Chapter 1 Because Dortmund defeated Zenit Saint Petersburg 4-2 in the first leg of the Champions League, with four away goals and a two-goal lead in the aggregate score, they were much more relaxed facing the twenty-fifth round of the league.

Their opponent was Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In this match, Klopp didn't rotate players for the upcoming Champions League match in the middle of next week. Except for injured players, he sent out the strongest lineup.

Dortmund's condition is still good. They have achieved eight consecutive wins in the last eight league rounds, and their momentum to catch up with Bayern Munich is fierce.

Borussia Mönchengladbach, on the other hand, has not won a game since entering 2014, and Borussia Mönchengladbach's coach Favre has never won at Dortmund's home stadium.

At the same time, Dortmund will welcome their one millionth home fan of the season in this game, marking the sixteenth consecutive year that Dortmund's home attendance has exceeded this number. The loyalty and enthusiasm of Dortmund fans are evident.

However, under the blossoming surface, there are also hidden undercurrents.

In the last league round, Dortmund only narrowly won 1-0 against Freiburg and were criticized that unstable performance in the attack could become a hidden danger to the team's victory.

These criticisms are reasonable. The attack is indeed a very unstable thing, and no one knows how long Dortmund's excellent state can be maintained.

If Guardiola's Bayern Munich is so stable that it feels boring, then watching Dortmund's games is like riding a roller coaster, and you never know what will happen next.

Watching Dortmund's games is exciting, but for Dortmund themselves, this excitement is not fun, because it means instability.

But for Dortmund, whose defense is plagued by injuries, relying on the attack is the only option they have.

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At the beginning of the game, Dortmund continued their previous style, attacking aggressively in a simple and fast manner, hoping to break the deadlock and score as soon as possible.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, the recent games that Dortmund played particularly smoothly were all related to scoring early.

Scoring as quickly as possible can disrupt the opponent's deployment and drag the game into a rhythm they are familiar with.

In the sixth minute, Dortmund launched an attack on the left. Schmelzer crossed from the wing, and the ball was blocked by the opponent's defender and fell to the edge of the penalty area. Yan Min followed up with a powerful shot, but the ball was blocked by Borussia Mönchengladbach's goalkeeper, Ter Stegen, who fell to the ground.

In the twelfth minute, Dortmund launched another attack. This time, even center-back Hummels rushed up to participate in the attack. He forced his way through the penalty area and faced Ter Stegen's block, shooting from a small angle. As a result, the ball was blocked by Ter Stegen out of the baseline.

However, Borussia Mönchengladbach was obviously prepared.

Borussia Mönchengladbach's coach Favre must have studied Dortmund's recent game videos and knew what Dortmund was good at.

Therefore, in order to contain Dortmund, they naturally couldn't let the game fall into Dortmund's rhythm.

Borussia Mönchengladbach first stabilized their defense, not giving Dortmund a chance to score.

In this regard, their goalkeeper, Ter Stegen, played a very important role.

Marc-André ter Stegen, who became famous very early, won the Bundesliga's Best Goalkeeper award in the 2011-2012 season.

When he was very young, he was once hailed as "Kahn's successor."

Now he has a nickname - "Little Lion King."

Ter Stegen was an important contributor to Borussia Mönchengladbach's successful relegation in the 2010-2011 season. In the 2011-2012 season, Borussia Mönchengladbach performed well and finally won fourth place in the league, qualifying for the Champions League play-offs, which was also largely due to Ter Stegen's outstanding performance. That season, Borussia Mönchengladbach only conceded twenty-four goals, the second-fewest in the league, second only to Bayern Munich, who conceded twenty-two goals. Even Dortmund, who won the league title, did not perform as well.

Naturally, Ter Stegen's contribution was indispensable.

The Little Lion King's excellent performance has already attracted the attention of major European clubs. Borussia Mönchengladbach doesn't know how much longer they can keep him…

Of course, now, in this game, he will still be a problem for Dortmund.

In less than fifteen minutes of the opening, he has already made two excellent saves, which proves that his condition in today's game is very good.

