Chapter 1 After the Intermission

After the second half began, everyone was looking forward to a more exciting game. But just a few minutes later, Sven Bender felt unwell due to excessive force during a defensive play.

Seeing his condition, Klopp on the sidelines immediately became nervous. He quickly made a decision and immediately called Kehl to warm up, preparing to replace Sven Bender.

Three minutes later, Sven Bender was substituted.

"Sven Bender seems to have suffered a slight injury during the match. Out of caution, Klopp replaced him. Hopefully, it's not a serious injury… but this is bad news for Dortmund in this game. Sven Bender's interception in midfield is very important… Maybe this substitution will be a turning point in this game?"

Marcel Reif speculated.

If he was right, Bayern Munich fans would be very happy.

The value of the German Super Cup is far less than the league title and the German Cup title, and it is not as good as the European Super Cup. This event was even interrupted once.

If it weren't for the many grudges between Dortmund and Bayern Munich in recent years, this game would not have received so much media and fan attention.

In last season's German Super Cup, Dortmund lost to Bayern Munich, and it was once thought to be the beginning of Dortmund's decline. As a result, reality gave those who questioned Dortmund a resounding slap in the face. Not only did Dortmund not decline, but they also reached new heights that season, winning the Champions League.

Therefore, it is absurd to say that the outcome of the German Super Cup can determine the outcome of the league. But every contest between these two teams, even if it is not related to the future, is very important for the present.

Especially after the transfer this summer, the antagonism between the two teams has deepened.

No one wants to lose to their opponents in the game, even if it is a game with insufficient gold content, but at least a champion will be decided.

※※※

Sven Bender's departure did have some negative impact on Dortmund's midfield defense. Facing Bayern Munich's full attack, Dortmund's mid- and rear-lines were under great pressure.

Finally, in the fifty-fourth minute, Bayern Munich launched an attack. Toni Kroos got the ball in midfield and launched a counterattack against Dortmund. He passed the ball to a huge gap on the right. There, Bayern Munich captain Lahm received the ball.

After receiving the ball, Lahm did not dribble all the time, but passed the ball into the right side of the penalty area after two steps.

A cross with a high arc bypassed the hastily returning Dortmund defenders and went straight to the far post.

Lewandowski attracted all of Dortmund's defenders in front, giving Robben a chance at the far post. Facing Lahm's comfortable pass, he headed the ball!

The ball was headed towards the far corner. Weidenfeller, who had turned around and rushed back to the near corner, was caught off guard. He reflexively jumped up and waved his hand to block, but failed to stop the ball. The ball flew past him into the far corner of the goal…

"Robben——!!! Oh oh! He equalized the score for Bayern Munich!!" Marcel Reif was very excited. He hoped that the two sides would be evenly matched in this game, so that there would be a more exciting game to watch. "His goal brought the two teams back to the same starting line! Dortmund's advantage in the first half failed to translate into goals and a greater lead. This game is worth watching!"

The few Bayern Munich fans who followed Bayern Munich to the away game cheered in the stands. Although their voices were quickly drowned out by the boos of Dortmund fans, the Bayern Munich fans didn't care. At this time, they were even very happy to hear the boos from the Dortmund fans, because that meant Dortmund fans were about to explode!

"Ahhh—!" When Robben scored, Yan Min regretfully held his head in his hands and shouted. Although he had not played a minute of the game on behalf of Dortmund, he now unceremoniously regarded himself as a member of Dortmund's first team, and his emotions rose and fell with the progress of the game.

"...Dortmund made a series of mistakes in their mid- and rear-line defense for this goal. First of all, when Toni Kroos got the ball in midfield, no one went up to press him immediately, allowing him to easily pass the ball to the wing - this is definitely related to Sven Bender's departure. Kehl, who just came on the field, has not yet entered the game state, and his cooperation with his teammates is not tacit enough. Secondly, there was a huge gap in Dortmund's defense on the wing, which gave Lahm a chance to easily get the ball and then calmly cross. The last mistake was in the penalty area, the two central defenders Subotic and Hummels went to defend Lewandowski, and no one paid attention to Robben..." Marcel Reif analyzed calmly and professionally after being excited. "It seems that Sven Bender's departure will indeed be a turning point in this game!"

