Chapter 283 Second Goal

Neither team made any substitutions as the second half began. Dortmund, in particular, didn't take Zhou Yi off the field.

This result didn't surprise Keller.

It only strengthened his judgment—Dortmund must have wanted to take as much of a lead as possible in the first half, but they didn't succeed, so they could only let Zhou Yi continue into the second half.

In that case, Zhou Yi must be close to running on fumes, and he shouldn't be able to last much longer. He was right to have Neustädter continue marking Zhou Yi during the halftime break. With Neustädter's physical advantages, Zhou Yi would have almost no room to move…

In this situation, Keller began to dream of equalizing in the second half, then taking the lead and winning…

But reality was a bit cruel.

Only six minutes into the second half, Dortmund got a very good scoring opportunity.

At the time, Schalke 04 was besieging the Dortmund goal. They had the ball on the left side of Dortmund's penalty area and wanted to pass it inside.

But their pass was blocked by Sven Bender and fell to Zhou Yi's feet.

Zhou Yi had his back to the attacking direction.

Seeing him get the ball, Neustädter quickly rushed up, intending to stick close to Zhou Yi.

With no time to turn around, Zhou Yi flicked the ball behind him with his heel.

Behind him, Aubameyang received his pass and charged forward with the ball!

This was a great opportunity for Dortmund to counterattack!

"Aubameyang! He's very fast!"

Schalke 04's players knew this even without Marcel Reif's reminder.

Yang Mu Ge lunged at Aubameyang as he received the ball, but Aubameyang shook him off with his speed.

Yang Mu Ge didn't give up. He chased relentlessly from behind. Ahead of him, Höwedes was blocking Aubameyang's path, and Yang Mu Ge believed that as long as he and Höwedes could sandwich him, they would have a chance to intercept Aubameyang's ball.

Aubameyang also saw Höwedes. He didn't want to give Höwedes a chance to stop him, so when facing Höwedes, he not only didn't slow down but instead forcefully pushed the ball forward and then accelerated past Höwedes!

Behind Höwedes was a huge gap—the entire Schalke 04 backfield had only goalkeeper Hildebrand besides Höwedes. With Aubameyang's speed, it was too easy to shake off Höwedes!

Yang Mu Ge, seeing Aubameyang accelerate and quickly shake him off, didn't continue chasing Aubameyang, but this didn't mean he gave up. He simply changed the direction of his pursuit—he ran straight toward the penalty area.

"Aubameyang! Aha! His speed is really something!"

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After Aubameyang used his speed to catch up with the ball, Schalke 04's other players also returned to defend.

Right back Atsuto Uchida finally caught up with Aubameyang in front of the penalty area, blocking his path.

Aubameyang didn't continue to force a breakthrough with speed. There wasn't much room left for him to use his speed.

He slowed down and looked up to assess the situation inside and outside the penalty area.

Reus had taken the lead in rushing to the front of the penalty area, but at the same time, he was also entangled by the returning Yang Mu Ge.

Reus didn't stop but continued to run into the penalty area. His run took Yang Mu Ge away with him.

At the same time, the other Schalke 04 players who returned to defend were all heading toward Aubameyang, who had the ball. Aubameyang was now the most dangerous person.

But at the far post in the penalty area, there was a blank space!

Aubameyang quickly passed the ball horizontally to the far post, where Mark received the ball!

No one was marking him at all!

He calmly controlled the ball, then swung his right foot and curled the ball into the net, bypassing the advancing goalkeeper Hildebrand and flying into the goal from the inside of the near post!

"Ooooh! Mark Wagner! 2:0! Dortmund takes a two-goal lead!"

"A truly typical Dortmund-style fast counterattack! So fast!"

Amidst the commentators' cheers, Dortmund's players celebrated their second goal at Schalke 04's home.

Zhou Yi also sped up and ran to join the celebration.

He had only just run to the center circle when Mark scored. In this counterattack, he had only made one pass at the beginning and then wasn't involved anymore.

But this goal could still be considered as having been initiated by him.

The commentators also noticed this.

"Zhou Yi's clever backheel pass launched this fast counterattack. If he hadn't decisively used his heel to pass the ball at that time, and instead had to turn around to pass, I'm afraid he would have been entangled by Neustädter, right?" Marcel Reif said.

