Chapter 25 Dortmund Will Never Vanish

After Thomas Müller scored, the atmosphere in the South Stand was somewhat subdued for a time. But as the cheers of the Bayern Munich fans grew louder and louder, the South Stand quickly responded. A song rose from where the lead singer stood, quickly spreading to the area where Zhou Yi and the others were, and then a deafening chorus rang out from the entire South Stand.

"...Every day! Every night! Go Dortmund! Go Dortmund! You are the love of my life! Every day! Every night! Go Dortmund! Go Dortmund!"

"...Dortmund is all we have in our lives! All our joy and pride is only for Dortmund!!"

"Only one thing! Only one thing—Dortmund will never die—!!!"

Zhou Yi was among them. When he raised his Dortmund scarf high in the air and sang these songs with everyone else, he suddenly felt a pang in his nose.

Because he thought, how heart-stirring it would be if he were on the field at this moment, hearing the fans singing like this...

These fans did not complain or give up because the team was losing by a large margin to a strong opponent.

Even though the players on the field might have been numb, these fans weren't!

Just like what they sang in their songs—Dortmund will never die!

And these fans, this South Stand with 25,000 people standing on it, was probably the reason why Dortmund could never die...

The Westfalenstadion's South Stand is truly a magical place that you love more every time you come!

After hearing the songs coming from the South Stand, Marcel Reif also said, "No matter when, Dortmund's fans will not give up easily. They are cheering for their team with songs. Hopefully, Dortmund's players can put on a performance that will make their fans happy as soon as possible..."

※※※

In the evening, Zhou Yi received a mass text message from Klopp, telling him that tomorrow's holiday was canceled and training would continue as usual.

Zhou Yi knew that this must be because the team had lost to Bayern Munich.

It wasn't as if they had never lost a game before. In the second round of the league, Dortmund had lost 1:4 to Hamburg away from home, but after that game, Klopp didn't cancel the one-day holiday. He still let the players have a day off according to the original plan.

But this time, losing to Bayern Munich at home by such a large score of 1:5 was too humiliating, and the continuous winless streak and losses must have made Klopp very unhappy. So he canceled the holiday.

As Zhou Yi expected, on the next day at the training ground, before training officially started, Klopp gave the players a scolding that made everyone unable to raise their heads. Even Zhou Yi, who wasn't even on the roster, fully felt the pressure brought by Klopp's anger.

"...I can accept losing games, because of strength or luck, we lost to our opponents, I can accept that, because failure is also part of football," Klopp said loudly. "But I can't accept losing the game in this way! Look at your performance after losing three goals! I'm embarrassed for you! Are you worthy of the fans in the South Stand who kept shouting and singing until the last moment!"

"Perhaps the continuous winless streak has smoothed out your fighting spirit, then I want to tell you now that no matter when, you must fight like a group of warriors! Either win the victory! Or win... death!! This! Is the destiny of a warrior!"

"Think carefully about what I said, now start training!"

After Klopp finished speaking, he turned and walked out of the training ground.

Only then did the players breathe a sigh of relief... The head coach was so oppressive just now that they didn't even dare to breathe.

※※※

After training, the players returned to the locker room one after another. Kevin Grosskreutz noticed that Zhou Yi seemed particularly silent today, not saying much, which was completely different from his usual self, so he asked curiously, "Hey, Zhou Yi, why aren't you talking today?"

Zhou Yi shook his head.

"Are you worried about the head coach's scolding? It actually has nothing to do with you, you weren't even on the roster..." Grosskreutz comforted Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi then spoke, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he startled Grosskreutz: "I'm hoarse..."

"What's wrong with your voice?!"

Zhou Yi's voice was as if there were two grinding wheels rubbing in his throat, which made Grosskreutz frown.

"I was... in the South Stand yesterday..." Zhou Yi said with difficulty.

Hearing him say this, Grosskreutz was rarely silent...

※※※

"...Klopp's team is still struggling to win. In the sixth round of the league, they were held to a 1:1 draw by Hannover 96 away from home... No, in fact, we shouldn't say that Dortmund was held to a draw by Hannover, but that Hannover was held to a draw by Dortmund. After all, judging from the league standings, Hannover 96, ranked eleventh, is three places higher than Dortmund, ranked fourteenth!"

