Chapter 143 Zhou Yi Enters the List

The news that Zhou Yi had been selected for the match squad spread around the world almost that very night—this is the Internet age, after all. News doesn’t have to wait until the next day for people to wake up and see the morning paper or news report.

This news excited both Borussia Dortmund fans and Zhou Yi fans.

"Zhou Yi is on the list! Dortmund has a chance to win this game!"

"Now that he's on the list, are they going to let Zhou Yi sit on the bench for ninety minutes?"

"I think Zhou Yi is there just in case. If Dortmund really runs into trouble, Klopp will definitely send Zhou Yi in!"

"Whether he plays or not, I think just being selected for the eighteen-man squad means that Zhou Yi has definitely recovered. Otherwise, they wouldn't put him on the match list..."

But some people weren't so optimistic: "Does anyone really know if Zhou Yi has recovered? What if Dortmund is just under pressure to put Zhou Yi on the list, and it's not based on Zhou Yi's physical condition?"

"Exactly. With Dortmund in such a difficult situation right now, they do need Zhou Yi to boost their morale. But because of that, I'm worried if Zhou Yi is really ready..."

The media also reflected this split in opinions.

Some media outlets applauded Zhou Yi's return and confidently stated that with Zhou Yi back, Dortmund would definitely win this Revierderby. This was mainly Dortmund's local media.

While the Schalke local media, on the other hand, believed that Dortmund was just bluffing. It was impossible for Zhou Yi to have recovered. If he really had, why wasn't he on the list for the Arsenal game? After all, the game against Arsenal was more important; if Dortmund lost, they would have trouble even qualifying for the group stage... As a result, they didn't bring Zhou Yi, and they really did lose the game, which further proved that Zhou Yi's body had not actually recovered. That's why Klopp didn't dare to risk it.

But after losing to Arsenal, Dortmund was forced into a desperate situation, so Klopp had no choice but to put Zhou Yi on the list, partly to boost morale, and partly because he might be thinking of letting Zhou Yi play with an injury...

But no matter which it was, Schalke 04 didn't need to worry about Zhou Yi. Even if he played, Zhou Yi wouldn't be at his best, and Schalke 04 could still win this derby.

The fact that Zhou Yi was on the list was too sensational and too eye-catching.

So much so that many people didn't notice another thing—Yan Min was not on the list for this Revierderby.

If anyone had noticed this, they would have guessed that Klopp was not satisfied with Yan Min's performance in the last Champions League game, so he removed him from the eighteen-man squad...

But now everyone's attention was drawn to Zhou Yi, so naturally no one paid attention to Yan Min. Whether Yan Min was on the eighteen-man squad or not... hardly anyone noticed this before the Revierderby began.

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This season's first Revierderby was the 143rd Revierderby in history, and the game was broadcast live in 203 countries and regions around the world, a record for the Revierderby.

As the most popular derby in German football history, the Revierderby has always lived up to its name.

The Revierderby is even called the "Mother of Derbies" in German football, which shows its status.

Logically speaking, the Dortmund and Schalke 04 fan bases have many similarities. For example, the cities where the two teams are located are both mainly mining cities, the two teams' fan bases have the same composition, and the clubs have the same football culture. Their relationship shouldn't be so bad.

Why has the Ruhr derby surpassed other derbies in Germany and become the most popular and intense derby in Germany?

It's actually very simple. Two individuals of the same gender with the same characteristics and both equally outstanding are far more likely to dislike each other than to cherish each other. "Birds of a feather flock together, but opposites attract," as the saying goes.

Dortmund and Schalke 04 are both very outstanding and well-known successful teams in German football history.

Dortmund may be more familiar to everyone. They have won the Bundesliga title seven times, as well as two national championships before the Bundesliga era, three German Cups, two Champions League titles, one European Cup Winners' Cup, and one Toyota Cup (now the Club World Cup).

Especially in recent years, with three consecutive league titles and a Champions League title, they have certainly been in the limelight and their reputation has spread throughout the world.

