Chapter 1 The Best Comeback

"Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi!! What a great shot!! It looked so effortless, yet it pierced Arsenal's heart!" He Ping was extremely excited. "A goal in his first Champions League match since returning from injury! This is truly the best king's return!!"

In the stands, Borussia Dortmund fans jumped up and down, cheering like thunder. They waved their arms and shouted Zhou Yi's name, creating a storm in the Westfalenstadion.

Amidst their cheers, Arsenal fans were silent.

"Ah...they finally conceded! Actually, the situation had already been very dangerous when Arsenal was constantly under pressure..." The British commentator sighed. "But it's really unexpected that Zhou Yi scored this goal..."

Marcel Reif regretted the result of the previous match between the two sides, "One can imagine, if Klopp had taken Zhou Yi to London for the away game against Arsenal, would we have seen the situation where they besieged Arsenal in the final moments but failed to score?"

This was also a point of contention for many Arsenal fans.

But no matter what, the last game was over, and no amount of regret could change the result.

Let's just enjoy the present joy...

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Zhou Yi's goal helped Borussia Dortmund take a one-goal lead, and many Borussia Dortmund fans felt relieved. This game could be said to be a crucial battle that Borussia Dortmund absolutely could not afford to lose. Now that Zhou Yi had scored and Borussia Dortmund was leading, many fans were looking forward to a victory.

After the game restarted, Borussia Dortmund did not relax because of the lead. They continued to besiege Arsenal's goal, hoping to score more goals in a short period of time.

In the thirtieth minute, Zhou Yi passed the ball to the right wing. Reus received the ball and attracted Arsenal's defensive attention, then passed the ball to Großkreutz, who had cut inside. The latter crossed into the penalty area from the right side of the penalty area. Aubameyang volleyed in front of the goal from nine meters away, and the ball went slightly wide of the right post.

The Arsenal fans in front of the TV broke out in a cold sweat.

In the thirty-seventh minute, Borussia Dortmund launched a quick counterattack. Zhou Yi directly made a long diagonal pass from the backcourt to Mark, who had pulled to the right wing. Just as Mark received the ball and was about to dribble forward, he was brought down by an Arsenal defender...

This was originally a foul, and there was a lot of booing in the stands.

But the referee did not indicate anything, because Reus had already cut inside at high speed, bypassed the fallen Mark, and caught up with the ball in front.

In this case, of course, the principle of advantage should be adhered to, so that the game can continue smoothly.

After Reus received the ball, he was almost through on goal, so Arsenal's defensive focus naturally shifted towards him. Suddenly, two Arsenal players rushed up to stop Reus, or force him to the wing, so that he could not directly threaten Arsenal's goal.

Reus was also smart, knowing that if he continued to dribble forward, he was not absolutely sure that he could get rid of Arsenal's defense. Attracting two Arsenal defenders meant that Arsenal's defense in other areas would not be so tight. So he decisively passed the ball to the center.

Aubameyang, who cut inside to the center, received Reus' pass and took the ball into the penalty area!

At this time, there were no Arsenal players around him!

"Aubameyang! Dortmund's chance!"

In Marcel Reif's loud shout, Aubameyang shot.

Szczęsny dived to the side, but did not touch the ball, but the ball did not fly into the goal, but went wide of the left post...

"Ahhh! Aubameyang! He missed a great chance!" He Ping shouted regretfully in the rear studio, holding his head in his hands.

Aubameyang himself was also very regretful. He covered his face as he watched the ball fly out of the goal.

Klopp was also not satisfied with Aubameyang's missed opportunity. He waved his fist hard off the field, complaining incessantly: "He should have been more calm! He could have done better!"

Although Borussia Dortmund's situation was very good at the moment, Klopp always had a faint worry, which may have been out of his professional habits. He knew that a one-goal lead was far from enough. In this kind of battle between experts, the gap of one goal was not insurmountable. If Borussia Dortmund did not seize the opportunity to score more goals, they might give Arsenal an opportunity to take advantage of.

Don't look at the fact that Arsenal hasn't even had a shot on goal so far. But who knows if they will penetrate Borussia Dortmund's goal with their first shot?

