Under Dortmund's fierce offensive, Borussia Mönchengladbach's players were struggling to cope, and it was inevitable that they would make mistakes in the heat of the moment…

In the sixty-eighth minute, Mark retreated to the midfield to support. When he had his back to the play, Mönchengladbach midfielder Nordtveit brought him down with a combination of kicks and pushes from behind.

The referee blew his whistle and ruled a foul against Borussia Mönchengladbach, and gave Nordtveit a yellow card.

Nordtveit didn't take the yellow card seriously at all. He didn't even stand obediently in place, waiting for the referee to show it, but retreated back to his position.

The referee could only show him the yellow card from a distance, and that was it.

No one, including the other Borussia Mönchengladbach players, took this yellow card to heart.

The game continued.

Dortmund took a free kick from the spot where Nordtveit fouled.

Zhou Yi came up to support his teammate Sven Bender, who was taking the kick.

Sven Bender passed the ball to him. When he received the ball, he was facing the direction of the attack, but seeing that there was no good passing opportunity, and with Mönchengladbach players pressing up, Zhou Yi feinted a shot and poked the ball behind him. At the same time, he turned to protect the ball, intending to look for another passing opportunity.

At this moment, Nordtveit stuck to him from behind.

Zhou Yi also realized that he might be marked tightly by the opponent, and that keeping the ball at his feet for too long would only increase the risk, so he decided to pass the ball out.

Sven Bender was nearby, and Zhou Yi lifted his foot and swept the ball towards him.

Just as he passed the ball, Nordtveit rushed up from behind and slid in, tackling Zhou Yi to the ground after he had already passed the ball!

Zhou Yi fell heavily to the ground, and a deafening booing resounded throughout the Westfalenstadion.

"Ouch!" Duan Xin in the studio exclaimed involuntarily when he saw Zhou Yi being tackled to the ground. "Nordtveit's foul is very bad! That's a tackle from behind!"

With Dortmund's squad plagued by injuries, Chinese fans were most sensitive to the health of Zhou Yi and Yan Min. With the World Cup approaching, none of these treasures of the Chinese team could afford to be injured.

Every foul on Zhou Yi by an opposing player caused tension and anger among Chinese fans.

Almost simultaneously, countless curses appeared like a barrage on Chinese social networks.

"Son of a bitch, Mönchengladbach number sixteen! That kind of tackle from behind is aimed at crippling Zhou Yi!"

"Damn, that's a malicious foul, a straight red card wouldn't be undeserved!"

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! Does that number sixteen from Mönchengladbach even know how to play football? Who tackles directly from behind like that!"

"If anything happens to Zhou Yi, I'm going to send this idiot razor blades!"

…

※※※

Zhou Yi, who had been tackled from behind, clutched his ankle after falling to the ground. He didn't get up immediately, but lay on the ground, looking in pain.

It was heartbreaking to watch.

Just as Zhou Yi fell to the ground, Sven Bender dropped everything, even the ball, and ran towards Nordtveit.

Of course, he didn't lay a hand on him, but with his hands behind his back, he roared, "What the hell are you doing?!"

Nordtveit seemed to want to suggest that Zhou Yi was faking it, but after being shouted at by Sven Bender, he didn't dare to say the words that came to his lips…

The referee immediately blew his whistle and rushed over.

First, he separated Sven Bender and Nordtveit, and then he quickly pulled out a yellow card from his pocket.

He was going to show a card, and just a minute ago, Nordtveit had just received a yellow card…

Seeing this, the Borussia Mönchengladbach players became agitated. They surrounded the referee, hoping to get him to change his mind.

But how could they defend Nordtveit?

Nordtveit tackling Zhou Yi from behind was something everyone could see clearly. They couldn't possibly lie through their teeth like Nordtveit and say that Zhou Yi was faking it, could they?

That would be too unconscionable…

They could only shout, "He didn't do it on purpose, he slipped…"

But this kind of weak argument was useless. The referee quickly showed Nordtveit a yellow card, then pulled out a red card from his back pocket, raised the red card with his right hand, and pointed off the field with his left, signaling him to leave the field.

