Chapter 16 Zhou Yi! Kid of the Südtribüne!

Klopp was accustomed to announcing the starting lineup in the locker room of the stadium, so until then, no one knew who would be starting.

Soccer coaches announce their starting lineups at different times. Some, like Klopp, don't announce until the last minute. Some coaches are used to telling their players a day in advance who he will start.

Both approaches have their pros and cons, but each has its own reasons. So there's no such thing as one approach being better.

Although it was a home game, the players still had to check into the hotel a day in advance. This made management easier—if the players all went home, who knew what they would do at night?

This was not conducive to management, especially abstinence management. Even if these players honestly stayed at home and didn't go out to bars, if they had a few too many rounds with their wives or girlfriends at night, tomorrow's game might become a hollow radish, with weak legs.

On the day of the game, the players took the bus to the stadium together.

The Borussia Dortmund fans arrived even earlier than the players, to decorate the stadium. Those huge tifos and banners all needed to be installed in advance.

※※※

When "Old Man" Bruno and his people ascended the Südtribüne (South Stand), they hung a banner in their "Black and Gold" fan organization's territory.

The banner had a large line of text on it: "Zhou Yi! Kid of the Südtribüne!"

They were not just here to cheer for Borussia Dortmund in this game, but also to cheer for Zhou Yi.

Mark's parents were also helping, with Mark in tow.

After all this was done, the two teams began to warm up.

"Look! He's out!"

Mark had sharp eyes and spotted his friend Zhou Yi first.

"Hmm... He's still looking around while warming up. Doesn't look nervous at all!" Mark's mother, Mrs. Wagner, said approvingly.

"Mom, he's the one who came on as a substitute and helped the team win the game. What's there to be nervous about when warming up?" Mark thought his mother was saying something strange.

"What do you know, kid? Where is this? This is Westfalenstadion! Can playing here be the same as playing in some hick town?" Mrs. Wagner lectured her son.

"Old Man" Bruno said from the side: "Your mom is right, Mark. Playing at Westfalenstadion is definitely a different experience. But…" He changed the subject. "I don't think Zhou Yi would be nervous even playing here. Because he is also a different kind of person."

※※※

Zhou Yi was indeed looking around while warming up on the field, scanning the Westfalenstadion into his mind. The stands weren't full yet, but the atmosphere was already taking shape.

Especially the Südtribüne, where the fans were most concentrated.

Zhou Yi thought about how he could only stand there to watch games before, but now he was standing on the field, being watched by the people there.

He turned his gaze to the area where he had stood before—row fourteen. It was slightly higher than the sixteen-meter-high wire mesh wall in front of the Südtribüne, and had an excellent view.

Sure enough, he saw a group of people there, it was "Old Man" and the others!

Because Borussia Dortmund warmed up on this half of the field below the Südtribüne, the distance was very close. Zhou Yi could even see the expressions on their faces clearly.

They all came, that's great.

After warming up, Zhou Yi walked back to the locker room with his teammates, but he was stopped halfway.

The person who stopped him was someone Zhou Yi knew, Norbert Dickel, the stadium announcer at Westfalenstadion.

"Hi, Zhou Yi." Dickel called Zhou Yi to the side of the tunnel, so as not to disturb the passage of others. "I have a question I'd like to ask you."

"Please, Mr. Dickel."

"Nobby. Just call me Nobby, ha! You know, I have to read out the list of players in a little while, but I've never read a Chinese name before, so I wanted to ask you, according to our traditional customs, the first name comes before the surname, like me, Norbert Dickel, Norbert is my first name, Dickel is my last name, I will say Norbert first, and then the fans will shout Dickel. But Chinese people are a little different from us… I call you 'Zhou Yi', but Zhou is not your first name, is it?"

"That's right." Zhou Yi nodded.

"So should I say 'Yi Zhou' backwards according to our customs, or what?"

"Well, if you call me 'Yi Zhou', I always feel like you're calling someone else. Nobby, you can just call me like you do now." Zhou Yi said.

"So you mean according to your Chinese traditional customs?" Dickel confirmed.

"Yes, I'm used to hearing that." Zhou Yi said.

"Oh oh, okay!" Dickel nodded repeatedly.

"By the way, Nobby. Does this mean I'm in the starting lineup?" Zhou Yi asked suddenly, catching Dickel off guard. He looked at Zhou Yi in surprise, then quickly shook his head.

"No, you're thinking too much, Zhou Yi. I'm just being cautious and doing my homework. I'm a very serious announcer, haha!"

Although Zhou Yi was not able to find out from Dickel whether he would be starting, Zhou Yi also knew that he would know the answer to this question soon.

Because after the warm-up back in the locker room, Klopp would announce the starting lineup.

※※※

Zhou Jianliang and Li Cuiyun sat in front of the TV, with two cups of tea on the coffee table.

The TV was already on, and the screen had switched from the Westfalenstadion to the rear studio in Beijing.

Commentator Duan Xin and guest Tao Wei smiled at each other, and then Duan Xin said: "It's time for what I think everyone is most concerned about—the starting lineups! Yes, we have already obtained the starting lineups for both sides in this game."

Zhou Jianliang straightened his back.

"Here it comes, here it comes!" He seemed very excited.

"I can tell everyone first, the Zhou Yi that everyone is most concerned about…" Duan Xin paused for a moment, "is starting!"

"Yeah!" Zhou Jianliang waved his fist.

"What's so exciting about that?" Li Cuiyun complained from the side, "He performed so well in the last game, shouldn't he be starting?"