As Borussia Dortmund's coach, Klopp had to consider more and imagine some worse scenarios.

But at this time, the Borussia Dortmund fans could absolutely not understand their coach's mood. Even if Aubameyang wasted this opportunity, they just sighed and continued to cheer and cheer for the team.

Borussia Dortmund's performance at home made them very happy. They completely suppressed Arsenal, leaving Arsenal without a single shot on goal so far. What a huge advantage!

With such an advantage, what do we have to worry about?

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Borussia Dortmund dominated the field, and Borussia Dortmund's players also felt in good shape. Everyone was very active in fighting for the ball on the field. Even Mark, the center forward, was constantly intercepting opponents and stealing the ball from their feet on the field. This kind of counter-attack launched in the frontcourt further consolidated Borussia Dortmund's advantage on the field.

In the forty-second minute, Mark even received a yellow card for intercepting Ramsey's ball.

This shows how excited the Borussia Dortmund players are now.

In the forty-fourth minute, it was Aubameyang again. After receiving Sven Bender's pass on the left wing, he suddenly cut inside and then shot directly from nearly thirty meters away from the goal!

The ball went wide of the near post.

Not long after, the first half ended.

Although the continuous bombardment in the second half of the first half did not result in any more goals, the Borussia Dortmund fans still gave the team's performance in the first half a warm applause.

Even the commentators believed that Borussia Dortmund's first half could be described as perfect.

"The first half is over! Borussia Dortmund completely controlled the situation, continuously creating threatening shots, and Zhou Yi opened the scoring for the team. Borussia Dortmund's performance in this first half was very outstanding. If they could perform like this in every game, why would they be ranked third in the Champions League group stage?"

"Borussia Dortmund's performance in this game can be described as 'completely reborn' compared to before. Their only change is Zhou Yi's return. This shows Zhou Yi's importance to the team..." He Ping's focus was of course still on Zhou Yi. "A goal and the instigation of many threatening offensives, Zhou Yi's return to the Champions League is very successful! If they can play like this in the second half, then Borussia Dortmund's question is not whether they will win, but how many goals they will win..."

The Borussia Dortmund players who came off the field were very relaxed, while the Arsenal players frowned, worried, even their coach Wenger was the same.

If Arsenal lost to Borussia Dortmund away from home, then their great hope of qualifying early would be dashed.

The British commentator was also worried about Arsenal: "Arsenal's performance in the first half can be described as 'the whole team sleepwalking'. The team did not have a single shot in the entire first half and was completely suppressed by Borussia Dortmund. I don't know how Wenger arranged the tactics before the game, but from the actual results, at least his restrictions on Zhou Yi were not very effective. Zhou Yi's performance after returning from injury is amazing. He has absolutely no adaptation period and immediately returned to his peak state... And Arsenal seems to be a little unprepared for this..."

For a match of this level between Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal, it can be said that one side has taken complete advantage if they can prevent the other side from even having a single shot.

Conversely, Arsenal's performance was indeed too bad.

Now, looking back at the first half, all that can be remembered are the scenes of Borussia Dortmund besieging Arsenal... Under such circumstances, Arsenal only conceded one goal, which is really lucky.

※※※

In the locker room, although the Borussia Dortmund players were very happy, the smile on Klopp's face was not obvious.

He was warning his players not to be too happy too soon.

"You're only leading by one goal, what's there to be happy about? Yes, that's right, we didn't let them have a single shot in the first half, but wait until the whole game is over and you haven't let them have a single shot before you can be happy. A football match is divided into two halves. No matter how well you perform in the first half, it can't determine your performance in the second half. So don't be too happy too soon. In the second half, you have to show the same performance as in the first half, you have to be 100% focused, and you must absolutely not give the other side any chance to take advantage!"

At the same time, in the adjacent locker room, Wenger was also encouraging his players.

"...It's just a one-goal deficit. We were suppressed by them in the first half, but we only conceded one goal, which is a good thing. Of course, our performance in the first half was very bad, but on the other hand, the opponent will definitely let their guard down against us because of our bad performance in the first half. In this way, the second half will be our chance. So don't give up, things haven't reached the point of no return..."