Chapter 1 After the Necessary Procedures

After some necessary procedures, both teams finally stood in their respective positions, waiting for the game to begin.

The home team, Galatasaray, was kicking off first. Dortmund's forwards, Marc and Aubameyang, stood outside the center circle.

With a whistle from the referee, the opposing starting forward, Drogba, gently nudged the ball forward. Sneijder followed up with a kick, sending the ball back into his own half.

The two Champions League winners from back then were now reunited in a Turkish team.

"Alright, with the referee's whistle, a major match in this round of the Champions League group stage begins! Both sides have fielded their strongest possible lineups. However, Dortmund has been affected by injuries, and their lineup isn't complete. The only comforting thing is that Galatasaray's form this season hasn't been very good. Even at home, they haven't won either of their two Champions League group stage matches, losing them both to their opponents. This is good news for Dortmund..." He Ping began to introduce the game to the Chinese fans in front of the TV.

He focused his gaze on Yan Min and continued, "Yan Min is starting in this match, his first start in the Champions League group stage. He's been in very good form in recent matches. At the same time, Dortmund's serious injury situation has given Yan Min a chance to play. I hope he can seize this starting opportunity and show his level... His performances have been very average in his previous league starts, so he always plays one start and then goes back to the bench. Of course, we still hope that he can gain a firm foothold in Dortmund..."

Yan Min in the picture had already rushed out.

Yan Min, who was caught off guard by the cold air as soon as he entered the field, really needed to run around to warm up his body.

※※※

Galatasaray, playing at home, used their kickoff opportunity to organize an attack, but it didn't threaten Dortmund's goal at all. It didn't even result in a shot, being terminated in front of Dortmund's goal.

Next, Dortmund got the ball.

However, Dortmund didn't rush to attack, but passed the ball back and forth in the middle and backfield.

This match was, of course, crucial for Dortmund, but it was also very important for Galatasaray because it was their last chance to defend their glory. If they finished the group stage without a single victory and were eliminated like this, it would be unacceptable to the passionate and proud Galatasaray fans.

Didn't their coach, Terim, say before the match that Galatasaray would fight for honor in this game?

So, they definitely couldn't just accept losing to Dortmund at home.

Zhou Yi didn't even go forward, but stayed in the backfield, almost standing in line with the defenders, participating in the passing.

Under Dortmund's style of play, Galatasaray's players kept pressing forward, hoping to intercept the ball directly in the frontcourt and catch Dortmund off guard. Therefore, their defensive line was getting higher and higher.

This situation, of course, didn't escape Zhou Yi's "radar."

When he realized that Galatasaray's players weren't going back after pressing forward, he realized that the opportunity had come.

However, he didn't just kick the ball dozens of meters away to the open space in front. Doing so would most likely not create a threatening attack, but would instead alert the enemy.

What Zhou Yi needed was success rate, not the number of attacks.

This was an away game, so try to get a good start for the team with a goal.

This was Zhou Yi's idea.

So, even when he saw Galatasaray's defense pressing forward little by little, Zhou Yi didn't act rashly.

He slowly started passing the ball forward, not with long passes, but with short, penetrating passes.

After several passes, the ball was finally pushed past the halfway line.

At this time, although Dortmund's attack had crossed the halfway line, Galatasaray's defensive line had also pressed up to the thirty-meter line, with only goalkeeper Muslera's penalty area behind them.

Zhou Yi ran from the center to the wing to meet his teammate.

When his teammate passed the ball to him, he used the outside of his right foot to gently flick the ball to the side, dodging the onrushing Galatasaray midfielder Melo. Then, without hesitation, he raised his right foot again and lobbed the ball forward.

This time, it wasn't a short, penetrating pass, but a twenty-meter overhead pass!

At the same time as Zhou Yi passed the ball, Marc, who was at the front, suddenly started and accelerated forward!

Galatasaray's center back, Gokhan Zan, was originally defending Marc. When he saw Marc move forward, he followed suit.

But because Zhou Yi's direct pass was so sudden, Gokhan Zan only moved after seeing Marc run, losing the initiative in the defense. Even if he got close, he was blocked behind Marc.

