Chapter 64 Two-Goal Lead

Having taken a two-goal lead in the sixty-fourth minute, and considering the flow of the game, everyone believed the match was decided. Borussia Dortmund would win this game at home, and they would continue to chase Bayern Munich with a four-point gap.

But Nuremberg certainly didn't think so.

After the game restarted, they became even more proactive in seeking scoring opportunities.

As if Dortmund's second goal had awakened them.

Only four minutes after conceding the goal, they created a dangerous chance—in the sixty-eighth minute, Nuremberg earned a corner kick. After the corner was taken, Franz headed the ball from six meters in front of the goal, but it went wide. This was Nuremberg's closest attack to the goal in the second half...

However, Nuremberg's counterattack attempts were quickly suppressed by Dortmund's more intense offensive.

In the seventy-third minute, Zhou Yi distributed the ball to Mark, who was on the left side of the penalty area, and then he quickly inserted into the box. Just as he entered, Mark passed the ball to him, and he shot before the Nuremberg defender could react!

"Zhou Yi!!"

But the football was pushed away by Schäfer!

"Ah! What a pity! Zhou Yi almost scored!" Duan Xin shouted regretfully, seemingly more disappointed than Zhou Yi himself...

Zhou Yi didn't let him regret for too long, nor did he disappoint his supporters in front of the TV.

In the eightieth minute, Yan Min received Sven Bender's long pass on the left side of the penalty area, and he turned around while controlling the ball, cleverly shaking off the defender, and then crossed the ball.

Mark and Aubameyang were both in the box, attracting Nuremberg's defensive attention. Under these circumstances, Zhou Yi once again decisively moved forward and then slid to shoot!

The football flew into the lower left corner of the goal!

"Zhou Yi!! Well done! Well done!" Duan Xin cheered happily. "3:0! He secured the victory for Borussia Dortmund!!"

After scoring, Zhou Yi didn't celebrate excitedly; he just simply hugged his teammates.

The Dortmund fans in the stands were even more excited than the Dortmund players, erupting in cheers.

Marcel Reif said in the cheers: "It shouldn't be a problem for Dortmund to win this game... It's a really interesting phenomenon. This season, Dortmund's defense is facing a huge crisis, and the number of goals conceded in the league is more than in the same period of previous seasons... But in stark contrast, Dortmund's attack has set off a frenzy this season. The powerful offensive firepower is the main reason why Dortmund can still rank second this season... I just don't know how long Dortmund's outstanding offensive state can last? It can be said that they are now relying entirely on their attack. If their attack also fails, Dortmund will be in real danger..."

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After scoring a goal, Zhou Yi was soon replaced by Mkhitaryan by Klopp.

This was already a fixed routine. Everyone knew that as long as Dortmund could ensure victory, they would bring Zhou Yi down early.

Klopp's protection of Zhou Yi now is almost like that of a giant panda—well, not much difference, both come from China.

After Zhou Yi came off the field, neither side scored again.

In the end, Borussia Dortmund defeated Nuremberg 3:0 at home, continuing to put pressure on Bayern Munich.

After the game, Zhou Yi once again posted a group photo of the team celebrating the victory in the locker room on social media, with the caption: "Full firepower, win the championship with offense!"

The Dortmund players already knew why Zhou Yi was doing this, but outsiders still didn't understand. There were even rumors on the Internet that Zhou Yi's social media account had been entrusted to a professional public relations company to operate, otherwise how could they explain such a big change in style?

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Not long after the match between Dortmund and Nuremberg ended, Bayern Munich's home game against Schalke 04 also began.

In this game, Yang Mu Ge for Schalke 04 started as a matter of course.

Many Dortmund fans and Zhou Yi's supporters in China hoped that Schalke 04 could be stronger, fight for some breath, and if they couldn't beat Bayern Munich at home, it would be considered an opportunity for Dortmund if they could tie Bayern Munich.

But to be honest, this request was too high for Schalke 04.

The gap in strength between the two sides was very obvious.

Schalke 04, who had just lost 1:6 to Real Madrid at home in the Champions League, lost 1:5 to Bayern Munich away.

Two disastrous defeats in three days.

After the game, the TV broadcast gave Yang Mu Ge a close-up, and he was shaking his head gently in the shot.

He was the best player for Schalke 04 in this game, but unfortunately his other teammates were not strong enough, and even if he worked harder, he could not change the situation.

