happening today felt very familiar to him.

This familiar feeling was not pleasant.

Guardiola suddenly walked to Hermann Gerland's side, covered his mouth with his hand, leaned close to his ear and said, "Don't let anyone tell the players the score of the Dortmund game. If they ask, just say you don't know."

Gerland nodded.

He understood why Guardiola wanted to do this. In the last game, the players only watched a few minutes of the Dortmund game live at the last moment, and were almost absent-minded for half the game. If they knew in this game that Dortmund was already leading while they were struggling here, it would probably affect their state even more.

At a critical moment, Guardiola had to do something extraordinary.

But while Gerland understood, the dangerous feeling in his heart became stronger—before this, when had Guardiola ever made such special arrangements?

He was always full of confidence, didn't care what his opponents did, and focused on himself. And under his leadership, Bayern Munich had the most successful start to the league, remaining undefeated in the league for twenty-five rounds so far, the best start to a Bundesliga season on record. In these twenty-five league games, Bayern Munich achieved a terrifying record of twenty-two wins and three draws, with a win rate of eighty-eight percent, which is unmatched in the entire European five major leagues.

Such brilliant results have always been the basis for supporting the team's confidence.

But today, when Guardiola covered his mouth and said these words to him, then lowered his head, touched the back of his neck, and walked past him, Hermann Gerland suddenly felt that the foundation under his feet seemed to be... shaking, not so solid anymore.

※※※

The first halves of the two games ended at almost the same time.

After the whistle blew for the end of the first half in Bayern Munich's game, the first half of Dortmund's game ended soon after.

Everyone also knew that on the other side, Bayern Munich's game against Mainz was still 0:0, with no changes.

Everyone knew what this meant.

The players' faces were filled with joy.

But after entering the locker room, Klopp slammed the door shut with a stern face.

"Don't be happy too soon! There are still forty-five minutes left in the game! We're only leading by one goal! Anything is possible! Don't lose the game because you get carried away during halftime, otherwise I won't easily forgive you!"

"Now focus all your attention on this game, don't worry about anything else!"

Klopp didn't directly mention Bayern Munich, he hoped to express his attitude in this way—he didn't even bother to mention Bayern Munich's name, and he hoped the players wouldn't think about it either.

Except for defeating the opponent in front of them, they don't need to care about anything else.

Do your best.

If you don't do your best, it's useless even if the opponent gives you a hundred opportunities.