"The Revierderby, which should have been a close game, seems to have become simple because of Zhou Yi…" Duan Xin complimented even more flatteringly.

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Yang Mu Ge, who had sprinted all the way back from the frontcourt to the goal, slid to the ground when Mark shot. He didn't get up but lay there, panting heavily.

He had tried his best, but some things couldn't be changed by him alone.

Beside him, the other Schalke 04 players also looked very frustrated.

Not scoring that penalty in the first half was too big of a blow to the team. Its impact hadn't dissipated even now.

On the sidelines, Jens Keller was very angry. He had hoped that the team could equalize as soon as possible in the second half, so he had the team strengthen their attack. But who would have thought that strengthening the attack would result in a Dortmund counterattack… Now, being behind by one goal had turned into being behind by two goals. How could Schalke 04 turn the game around?

And Dortmund, on the other hand, could substitute Zhou Yi after taking a two-goal lead and accomplish their tactical goals…

Wait!

Keller suddenly thought that if Klopp really wanted to substitute Zhou Yi, it might not be a bad thing for him.

Wouldn't Dortmund without Zhou Yi be a toothless tiger? What was there to be afraid of?

Perhaps it would be Schalke 04's chance then!

So he turned his head to look at Dortmund's bench and found that Klopp had indeed asked assistant coach Buvač to call someone to warm up on the bench. The person warming up was… Mkhitaryan!

When Zhou Yi was injured, Mkhitaryan replaced him as the team's starting attacking midfielder. In this game, because Zhou Yi started, he was a substitute. Now, asking him to warm up, wasn't the meaning obvious?

Klopp was going to substitute Zhou Yi with Mkhitaryan!

Thinking of this, Keller perked up.

There was still a chance, there was still a chance!

So he walked to the sidelines and shouted to the players on the field: "Don't panic! The second half has just begun! This is the Revierderby! We must not surrender!"

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Although the second half had just begun, Klopp was indeed considering substituting Zhou Yi.

Now that they were ahead by two goals, why not substitute Zhou Yi?

This was the Revierderby, after all. The game was very intense, and what if Zhou Yi got injured again?

So he asked Buvač to find Mkhitaryan to warm up, giving him five minutes.

※※※

The TV broadcast also noticed this adjustment, and they quickly gave a close-up of Mkhitaryan running to warm up.

Marcel Reif said: "It seems that Klopp is already considering preserving his strength… Being able to lead by two goals in the Revierderby must have made him feel completely secure. So he's starting to think about substituting Zhou Yi…"

Although Duan Xin still wanted to see Zhou Yi have more playing time and a more outstanding performance, such as assists and goals—Zhou Yi had initiated two goals in this game, but neither of them was directly assisted by him. But he also knew very well that under the current circumstances, since Zhou Yi had just recovered from his injury, it was normal for him to be substituted early.

"To avoid injury, to give Zhou Yi a better chance to rest, Klopp is going to substitute him…"

This scene was, of course, also seen by Schalke 04's fans. They weren't stupid, so they naturally knew what it meant.

Klopp planned to substitute Zhou Yi early, thinking that the overall situation was set and Dortmund was sure to win!

This angered Schalke 04's fans.

The reason why the Revierderby was so intense was that, regardless of the difference in strength between the two teams, their collisions always resulted in a balanced match.

Now that Dortmund was leading by two goals, they thought they could win the game! They were completely disregarding Schalke 04!

Schalke 04 not only had to endure the pain of being two goals behind but also had to be ridiculed and humiliated by their derby rivals. How could they possibly tolerate it?

So the Schalke 04 fans in the stands quickly reacted to Dortmund's actions.

First, they booed the arrogant Dortmund, and then they used songs and roars to encourage their team, hoping that Schalke 04 could quickly cheer up and give the arrogant Dortmund a head-on blow!

Actually, even without the reminder from Schalke 04's fans, some Schalke 04 players also saw Mkhitaryan running to warm up.

Dortmund had only just taken a two-goal lead, and Klopp couldn't wait to substitute Zhou Yi… This blatant humiliation was something that few Schalke 04 players could endure.

So the frustration after conceding the goal turned into anger.