Chapter 1 A Stroke of Genius

When Zhou Yi unexpectedly passed the football, almost no one thought that Zhou Yi's feigned shot was actually a pass.

But Mark did. He didn't give up his forward surge just because Zhou Yi had the ball in the middle. Instead, after Zhou Yi passed the ball to Reus, he accelerated forward.

At this time, as Reus shifted the ball back to Zhou Yi, and Zhou Yi dribbled the ball toward the center, everyone's attention, especially the attention of the Napoli defenders, was drawn to Zhou Yi.

No one noticed that a Dortmund player was quietly but resolutely and rapidly surging up from behind them.

Until the football was passed over by Zhou Yi in an unexpected way, everyone's eyes followed the rolling football, and they spotted Mark!

At this point, no one could stop him. Although the angle wasn't perfect, Mark felt an extremely strong surge of confidence—I can score this!

So he wound up and took a shot!

He put all his strength into it, his taut instep ensuring that the football stayed within the confines of the goal as much as possible, accurately hitting the lower-middle part of the ball. The football flew up, and in the blink of an eye, it passed over the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Reina, then squeezed into the goal through a narrow gap!

As the football rippled the back of the net, a huge cheer erupted from Westfalenstadion, like a volcanic eruption.

Mark watched the football fly into the goal, confirming that his shot had gone in, and then he opened his arms and ran toward the corner flag area, while also remembering to turn around and beckon to his teammates, signaling them to come and celebrate together, especially Zhou Yi.

Without Zhou Yi's brilliant pass, he wouldn't have had such a comfortable shooting opportunity—completely undefended, he could complete a standard shooting motion without worrying about someone poking the football away while he swung his leg…

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"Mark Wagner! He scored the first goal of the game for Dortmund!! A brilliant pass from Zhou Yi!!" He Ping shouted excitedly. "Mark's shot was decisive and accurate! Zhou Yi's pass was even more brilliant! Combining the feigned long shot with a delicate pass, this is a unique Dortmund feint pass! He uses feints to deceive the defending players, making them focus all their attention on him, but then he accurately sends the football into the open space without even looking, creating a chance for his teammates! This is a skill unique to Zhou Yi!"

He Ping spared no effort in praising his own.

Before Zhou Yi and the Five Little Tigers emerged, He Ping had to constantly remind himself to be neutral and objective every time he commentated on European football matches, and not to show too obvious a bias. He had even complained on Weibo about fans attacking him for being a fan of a certain team.

Later, when Zhou Yi and the others appeared, he no longer had to pretend to be neutral and objective when commentating on La Liga or the Champions League. He was all-in on the Chinese players, and no one would dare to call him unfair, impartial, or objective—someone had indeed cursed him on his Weibo, saying that he was endlessly flattering the "your country" players and was not worthy of being called a commentator, but should be called a "your country fan." Then, the poor wretch who said this was torn to shreds by countless other "your country" fans…

Now everyone is very used to the strong bias of He Ping and other Chinese commentators when commentating on matches involving Chinese players, and even if they don't express such a bias, they will be criticized and complained about, with people claiming the commentator lacks passion.

He Ping's exaggerated praise of Zhou Yi was certainly not to please those TV viewers who wanted "passionate commentary." It was because he was essentially a pure Chinese football fan, and he wanted to see Chinese football do well. He almost worshiped those Chinese players who performed well on the European stage. He once said a famous saying that was widely circulated among Chinese fans: "Even if Chinese football is everyone's spittoon, it is my personal Holy Grail." This fully demonstrated his feelings for Chinese football.

The TV broadcast replayed Mark's goal just now, and Zhou Yi's wonderful pass was not cut out. Whether before or during the pass, he never turned his head to the right once, never looked for his teammates. He was either looking down at the ball, or looking up at the goal in front of him, completely appearing as if he was going to draw back his bow and arrow for a long shot outside the penalty area. This completely deceived the Napoli defenders, making them misjudge the situation and completely ignore Mark's surge forward.

Then Zhou Yi poked the football over, poking the football over while looking at the goal.

A very deceptive "no_Look_pAss".

The difference between Zhou Yi's "no_Look_pAss" and other people's "no_Look_pAss" is that he doesn't deliberately avoid looking at the passing target in order to show off his skills. Unlike the "no_Look_pAss" where he suddenly turns his face in the completely opposite direction when passing, his feint has a clear purpose. When he looks at the goal, it really makes people think that he wants to shoot. When he turns his head to the left, it really means that there is a passing opportunity on the left, making the opponent think that he will pass the football there, but in reality, he passes the football to the teammate on the right.

In the past, everyone would use feints when dribbling and shooting, but with Zhou Yi, the feint of passing has moved beyond the level of showing off skills and has more practical application value.

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After celebrating the goal, Zhou Yi and Mark ran back together. He smiled and said to Mark, "See? I told you you'd have a shooting opportunity!"

