Chapter 1 Dortmund's Crisis

Dortmund had just finished a life-or-death battle, and now they were about to face another one—a Champions League group stage match at home against Napoli.

In their previous Champions League group stage match, Dortmund defeated Arsenal at home, keeping their hopes of qualifying from the group alive. But it was just hope, after all. Whether they could actually qualify would depend on the matches to come. And their match against Napoli was the key.

Because Dortmund and Napoli could be considered direct competitors for qualifying from the group.

After four rounds of group matches, Arsenal and Napoli were tied with nine points, ranking in the top two of the group. Dortmund, thanks to their home win against Arsenal in the last round, had six points, not too far behind the top two.

Galatasaray had not won a single match and had zero points, already eliminated from contention.

If Dortmund wanted to qualify from the group, they had to defeat Napoli at home. This would tie them with Napoli in points, and their head-to-head record would also be one win and one loss each, requiring a comparison of goals scored and conceded in their matches against each other.

Dortmund had lost to Napoli in their first Champions League group stage match, with a score of 0-3. If Dortmund couldn't win by at least a three-goal margin at home, then even if they beat Napoli, they would still be ranked behind them.

So, this match was a heavy task for Dortmund—they had to not only defeat Napoli but also defeat them by a large margin, preferably without conceding a goal.

For Dortmund, who were plagued by injuries, especially with their entire starting defense decimated, this was no less difficult than drawing with Bayern Munich at home…

Some pessimists even believed that the defending champions would be eliminated from the group stage early. Because Dortmund couldn't even afford a draw in this match. If they drew with Napoli, they could only hope that Galatasaray could hinder Arsenal's progress, but the chances of that happening were slim, and the risk of entrusting their fate to others was too high.

However, it wasn't entirely without opportunity.

Because Napoli's recent form wasn't very good either.

At the beginning of the league season, both Napoli and Dortmund were in top form, leading the standings in their respective leagues. Napoli, in particular, completely defeated the defending champions 3-0 in the Champions League. But recently, Napoli's form had deteriorated. They had lost consecutive matches in the league, first to Juventus, then to Parma, stagnating in third place in Serie A.

With Napoli's poor form, Dortmund had a chance to defeat them at home.

But if Napoli only wanted to get a draw in the away game, a draw would be enough for them to qualify a round early. They could play conservatively, defending tenaciously on the road, and force a draw with Dortmund.

A draw was perfectly acceptable for Napoli, but not for Dortmund. Dortmund would definitely attack with all their might, which was the condition for Napoli to counterattack. If they could steal a goal in a counterattack, Napoli might have a chance to take all three points and retreat safely from the devil's home ground of Westfalenstadion.

Because there were so many variables in a single match, and advantages and disadvantages could be converted into each other, this match was highly anticipated.

When the Champions League group stage draw was held, Group F was called the "Group of Death." But now, this group was truly showing its "deathly" side for the first time.

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Because there was such a match ahead, the game between Dortmund and Bayern Munich was quickly forgotten. Everyone stopped paying attention to this finished match and put all their energy into the Champions League match.

Dortmund's defensive injury problems had not been completely resolved.

Moreover, their defense's poor performance in the previous match against Bayern Munich would certainly be noticed by Napoli. As long as they carefully studied the recording of this match, it would not be difficult to find targeted strategies to break through their defense.

However, Napoli's midfield core, Hamsik, was injured in the last league match and would not be able to participate in this Champions League match.

Both sides had suffered losses in strength.

But what everyone cared about most was that Zhou Yi would face Napoli again.

The last time the two sides clashed, Zhou Yi was injured by an opposing player in Napoli's away game and missed more than a month of matches. It was this month that caused Dortmund's situation to take a sharp turn for the worse, putting their Champions League group stage qualification in danger, and allowing Bayern Munich to surpass them in the league.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that Napoli was Zhou Yi's "enemy." Everyone wanted to see how Zhou Yi would "take revenge" when facing Napoli.

So, before the match, the question Zhou Yi was asked most by reporters was "revenge."