In the game, Marcel Reif also said that if it wasn't for Yang Mu Ge's desperate defense in the midfield, Schalke 04 would have lost even worse.

After this game, a new round of discussions about whether Yang Mu Ge should leave Schalke 04 was set off on the Chinese Internet.

Many Chinese fans felt sorry for Yang Mu Ge, thinking that Schalke 04's performance was not worthy of Yang Mu Ge's efforts at all.

After the game, a Chinese reporter also asked Yang Mu Ge if he was considering leaving Schalke 04.

Yang Mu Ge denied this: "No, I'm not considering this issue now. I just want to play the next game well."

After this round of matches, although Schalke 04 was惨败 (canbai - badly defeated) to Bayern Munich, they still ranked fourth in the Bundesliga, within the Champions League zone.

For Schalke 04, it is absolutely impossible for them to compete for the league title. Facing Real Madrid in the Champions League basically means being eliminated early. Then the most important task this season is naturally to get the top four in the league and strive to qualify for the Champions League next season, which is more important than anything else.

Yang Mu Ge had a very clear understanding of his own and the team's strength.

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After Borussia Dortmund defeated Nuremberg 3:0, Bayern Munich won a 5:1 victory over Schalke 04, seemingly in response to Dortmund's victory—no matter how you win, we are four points ahead anyway. As long as we continue to win like this, you will have no chance!

Now Bayern Munich really has the confidence to "focus on ourselves."

In the twenty-fourth round of the league a week later, Bayern Munich swept Wolfsburg 6:1 away, once again showing their terrifying strength. German media exclaimed that the league title race had lost suspense. No matter how hard Dortmund tried, they could not defeat the powerful "Cosmic Team."

Some media even said that Guardiola should shift the team's main focus from the league to the Champions League, to lead Bayern Munich to win the Champions League title. In addition, Bayern Munich also hopes to win the title in the German Cup, so that Guardiola's Bayern may win the Triple Crown, completing the unfinished business of Heynckes last season.

As their competitor, Borussia Dortmund also won in the twenty-fourth round, but they won with difficulty.

Facing Freiburg away, they only scored one goal, and they did not have an advantage on the field, with only 42% possession.

The previous series of offensive frenzies stopped in this game.

This made many people feel that it was a signal, meaning the end of Borussia Dortmund's full-firepower stage.

Originally, everyone felt that with Borussia Dortmund's current situation, their "bursting" offensive performance could not last at all, and there would always be an end. So relying on offense to win the championship is a fantasy, impossible to achieve.

Now this game seems to prove their point.

Why do everyone say "attack wins the audience, defense wins the championship?" It's because the process of competing for the championship is very long, and various accidents are prone to occur in the game. At this time, only stable defense can resist those accidents. Whether a team's defense is good or not is directly related to their stability. A stable team and a good defensive team can laugh to the end in the long season. The uncertainty of offense is too much. A sentence can simply summarize the difference between defense and offense: offense relies on inspiration, defense relies on discipline.

Defense is controllable, while offense is difficult to control.

You can use strict tactical discipline to increase the stability of the defense and achieve good results.

But it is difficult for you to strictly require the offense to follow the pre-match training routines in the game, because there are too many uncertainties.

So offense represents passion, but also represents instability...

In the eyes of people who understand football, Zhou Yi's so-called "win the championship with offense" is a ridiculous statement.

If it is a cup game, offense may still win the championship, but in the long league, relying on offense is not so easy.

A recent example is Bayern Munich.

Although Bayern Munich has many high-scoring victories this season, their best performance is defense—so far, they have only conceded ten goals in twenty-four league games.

This number of goals conceded is not only the least in the Bundesliga, but also the least in the other four major leagues: in La Liga, Atletico Madrid also conceded the fewest goals in twenty-four league games, and they also conceded sixteen goals.

After twenty-four league games in Serie A, Roma conceded the fewest goals, with thirteen goals—although they performed very well, they still conceded three more goals than Bayern Munich.

In the Premier League, Chelsea conceded the fewest goals in twenty-four league games, and with Sun Pan guarding the goal, they conceded twenty goals.

Therefore, Bayern Munich's ability to lead the Bundesliga this season is largely related to their excellent defense.

With such a stable defensive performance, how can Borussia Dortmund compete with them for the title?

Once Borussia Dortmund's offense encounters some trouble in the game and cannot score, and the defense cannot hold, wouldn't it collapse?