"Ah! Red card! Nordtveit has been sent off! He received two yellow cards in two minutes! The first foul was actually completely unnecessary, and this second one is even more stupid. He still tackled Zhou Yi from behind when it was clear that he couldn't get to the ball. I really don't know what Nordtveit was thinking at the time… Reporters can ask him this question properly after the game…" Marcel Reif mocked.

This time, Nordtveit no longer took the referee's decision lightly, as he had done a minute ago.

When he saw the red card, he didn't go off the field obediently, but ran back to the referee to defend himself and protest.

He insisted that his action was unintentional and should not be considered a deliberate foul.

But probably even he himself didn't believe what he was saying…

The referee certainly didn't believe him.

He kept pointing to the sidelines, signaling him to hurry off the field and not waste everyone's time here.

Some Dortmund players also came up to remind the referee not to let Borussia Mönchengladbach use this opportunity to delay the game, after all, Dortmund was still behind…

On the other side, Zhou Yi had already been helped up by his teammates. He moved his ankle and found that there was nothing wrong. Although Nordtveit had tackled him from behind, Zhou Yi had also made an evasive move, jumping up in time. If his supporting foot had been caught between Nordtveit's legs and pressed down, then he would have been finished…

Of course, Zhou Yi escaping unscathed did not mean that Nordtveit was innocent. The matter had to be dealt with accordingly.

It only meant that Zhou Yi was lucky. Luck is a very important part of being a world-class player. If you are always injured, even if you are a genius, it will be difficult to become a world-class player in the end.

Just think about how the German genius Deisler fell from grace?

Seeing Zhou Yi stand up without any problems, Nordtveit seemed to have even more reason. He pointed at Zhou Yi and said to the referee, "Look, he's not injured! He must be faking it!"

The two were not far apart, so Zhou Yi naturally heard Nordtveit's words. He curled his lips into a smile, then shook his head, without directly responding to Nordtveit.

But Nordtveit was like a drowning man, desperately trying to grab anything that could save him, even a straw…

He continued to shout, "He's still smiling, he must be faking it!"

However, the referee did not listen to his nonsense and insisted on ordering him off the field, otherwise he would consider writing his behavior into the post-match report and imposing additional penalties.

Under these circumstances, Nordtveit had no choice but to leave the field, no matter how unwilling he was.

As he left the field, he was still muttering to himself, looking very unwilling.

※※※

Borussia Mönchengladbach was thus facing a situation of playing with one less man when the game reached the seventieth minute.

Many Dortmund fans were very excited, believing that Dortmund's opportunity had come.

Some even praised Zhou Yi's "cleverness," since Zhou Yi was not injured, they also tended to believe that Zhou Yi must have used an exaggerated performance to cause the opposing Nordtveit to be sent off, giving Dortmund an advantage in numbers…

But professionals didn't think so.

Marcel Reif said bluntly, "Although Borussia Mönchengladbach is one man down, it is not necessarily a good thing for Dortmund, it may even be a bad thing—before this accident, it could be seen that Borussia Mönchengladbach was unwilling to be suppressed by Dortmund, and they still wanted to try to score another goal against Dortmund in the subsequent game, to regain the lead advantage to two goals. This is easy to understand, because a one-goal lead is not as safe as a two-goal lead after all… But after being one man down, Borussia Mönchengladbach, who is still leading by one goal, may immediately adjust their tactics, change their strategy, and switch from wanting to attack to shrinking their defense, trying to hold on to this one-goal advantage with twenty minutes left in the game. Once they start doing this, it will become very difficult for Dortmund to score, and maybe Borussia Mönchengladbach will really hold on to this one-goal lead?"

Duan Xin also expressed the same concern: "The next game will be a difficult positional battle, but unfortunately there is not much time left for Dortmund. Twenty minutes, they have to score two goals—simply equalizing is not enough. On the road to competing with Bayern Munich for the championship, Dortmund cannot afford even a draw…"