Schalke 04 has had a mediocre run in recent years, but historically they were also a very famous and strong team in German football. In the German football scene before the Bundesliga was established, the 1930s belonged to Schalke 04. From 1933 to 1942, Schalke 04 reached the finals of the national championships and cup competitions a total of fourteen times in ten years, advancing to at least one final each year, winning six national championships and one cup title, making them the best team in Germany at the time.

At that time, Dortmund was not very noticeable, and they could not compete with Schalke 04 in terms of team strength.

Because the strength of the two teams was so different, although there was a Revierderby at that time, it was not very popular. During that period, Schalke 04 had defeated Dortmund by scores of 10-0, 9-0, 7-0, and 6-0. Such a large score difference not only showed the gap in strength between the two teams, but also showed that Dortmund did not care much about the game between them.

It wasn't until 1943 that Dortmund achieved their first derby victory against Schalke 04 with a narrow 1-0 win—which shows how strong and successful Schalke 04 was before.

In fact, the Ruhr area is not just Schalke 04 and Dortmund. Not counting those small clubs, there are quite a few teams in the Ruhr area that have played in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, including Dortmund, Schalke 04, Bochum, Duisburg, Rot-Weiss Essen, Oberhausen, and Wattenscheid. But only the game between Dortmund and Schalke 04 can be called the "Revierderby." One reason is that the cities where these two teams are located are the closest, less than thirty kilometers in a direct line. Another reason is that these two teams are the two strongest teams in the Ruhr area.

The first recorded conflict between the two teams occurred in 1934, when Schalke 04 fans, who had won the national championship, ran to the Dortmund train station to celebrate, causing the first violent clash between the two teams' fans.

It was after that incident that a very famous slogan was born, one that belongs to Dortmund fans: "Rather Bayern win the title a hundred times than Schalke win it once!"

This shows how deep the hatred between the two teams is, so the Revierderby is also ridiculed by some Bayern Munich fans as a "civil war derby."

Although Schalke 04 was the best team in Germany in the 1930s, they have never won a Bundesliga title since the Bundesliga was officially established. On the contrary, Dortmund, their Revierderby rivals who used to be beaten to a pulp, have been very successful in the Bundesliga. So far, they have won the most Bundesliga titles besides Bayern Munich. Their two Champions League titles are also the most won by a German team besides Bayern Munich. It is no exaggeration to say that they are the most successful team in the Bundesliga besides Bayern Munich.

What goes around comes around. In the past, Schalke 04 fans ran to Dortmund to celebrate their championship victory. Now, Dortmund fans have changed their approach to retaliate against Schalke 04 fans.

In the 2006-2007 season, Schalke 04 was at the top of the league table before playing against Dortmund, and they had a big advantage. They seemed poised to break their fifty-year league title drought. Schalke 04 had been in the top spot in the league for more than three months, and before facing Dortmund, they were one point ahead of second-place Stuttgart. If they wanted to win the title, they had to beat Dortmund away from home. So the Revierderby in the second half of the 2006-2007 season became the focus of attention.

At that time, Dortmund was in the middle of the league table and should have been indifferent to the outcome. But because this game was the only chance to prevent their arch-rivals from winning the title, the entire Dortmund team was as if they had been injected with chicken blood. In the end, they defeated Schalke 04 2-0, crushing Schalke 04's dream of winning the title.

Schalke 04, who lost the game, was surpassed by Stuttgart and fell to second place.

Although they defeated Bielefeld 2-1 at home in the last round of the league, Stuttgart also defeated Cottbus 2-1 at home, so Schalke 04 once again missed the league title.

During that last game, some Dortmund fans rented a plane and flew a banner over the Veltins-Arena to mock Schalke 04. The banner read: "You will never win the championship!"

In the past, Schalke 04 fans celebrated their championship at the Dortmund train station. Now, they were mocked by Dortmund fans with a plane for losing the championship.

It's really touching...