Then, Marc took advantage of the momentum of Zhou Yi's pass and poked the ball forward!

He didn't have to slow down at all, and just broke into the penalty area. Facing the onrushing goalkeeper Muslera, Marc poked the ball with his left foot!

The ball flew past Muslera and crashed into the net!

"Oh! Oh! Oh—Dortmund takes the lead after only four minutes! There's no better start than this!" Marcel Reif shouted excitedly.

Before the match, everyone knew that this game was very important for Dortmund. Because of this, everyone had many worries about Dortmund, fearing that they would be too nervous, under too much pressure, and perform abnormally.

But judging from the first few minutes of the match, everyone's worries seemed unnecessary.

Even if there was pressure and nervousness, they were all dispelled by this goal.

Marc was also very happy after scoring the goal. He turned around and beckoned to Zhou Yi, signaling him to come up and celebrate together.

So Zhou Yi led the other Dortmund players towards him. In front of Galatasaray's penalty area, a group of people hugged each other, cheering and celebrating to their hearts' content.

As long as they win against this opponent, they don't have to worry about the result of the match between Napoli and Arsenal in the other stadium...

※※※

In Napoli's home stadium, the Stadio San Paolo, their match against Arsenal was underway. The match had just begun, and both sides were a bit out of sync, or rather, both sides were playing very cautiously.

But soon this cautious situation was about to be broken.

In the fifth minute of the match, a message came from distant Istanbul.

"Dortmund is leading?" Benitez asked his assistant for confirmation. The assistant nodded, giving him an affirmative answer.

Benitez frowned upon seeing this.

If Dortmund wins against Galatasaray away, they will have twelve points. Napoli must now beat Arsenal to maintain parity in points with Dortmund.

Originally, he wanted to be a little more cautious, so as not to make mistakes and give Arsenal opportunities.

But now it seems that even if he, as the coach, can sit still, he's afraid that Napoli's players won't be able to hold steady. The news of Dortmund's goal isn't a secret. The players will soon know about it, and even if he doesn't say anything, there are many ways for the Napoli fans in the stands to tell the players on the field.

So Benitez immediately made a decision to increase the offensive intensity.

When Napoli increased their offensive intensity, Arsenal immediately felt the pressure.

Wenger knew why. Because Dortmund was leading, if Napoli wanted to qualify from the group, they had to beat Arsenal at home.

Wenger had fully estimated the difficulty of this match.

Arsenal couldn't afford to lose, but they couldn't lose by more than three goals.

※※※

Taking the lead after just five minutes greatly boosted Dortmund's morale. When the match restarted, they were almost besieging Galatasaray.

Faced with Dortmund's overwhelming advantage, Galatasaray's fans were dissatisfied—this was, after all, their home stadium. How could they allow the opponent to be so unscrupulous?

Although the team had no hope of qualifying from the group, everyone still hoped that the team could win the last home game, bidding farewell to this season's Champions League with a victory.

So a huge booing sound rang out in the Ali Sami Yen Stadium. At this time, it finally felt a bit like a "hellish home stadium."

However, the fans' booing didn't affect Dortmund's performance. Under Zhou Yi's leadership, they still firmly controlled the situation on the field.

Marcel Reif was a German commentator. In theory, he should be on Dortmund's side, but Galatasaray's performance was indeed too poor, even he couldn't stand it anymore. "Galatasaray is giving Zhou Yi too much room to move. This can't go on..."

He Ping also said, "Perhaps this can explain why Galatasaray has been playing so poorly this season... This is the last group match, and Galatasaray doesn't seem to have any fighting spirit..."

Their coach, Terim, was very dissatisfied with the team's performance, constantly spreading his arms and shouting on the sidelines, but it seemed to be in vain.

In the tenth minute, Dortmund attacked to the edge of the opponent's penalty area. After Zhou Yi received a pass from Yan Min in the center, he didn't stop the ball, but chose to shoot directly from long range!

The shot was just a little bit high above the crossbar, scaring Galatasaray's fans quite a bit.

"Zhou Yi—what a pity! Just a little bit too high! It feels like if they keep playing like this, Dortmund can still score, and it won't be long..." He Ping said confidently.