If Dortmund's offensive momentum encounters a goalkeeper in excellent condition, it's hard to say what the result will be…

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Sure enough, after stabilizing their defense, Borussia Mönchengladbach began to try to counterattack, on the one hand, to contain Dortmund's attack, preventing them from attacking with all their strength, and on the other hand, to look for opportunities to score.

In the nineteenth minute, Borussia Mönchengladbach's midfielder Hermann dribbled the ball on the left side of the penalty area, then cut inside towards the center. In this process, he suddenly took a long shot, but the ball went high over the crossbar.

In the twenty-third minute, Hermann again received a wonderful pass from Kramer on the left side of the frontcourt, broke into the penalty area, and took a powerful shot, but the ball flew out of the far post.

Although they didn't score, it showed Borussia Mönchengladbach's attitude - they would never let Dortmund do whatever they wanted.

Faced with Borussia Mönchengladbach's response, Dortmund also used their attack to show their attitude - in the twenty-ninth minute, Dortmund organized an attack in the frontcourt. Zhou Yi passed the ball to Aubameyang, who received the ball and used his speed to break into the penalty area, and then took a powerful shot!

The ball hit the crossbar hard!

"Aubameyang! Ah! What a pity! The crossbar ruthlessly blocked his shot and also blocked Dortmund's hope of taking the lead!"

A regretful sigh also sounded at the scene.

Although they didn't score, everyone felt that if they continued to play like this, Dortmund would score sooner or later. Dortmund's attacking state today is good.

But just as this thought appeared, Dortmund suffered a heavy blow in the thirty-first minute.

When Hermann crossed from the right, the ball was blocked by Schmelzer. The ball fell back to Hermann's feet again. After Hermann reached the bottom line, he crossed again. Borussia Mönchengladbach's forward Raffael followed up at the near post in the penalty area and tried to stop the ball, but he miraculously… blocked the ball into the goal!

Weidenfeller couldn't react to such an unexpected operation and could only watch the ball enter the goal…

"Ah? Ahhhh! An accident happened! Borussia Mönchengladbach took the lead! Playing away, they lead Dortmund 1-0 at the Westfalenstadion!"

Raffael was stunned for a moment after scoring before he realized he had scored, and then he started celebrating.

Dortmund players looked confused - is there such an operation?!

Stopping the ball can turn into a goal!?

Nothing is more morale-damaging than this kind of accidental goal - Dortmund players believed they had done a good job, but they still conceded a goal, which made them wonder if this was a sign of some kind of bad luck?

"This is a test for Dortmund - when the attack fails to score quickly, and the defense fails to hold on and concedes a goal, what will they do next?" Duan Xin said worriedly. He was very worried about Dortmund, fearing that even a small accident could cause Dortmund to collapse. Anyway, he felt that Dortmund was now playing Russian roulette, and who knew when the next time the trigger was pulled, the bullet would come out and hit the temple.

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After conceding the goal, Dortmund tried to counterattack, but didn't receive any good results. Ter Stegen performed very well, ensuring that the goal was not lost.

Seeing that the time in the first half was getting less and less, Dortmund's attack became even fiercer - they hoped to equalize the score before the end of the first half, so that when they returned to the halftime break, both their mentality and tactical flexibility would be much better.

But Borussia Mönchengladbach seized the opportunity of Dortmund's large-scale offensive pressure and launched a counterattack.

In the fortieth minute, Borussia Mönchengladbach launched a beautiful quick counterattack. Arango received a pass from Hermann in the middle of the frontcourt and passed the ball directly to Kruse, who had cut in on the left. When Kruse received the ball, he was already in the penalty area. Weidenfeller quickly abandoned the goal and attacked, while Piszczek also rushed up to stop him.

Facing the interception of these two people, Kruse first hooked the ball towards the center, and then hooked the ball towards the left, just shaking past Piszczek and Weidenfeller, who were overlapping. Then he shot directly, and the ball flew into the empty goal from the near corner…

"Kruse… Oh——! The goal is scored! Borussia Mönchengladbach actually took a two-goal lead at the end of the first half!!" Marcel Reif's tone was full of sympathy for Dortmund…

It seems that bad luck has really arrived…