Mark also smiled happily: "That's right! Haha! I knew you'd pass the football over!"

This is the tacit understanding developed from playing together for many years, a true meeting of minds.

So Zhou Yi doesn't need to observe Mark's position.

The two of them ran back to their own half shoulder to shoulder, chatting and laughing. Seeing the relaxed appearance of their team's two main players, the Dortmund fans were happy and gratified—the players are not nervous, but very relaxed, which means that this game is really promising!

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After the restart of the game, Dortmund's morale was even higher after taking the lead. Their original goal for this game was to score four clear goals, and now Zhou Yi and Mark had made a good start for everyone.

Soon, when Zhou Yi received the ball on the left side of the Napoli penalty area, he was pulled on his jersey by Dzemaili, causing Zhou Yi to lose the ball. The referee, Cüneyt Çakır, blew his whistle and called Dzemaili for a foul, awarding Dortmund a free kick very close to the penalty area.

This penalty made Napoli coach Benítez, who was off the field, very dissatisfied. It's unknown whether he was dissatisfied with the referee's penalty or with Dzemaili's foul.

He was very worried about this free kick.

In this kind of game, it should go without saying that you should try to avoid giving the opponent set pieces in dangerous areas.

As a result, Dzemaili gave Dortmund a free kick…

Reus stood in front of the football, ready to take the free kick.

Now within Dortmund, Reus is the number one free kick taker.

He took two steps for his run-up, and then kicked the ball!

The football went around the wall and flew straight toward the lower corner of the goal!

Reina's vision was initially obscured by the wall. When he saw the football flying over, he pounced and barely managed to tip the football out with his fingertips!

"Oh! That free kick was of very high quality!" Marcel Reif praised.

"Reus! So close! So close to scoring another goal! Reina saved Napoli!" He Ping regretted that the goal didn't go in.

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Dortmund's attack was fierce, wanting to score another goal as soon as possible.

But Napoli was not intimidated by Dortmund's aggressive attack.

Although Napoli was a little flustered when they conceded a goal in the first ten minutes or so, they have now recovered.

Their tactical arrangement for this game is defensive counterattack, so even if they concede a goal and are pressed back by Dortmund, they don't feel embarrassed.

On the contrary, if Dortmund doesn't press them, they will feel a little headache.

Now that Dortmund is playing this way, there are gaps behind them, large areas of gaps, which Napoli can use to launch counterattacks.

In the twenty-third minute, a long pass from Napoli's midfield reached the frontcourt. Higuaín pulled to the wing, and facing the long pass, he didn't choose to stop the ball, but headed it directly to the center in front of the penalty area. Pandev followed up with a low shot, and the football was caught in Weidenfeller's arms as he fell to the ground.

Two minutes later, Napoli continued to use counterattacks to advance the football to Dortmund's goal. This time, Mertens crossed from the wing, and Higuaín followed up with a header in the center, which was again saved by Weidenfeller.

Before long, Napoli's most threatening attack of the game came.

Higuaín received the ball in the center circle, then turned and passed the ball straight through, directly reaching the gap on Dortmund's defensive wing.

Callejón cut into the penalty area after receiving the ball on the right wing.

Because there were other Napoli players in the center to support, the Dortmund players were somewhat hesitant in their defense.

Callejón seized the opportunity of the Napoli defense's hesitation and suddenly shot directly!

The football bypassed the goalkeeper who was blocking the angle and flew straight into the far corner.

The Italian commentator couldn't wait to cheer, the first syllable was already on his lips, almost ready to be uttered.

At this moment, the football crashed into the far post and bounced out!

"Ah!" The Italian commentator slammed his hands down on his forehead. "Callejón!! He missed a golden opportunity to equalize the score!"

As long as Napoli can get even just one away goal, they can, to some extent, dash Dortmund's hopes of qualifying:

First of all, if Dortmund wants to surpass Napoli in the standings, they need to ensure that they win by four goals at home. If Napoli equalizes the score, Dortmund will need to score four more goals, which is obviously more difficult than scoring three more goals.

Secondly, if Dortmund ultimately only beats Napoli 4-1, the two sides will have the same head-to-head record, but Napoli will still be one step ahead of Dortmund due to their away goal.

So the away goal is key. It's not that Napoli can't accept losing to Dortmund away from home, as long as they can get an away goal and not lose by four goals, then what's the problem?

But the Westfalenstadion's goalpost saved the day, ruthlessly rejecting Napoli's very high-quality counterattack.

Although Callejón's shot didn't go in, it gave many people the impression that Napoli's counterattack was very threatening, and Dortmund might concede a goal if they continued to play like this.

So many people became somewhat pessimistic about Dortmund's prospects again.

When they had just taken the lead, when Reus's free kick almost went in, everyone had been quite confident in Dortmund… but there was no way around it, the situation on the football field often changes so rapidly.