China celebrated their goal again, while Borussia Dortmund's youth team was stunned by the second goal.

If they were unconvinced by the first goal, thinking it wouldn't have happened if a teammate hadn't fallen...

Now, they couldn't find any excuses.

No one fell during this goal, so they had no reason to complain.

Therefore, this goal was particularly devastating for them—they realized the first goal wasn't just bad luck... Götze stood near the center circle, having chased after Zhou Yi symbolically before giving up. He was waiting for a counterattack, but instead, his team conceded another goal.

The Chinese players swarmed He Ying, the player who scored twice, naturally the center of attention.

But Götze's eyes were on Zhou Yi, who assisted He Ying. He had a "contest" with Zhou Yi while tracking back, though his defense was perfunctory, and Zhou Yi's evasion was timely. There wasn't even any physical contact, so the contest should be put in quotation marks.

However, because of this "contest," Götze's opinion of Zhou Yi changed.

As a fellow midfielder, Götze clearly saw that although the Chinese team's number ten scored the goal, their number sixteen was probably the real protagonist, the one who orchestrated the attack. His move into the center was clever and bold.

This number sixteen had already assisted two goals, and Götze's teammates couldn't do anything about it.

Götze thought this person was extraordinary. Was he a member of the Chinese National Youth Team?

※※※

While everyone else celebrated, Liang Qiqi and Yang Fei felt particularly awkward, especially Liang Qiqi.

He had previously stated that Zhou Yi's assist was just luck, a blind cat finding a dead mouse.

But Zhou Yi immediately assisted another goal. Was that luck too?

Two consecutive assists, both luck?

They probably wouldn't believe that themselves.

They could only sit silently in their seats, a stark contrast to their excited teammates.

At this moment, they had forgotten that this was a reality TV show, that there were cameras pointed at them, perhaps recording their incongruous behavior.

※※※

After the initial passionate celebration, Hao Dong and Xu Yang had calmed down. They exchanged glances.

"When you decided to start him instead of Liang Qiqi, did you expect him to give you such an answer?" Xu Yang asked Hao Dong.

Hao Dong was a little worried when he decided to start Zhou Yi, but now he wasn't worried at all.

Zhou Yi might be inferior to Liang Qiqi in terms of technique and physique, but his brain was far superior. He had a high football IQ.

As an organizing midfielder, this was the most important quality.

Hao Dong shook his head. "He's given me more than one surprise."

Zhou Yi had surprised Hao Dong during the final of the selection competition.

He seemed to be a child who could create miracles.

Now, he was even more eager to see what Zhou Yi could achieve on this European tour.

※※※

After the game restarted, the Chinese teenagers, leading Borussia Dortmund's youth team for the second time, were greatly encouraged. However, this time they didn't attack as frequently as before, which had allowed their opponents to launch a counterattack.

After assisting his teammates twice, Zhou Yi's authority in midfield had greatly increased.

He didn't even have to raise his hand to ask for the ball. Everyone would consciously pass the ball back to him, letting him handle it.

From the looks of it, the Chinese team was surprisingly dominant, seemingly able to control the ball better than Borussia Dortmund.

Controlling the ball meant controlling the game.

What is ball control for a team?

It's not about one person controlling the ball at all times, but about keeping the ball under the control of their own players as much as possible.

This had never happened in the previous four games. The Chinese team was no different from a pile of sand in midfield, with no strategy in attack or defense, relying entirely on individual ability. Naturally, these players' individual abilities were inferior to those of the talented players from the youth academies of the big clubs, so both the game and the results were terrible.

But now the situation had changed dramatically.

Zhou Yi deserved a lot of credit for this.

He kept running, receiving, and passing the ball in midfield, then running, receiving, and passing again.

Although there weren't any through balls that directly threatened the opponent's goal, through his passes and receptions, the ball was mostly exchanged under the feet of the Chinese teenagers.

Liang Qiqi, who had been silent for a long time, finally found an outlet for his frustration. He sat on the bench with his arms crossed and his legs crossed, saying disdainfully, "Hmph! All he knows is to pass the ball around. What's the point of passing it back and forth!"

There was a time when the Chinese team could only pass the ball back in the defensive zone during matches because they couldn't find any opportunities to move forward. Therefore, some critics said that the Chinese team's backward passing was a passive tactic, meaningless, and a symbol of the backwardness of Chinese football.

Liang Qiqi obviously equated Zhou Yi's backward passing with that period of low-level football.