"Alas, you don't understand. Soccer is not that simple…" Zhou Jianliang didn't know how to explain to his wife. It couldn't be explained in a sentence or two.

"You just like to think too complicated!" Li Cuiyun retorted.

Zhou Jianliang opened his mouth, but didn't speak, because after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that it was really like that. Just like buying soccer lottery tickets, when he, a professional fan, thought too much, he often didn't win at all…

※※※

Today was match day, not just in the Bundesliga, but all over European soccer as the leagues were in full swing. Barcelona's first team also had a game today.

So, there was no training scheduled at La Masia this afternoon. The young players could go home and watch Barcelona's league game against Deportivo La Coruña on TV.

He Ying was watching the game in his dormitory. But he didn't watch Barcelona's game, but instead watched the Bundesliga game between Borussia Dortmund and Nuremberg.

He didn't get to see Zhou Yi's last game, but he didn't want to miss it this time. Just listening to Zhou Yi talk about it wasn't intuitive enough. He wanted to see, to see with his own eyes how Zhou Yi played, so he could use it as a reference for himself.

In Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Yang Mu Ge was not selected for the Schalke 04 U19 match roster, and he stayed at home. Julian Draxler still felt sorry for Yang Mu Ge. But Yang Mu Ge turned around and comforted Draxler, saying that he should also take a break after starting several games in a row.

The real reason he wasn't sorry was that he could watch the live Bundesliga game at home, instead of listening to the radio on the way back like he did last time.

The game he was paying attention to was naturally not Schalke 04's home game against Hertha Berlin, but Borussia Dortmund's home game against Nuremberg.

At the same time, in London, England, and Milan, Italy, there were also eyes staring at the Borussia Dortmund and Nuremberg game on TV…

Zhou Yi's one game affected not only his parents and domestic fans, but also his companions in Europe.

※※※

In the locker room, Klopp also announced the starting lineup to his players.

Zhou Yi was indeed among them.

In fact, Zhou Yi's teammates were not surprised that he would start. After all, everyone had seen his performance in the last game. Since Şahin was injured, why couldn't Zhou Yi start?

It would be strange if Zhou Yi didn't start.

Großkreutz nudged Zhou Yi and winked at him.

And Götze, who was also on the roster, was not able to start…

After announcing the starting lineup, Klopp made demands of the team for this game.

"…I don't want to see a repeat of the last game, where we were clearly in the lead early on, but ended up in a passive situation. This time we are playing at home, don't give the other side any chance to breathe! We must maintain control of the situation, no matter what the score is!"

As he said this, he glanced at Zhou Yi.

Controlling the situation was actually being said to Zhou Yi, because this was where Zhou Yi's responsibility lay.

Because Şahin couldn't play in this game, and Zhou Yi, who replaced him, was also an attacking midfielder, Klopp made some adjustments to the team.

Sven Bender and captain Kehl were the two defensive midfielders in this game. Zhou Yi, Großkreutz, and Kuba were lined up in front of them, with Zhou Yi in the center, and the other two on the left and right.

And the person at the very front was Barrios.

Zidan was placed on the bench in this game, unable to start. This Egyptian became a victim of Zhou Yi's start—Klopp had always played a 4-4-2 formation, but in order to let Zhou Yi start, he changed to a 4-2-3-1.

This was also because Zhou Yi's defensive ability was insufficient, and the hardness of the midfield had to be guaranteed.

※※※

When the game was about to begin, Zhou Yi and his teammates stood in the tunnel, waiting for the referee to lead them out.

At this time, outside in the stadium, stadium announcer Norbert Dickel was leading the fans in loudly reading out the starting lineups for this game.

"Roman—!" He shouted, drawing out the sound.

Then the fans shouted: "Weidenfeller!!"

At the same time, Weidenfeller's photo, number, position, and name were displayed on the big screen.

They were announced one by one like this.

When Bender was announced, "Old Man" Bruno and the others said excitedly: "It's coming soon! It's coming soon!"

Sure enough, next, Norbert Dickel shouted: "Zhou—!!"

"Yi!!!"

Bruno, Mark's parents, and Mark shouted at the top of their lungs, almost hoarse.

The fans' shouts also clearly reached the player tunnel.

The crazy shouts of "Zhou Yi!" made Zhou Yi feel like all the pores on his body were opening up. It was as if an electric current was rushing up from the ground through his feet, finally rising to the top of his head, making his scalp tingle!

He couldn't help but shiver.

Just one feeling—awesome!

This was the feeling of playing at Westfalenstadion!

Even though he hadn't started playing yet…

But he couldn't wait for the game to begin.

He felt that his dream was being realized step by step, and in the process of realizing it, there were always many memories worth treasuring for a lifetime.

Like this first appearance at Westfalenstadion.

This was the first time worth celebrating and commemorating!

※※※

When the singing of "You'll Never Walk Alone" in the Südtribüne gradually died down, the players from both sides came out.

Zhou Yi followed behind Großkreutz, moving forward with the main group. A dozen seconds later, he finally stepped onto the grass of Westfalenstadion.

"Look! It's our son!" Zhou Jianliang said excitedly, pointing at the TV screen.

At the same time, in front of countless TV sets and computer screens across the country, there were countless fans who were just as excited as Zhou Jianliang.

Finally, Zhou Yi was starting!

And he was starting at Westfalenstadion!

For those Chinese fans who were also Borussia Dortmund fans, this was truly an incomparably happy moment.