※※※

Dortmund, who lost the ball, was naturally unwilling to have their score tied, and they launched a fierce offensive against Bayern Munich's goal after restarting the game.

This was their home stadium, and the celebrations of Bayern Munich players and the cheers of Bayern Munich fans had made them very angry.

Because Götze and Lewandowski defected to Bayern Munich one after another, this made the Dortmund players who stayed behind very unhappy - we have won three league titles and a Champions League title in three seasons, can't we let you choose to stay, is Bayern Munich so attractive to you?

This kind of emotion will make them more motivated in the game against Bayern Munich.

To put it simply, they are playing with emotions.

After the game restarted, after a series of passes, Dortmund advanced the attack to a little bit outside Bayern Munich's thirty-meter area.

Mark cut in from the middle into the penalty area, while Zhou Yi got the ball behind.

Seeing Mark's active insertion, Zhou Yi chose a direct over-the-top long pass, sending the ball to Mark.

"Zhou Yi is a little anxious..." Marcel Reif rarely disagreed with Zhou Yi's choice. He believed that Bayern Munich's defense was still very well arranged. This simple and crude style of play may not be able to break through Bayern Munich's defense, and now Mark also has Van Buyten by his side. With the difference in physique between the two, no one is optimistic that Mark can get a good opportunity under Van Buyten's close marking.

Before Marcel Reif finished speaking, he saw the ball flying into Bayern's penalty area. Van Buyten, who was closely defending, was preparing to jump and clear the ball with a header while retreating.

But when he was about to jump, he realized that the speed of the ball was different from what he had expected, a bit of a deviation... If he jumped towards the ball, it was very likely that he would miss the ball, a mistop, and let the ball through. And if he let it go, he knew very well who the ball would fall to.

So he couldn't jump towards the ball, he had to jump backwards along the trajectory of the ball, which was equivalent to jumping backwards, which suddenly increased the difficulty of clearing the ball.

And this was something Van Buyten hadn't thought of when he was about to jump... But he couldn't forcibly stop the jumping action, inertia would freeze him in place and let Mark go.

This little bit of expected deviation ultimately caused Van Buyten's movements to be completely distorted after he jumped up. His whole person was like a torpedo launched backwards, shooting backwards. What was gratifying was that he still managed to head the ball before Mark.

What was not happy was that the ball he headed backwards flew straight towards the goal behind him!

Bayern Munich goalkeeper Neuer was completely unprepared for Van Buyten's backward header near the penalty spot. When he realized that the ball was not headed out of the baseline by Van Buyten, but was heading towards the goal, it was half a beat too late to make a save...

The ball flew into the goal along the inside of the post before his hand!

"Ah... Ah! Ah!" Marcel Reif was stunned for a moment, and the cheers of Dortmund fans at the scene rang out first - Bayern Munich's goal in the second half was just below the south stand, and they could see Van Buyten's own goal clearly from the stands!

"Own goal! Van Buyten scored an own goal! One minute and thirty seconds after Robben just equalized the score for Bayern Munich... Van Buyten used an own goal to help Dortmund regain the lead!" Marcel Reif exclaimed.

"Damn! Is that okay?!" Yan Min in the private room widened his eyes and exclaimed.

Van Buyten, who scored the own goal, lay on the grass, holding his head in his hands, unwilling to get up, as if as soon as he got up, he would have to accept the cruel and ridiculous reality...

Neuer was also unwilling to accept this reality. After he made the save, he fell to the ground and did not get up.

Marcel Reif was also a little unwilling to accept it - he had just complained that Zhou Yi's choice was too hasty, and he thought that Zhou Yi had made a wrong decision, but the next second the ball went in... Wasn't this slapping him in the face?

He couldn't help but think of Zhou Yi's nickname "Wizard". Did he really cast a curse on Van Buyten when he made the long pass?

Looking at Zhou Yi's appearance of celebrating with open arms after the ball flew into the goal, without any surprise, it really made people have to think about that...