※※※

In Liang Qiqi's opinion, Zhou Yi's passing and receiving were just the basics, not showing off any great skill.

But Klopp, on the sidelines, was getting more and more excited.

What did he see?

Take the passing between the number sixteen and his teammate just now, for example.

He saw that when his teammate received the ball, the number sixteen wasn't staring at his teammate, but looking around, as if he was absent-minded, but he wasn't.

He looked left and right, his head on his neck moving like a radar antenna.

He wasn't like other players at all. Most other players spent most of their time looking at the ball, afraid of losing it if they didn't see it for a second.

But the number sixteen didn't.

He spent more time looking at the surrounding situation, turning his head from side to side.

While turning his head, he moved, either jogging or pacing, just like taking a walk, seemingly casually arriving at a place.

This place was an open space with no one around. Neither his own teammates nor Borussia Dortmund's youth players.

And because the number sixteen came over so casually, he didn't attract anyone's attention at all.

Finding space, running into space, these were all intentional.

After finding the space, he signaled his teammate to pass him the ball.

When his teammate passed the ball over, he was still turning his head from side to side, observing the surrounding situation, especially behind him. He not only turned his head, but also quickly twisted his body to look.

When he received the ball, this head-turning stopped.

He passed the ball out, either quickly or slowly, but he wouldn't observe again before passing, as if he already knew where his teammates would be to receive his ball, and his passes in the range of five to ten meters rarely went wrong.

Of course, when he passed the ball, almost no Borussia Dortmund youth players came up to interfere with him or press him, so he could pass the ball out calmly, and the accuracy was naturally high.

This kind of play reminded Klopp of someone.

The midfield core of Barcelona and the Spanish national team, the most powerful brain on the field—Xavi.

The same short stature, but the same ability to coordinate the whole team from a global perspective.

There's something to it...

Klopp stroked his stubbled chin and narrowed his eyes.

※※※

It wasn't until the end of the first half that Borussia Dortmund's youth team seized the opportunity to equalize.

The goal was still scored by Götze, who also scored twice in this game.

Götze was a little excited after equalizing. You should know that he didn't celebrate at all when he scored his first goal. When his teammates came up to celebrate the goal with him, he didn't have any expression on his face.

At that time, he felt that scoring against the Chinese team was a very easy thing, so why celebrate such an easy thing?

But after the Chinese team took the lead for the second time, he didn't think this would be an easy game to win by a large margin.

Equalizing became the top priority, not goals like winning by a few goals.

So after equalizing, Götze couldn't help but get excited. He waved his fist hard and roared loudly at the Chinese players, venting the emotions in his heart.

Although they were equalized before the end of the first half, the Chinese team didn't blame the loss of the goal. Because the 2:2 draw in the first half was the best forty-five minutes the teenagers had performed since coming to Europe—there were two goals, and they hadn't lost yet.

After the two sides changed sides in the second half, the Chinese team still fought with Dortmund for about ten minutes, and then Dortmund took the upper hand.

After all, the strength gap between the two sides was still quite large.

The Chinese team's control in midfield became weaker and weaker.

The root cause was that Zhou Yi's physical strength declined, and it declined faster and faster.

He couldn't run anymore. Even if he could see the gap, he couldn't run to it. Just seeing it was useless.

Borussia Dortmund's youth team took advantage of this opportunity to score three goals in the next ten minutes, changing the score to 5:2, not only taking the lead but also securing the victory.

The Chinese teenagers' fifth game in Europe would be another defeat.

"It's a pity..." Xu Yang shook his head and sighed on the coaching bench.

When the Chinese team took the lead for the second time, he did have a little fantasy, fantasizing that the Chinese team could defeat the proud and careless Borussia Dortmund youth team and win their first victory in Europe.

But in the end, the difference in strength between the two sides was still reflected in the score.

"If Zhou Yi was a child who had received ten years of professional football training, maybe we could win." Hao Dong said. "But he was just a student before. His performance has been very good, and we can't ask more of him."

"Should we replace him?" Xu Yang asked, looking at Zhou Yi, who could only "walk" on the field.

"No." Hao Dong shook his head. "How to handle the ball and control the game when physical strength is exhausted, I think this is also a very valuable experience for him."

"As you said, he's just a student. This kind of experience is meaningless to him, right?" Xu Yang always felt that Hao Dong had a higher standard of requirements and expectations for Zhou Yi, thinking too much and too far.

"I think after these two months of experience and knowledge in Europe, he shouldn't want to continue being a student, right?" Hao Dong smiled, "Unless he doesn't love football."