But Zhou Yi disagreed with this statement: "There is no such thing as 'revenge.' That injury was just an accident. I don't blame Inler, or Napoli, for it. We must strive for victory in this match, not for revenge, but for our own survival. If we want to qualify from the group, we must defeat Napoli at home."

"And win by at least three goals…" a reporter reminded Zhou Yi of the difficulty.

But Zhou Yi corrected the reporter's statement:

"No, it's by at least four goals."

He held up four fingers.

Winning by three goals would at most make Dortmund and Napoli have the same record in terms of points and head-to-head results, while winning by four goals would allow Dortmund to surpass Napoli in the head-to-head record if they had the same number of points, and thus surpass Napoli in the rankings.

Zhou Yi said this, obviously aiming to directly surpass Napoli.

He said it with full confidence.

But the media reporters were very curious about where Zhou Yi's confidence came from.

Given Dortmund's current situation, even if they could score four goals against Napoli, they couldn't guarantee that Napoli wouldn't score…

If they conceded a goal, the goal of winning by four goals would be difficult to achieve—if Napoli scored one goal, Dortmund would have to score five goals, if Napoli scored two goals, Dortmund would have to score six goals… Even at their own home ground, they didn't have such a big advantage.

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"...When Dortmund star Zhou Yi was interviewed by reporters, he said that he wanted to win by four goals against Napoli, which is really surprising where his confidence comes from..." In an Italian TV program, the host was talking and laughing with the guests. The most noteworthy thing this week was, of course, the Champions League match between Dortmund and Napoli.

And everything before the match could be used as a topic of conversation, not to mention that Zhou Yi had provided such a big "topic."

"Although he says he's not seeking revenge, he actually hates Napoli to death, right?" a guest laughed. "That's why he said such a thing..."

Another guest said: "I think maybe Zhou Yi had to say that, right?"

His point aroused everyone's interest, and the host asked him why he said that.

"It's very simple. Given Dortmund's current state, even if they play Napoli at home, they may not be able to win. The problems on their defensive line are too serious, but they can't surrender in advance. So Zhou Yi said this should be to cheer up his teammates, right..."

The guest spoke eloquently, and the people around him nodded frequently—thinking about it this way, that's really the case.

What Dortmund lacked was confidence. Facing strong enemies and unfavorable situations, they would inevitably have some fear of difficulty. As the core player of the team, he naturally had to stand up and boost morale at this time.

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The Italian media believed that Dortmund lacked confidence in facing Napoli at home.

Their understanding deviated a bit from the reality.

Contrary to what they imagined, within Dortmund, they were eager to compete against Napoli.

If Dortmund was indeed somewhat lacking in confidence before the match against Bayern Munich, then after the match against Bayern Munich, the problem of Dortmund players lacking confidence has been resolved. Because they fell behind Bayern Munich three times in the match, and they all managed to tie the game in the end.

After such a match, how could Dortmund players still lack confidence?

In a closed training session, the first team training ground at the Brackel training base was in full swing, the atmosphere was warm, and every player was sweating profusely on the training ground. Although it was training, the intensity was no less than that of an official match.

If you only looked at this scene, it would be surprising—is this the Dortmund team that was beaten so badly in the match against Bayern Munich? They look like two completely different teams than before.

Klopp was also very satisfied with the team's morale. During training, he and assistant coach Buvac couldn't help but talk about this issue.

"It's amazing. Just a draw, but it brought such a big change to the team..." Buvac marveled.

"That's no ordinary draw. It's a draw against Bayern Munich when the defense was almost destroyed, and it was a draw with three lead changes." Although the game was over, Klopp still couldn't hide the pride and sense of accomplishment in his tone when he talked about this game—he wasn't proud of the result, but he was proud of his team's ability to perform like this in adversity.

"Željko, I have a hunch. We will successfully qualify from the group this time, and as the top of the group!" Klopp said decisively.

Buvac muttered: "Being the top of the group or something, forget it. I'll be satisfied as long as we can qualify..."

Klopp chuckled and didn't say anything more.

The sun shone on the green training ground, and the sweat flowing from the players' bodies was shining.