"Dortmund finally won a game, but not in the league, but in the second round of the German Cup, where they defeated Karlsruhe 3:0 away from home, which is gratifying. However, the current Dortmund seems to only be able to bully teams in the lower leagues..."

"In a focus battle in this round of the league that just ended, Dortmund lost 0:1 to Schalke 04 at home, losing the first Ruhr derby of the season... Their league ranking has fallen to fifteenth, only one step away from the relegation zone!"

"Now it's not news that Dortmund is losing, when they win, that's probably big news! Some commentators pointed out that the high-intensity, high-volume training that Dortmund conducted before the season may be the culprit for the team's continuous winless streak..."

"Three training sessions a day! This is completely inhumane training! Klopp is completely driving his players like livestock. Football is not track and field. Frenzied training for half a month will not allow the team to win the game!"

"After the game against Schalke 04, the Dortmund club announced their trust in head coach Klopp, saying that they would not easily make a decision on Klopp because of the results of a few games, and they firmly believed that the initial choice was correct..."

"Recently, Dortmund has been losing continuously, and South American striker Barrios, who cost the club 4.2 million euros to introduce this summer, has become the target of public criticism. As one of the most important signings this season, Barrios has not shown the excellent form he had when he played for Colo-Colo. The league has started for seven rounds, and he has not scored a goal... This seems to prove the previous analysis by experts that he has no experience playing football in Europe and is not a worthwhile deal..."

"Some media have already listed Lucas Barrios in the top ten worst signings of the season in advance. This Paraguayan striker seems very unaccustomed to European football. He has played seven times and scored no goals. Such a performance is really too much... And Dortmund only has one game left this season, which is also closely related to their weak front line. In seven league games, they have scored a maximum of one goal per game, or even no goals, and have never scored more than two goals... This fully illustrates the problem. The only victory still relied on an own goal by a Cologne defender..."

"Seven rounds of the league, one win, three draws and three losses, with only six points, only one point more than Nuremberg, who is third from the bottom. If they continue to play like this, maybe we will have to consider watching Dortmund's games in the Second Bundesliga... Seven rounds of the league, only six goals scored and thirteen goals conceded, such a performance is really too embarrassing..."

※※※

"The media thinks there is a problem with our front line, what do you think, Željko?" Klopp put the newspaper on the table and asked his assistant coach, Buvac, who was sitting opposite him.

"Barrios' performance is indeed not satisfactory, and he can now see that the pressure is too great, I'm worried that he can't bear it..." Buvac said. "Should we consider making some adjustments?"

"So you also think there is a problem with our front line?"

Buvac didn't say anything, which was equivalent to acquiescing.

"But I don't think so, Željko," Klopp said. "Or, I don't think we can push the responsibility for not being able to win all to the forwards. There is also a problem with our midfield, and if we want to adjust, we should adjust the midfield."

"But we've tried a lot of midfield combinations. In the last game against Schalke 04, we even played with three midfielders, but it didn't work..."

After Buvac finished speaking, Klopp didn't respond to him, but fell into silence. Buvac didn't speak either, and the two of them fell silent.

After a while, Klopp suddenly said, "What do you think of Zhou Yi?"

Buvac was a little surprised by this question: "He is very hardworking and serious in training, but I don't think he is ready yet, his physical fitness..."

"Yes, Željko, you're right, Zhou Yi's physical fitness is still unable to cope with a full game. But, who said we want him to start?"

Klopp's words made Buvac stunned.

"He can't finish the ninety minutes, but I'm not thinking of letting him finish the ninety minutes either. If he can't start, he can still be a substitute."

"But, Jürgen. Have you thought about it? The team's situation is so bad now, and the pressure from the outside world is so great. In this case, placing the hope of change on a young man who is only eighteen years old and has no first-team experience, is it... too cruel for them? I'm worried that if the team still doesn't win, Zhou Yi will become a scapegoat in the media..."

"Hmm..." Klopp listened to Buvac's words and pondered slightly. "You're right, Željko. So I will use him cautiously—if I don't think the time is right, I won't let him play."

Seeing that he had persuaded Klopp, Buvac breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"But I still plan to put him on the roster for the next game."

Klopp's next sentence made Buvac cough. He stared at Klopp with wide eyes.

"Even if he can't play, seeing the atmosphere of professional league on the sidelines is also a way to accumulate experience. Especially the atmosphere of the stadium after six consecutive winless games, it's even more a rare experience, ha!" Klopp spread his hands and smiled.