Chapter 1 The Dortmund Squad

As the league approached, Borussia Dortmund announced its first-team roster for the season.

Mark Wagner's name was prominently listed on the official website!

He had finally made it into the first team through his own efforts, not someone else's help.

This meant more to Mark than just being on the first team; it boosted his confidence.

And confidence was the most important thing.

When Zhou Yi first met Mark, he realized that Mark's biggest problem wasn't his physical abilities or technical skills, but his lack of confidence.

Now, having made it to the first team through his own hard work, Mark would undoubtedly gain immense confidence, which would help him down the road.

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After each team announced their rosters, the German magazine *Kicker* published a preseason preview of the transfer window.

They analyzed each team's prospects for the new season based on their current players.

Of course, Bayern Munich was the overwhelming favorite to win the title.

At the South Africa World Cup, although the German team once again finished third, their focus on young players was widely praised.

And Bayern Munich, with its large contingent of German national team players, was naturally expected to perform well. However, since most of their key players had participated in the World Cup, they were bound to be tired. The analysis suggested that Bayern Munich might suffer some surprising losses to lesser-known teams early in the season. However, the article also believed that after the winter break, Bayern Munich should be able to rely on their strength and experience to reclaim the top spot.

Borussia Dortmund's arch-rivals, Schalke 04, had a strong defense, with German national team goalkeeper Neuer and a near-national team caliber defensive setup of Westermann, Pander, and Jones. But Schalke 04's problem was their attack. Kuranyi was disobedient, and Farfan was largely ineffective. The attack basically relied on Rakitic's performance, but even Rakitic could only do so much.

Werder Bremen was also in the top group.

Werder Bremen finished fourth last season, only four points behind third-place Schalke 04, narrowly missing out on a Champions League spot. However, *Kicker* wasn't optimistic about Werder Bremen, because just as the league was about to start, they lost their core player, the young German international Özil. Real Madrid spent fifteen million euros to snatch him away. Without Özil, Werder Bremen's competitiveness in the league would be greatly reduced.

Borussia Dortmund, who finished second last season, were also not favored by *Kicker* this season. Because they also lost their core player, Sahin. *Kicker* considered letting Sahin go to be a foolish move. Although Sahin brought them sixteen million euros, what kind of players did they buy in the transfer market? An unknown Japanese player worth three hundred thousand, a striker from an obscure Polish league, a backup goalkeeper from distant Australia, and some free transfers and young players promoted from the second team.

The most familiar to the Bundesliga was probably Piszczek, the winger who previously played for Hertha Berlin. However, the Polish player's performance in Hertha Berlin was inconsistent, sometimes good, sometimes bad. He played for Hertha Berlin for six seasons, three of which were on loan to a Polish First Division team called Lublin.

He only started playing regularly for Hertha Berlin in the 2007-2008 season. He initially played as a striker, but with limited opportunities, he later switched to winger.

Last season, he was a regular for Hertha Berlin, appearing in thirty-one games and scoring two goals. He also had nine appearances and one goal in the Europa League.

As a result, Hertha Berlin was relegated last season, and he jumped ship to Borussia Dortmund.

Looking at Borussia Dortmund's signings this season, *Kicker* felt it was difficult to have any confidence in their prospects.

Sahin was gone, although there was still Zhou Yi. But *Kicker* believed that Zhou Yi's outstanding performance last season was based on the fact that people didn't know him well enough. After a season of excellent performance, he must have been thoroughly studied, so it would be difficult to have another outstanding performance in the second season.

Furthermore, *Kicker* also believed that Zhou Yi's outstanding performance last season was largely due to Sahin sharing a lot of the pressure. Now that Sahin had left, the pressure was all on Zhou Yi. He would be the focus of the opponent's marking in the game, and this time there would be no Sahin to form a double pivot with him.

Another fatal problem was Zhou Yi's stamina. Last season, he rarely played the entire game. How could he cope with the dense league schedule and the Champions League with such stamina?

Once Zhou Yi performed poorly, Borussia Dortmund's results would also fluctuate.

Although Zhou Yi had switched to defensive midfielder in the new season, and his performance in the warm-up matches was decent, *Kicker* believed that the intensity of the warm-up matches was completely incomparable to the official matches. Moreover, Borussia Dortmund would also be playing in the Champions League this season, which was even more intense than the Bundesliga.

How would Zhou Yi cope?

Zhou Yi would also have to defend as a defensive midfielder, right?

But his defensive level was questionable. If he didn't defend, Borussia Dortmund would only have one defensive midfielder in the midfield, making it easy for the opponent to break through.

At this point, it was necessary to talk about Sahin again. Sahin, as a defensive midfielder, was also responsible for defending, and his defensive ability was much stronger than Zhou Yi's…

So Zhou Yi's switch to defensive midfielder seemed like Klopp wanted to use Zhou Yi to fill the void left by Sahin. But Zhou Yi was not a professional defensive midfielder after all. He had always played as an attacking midfielder, so there would definitely be some incompatibility and unsuitability.

Putting the bet on such a person was too risky. *Kicker* had a hard time being optimistic about Borussia Dortmund's performance in the new season. Perhaps they could unleash a powerful fighting force at times and rank among the top of the league standings. But the league was a marathon, and in this long process, Borussia Dortmund would not be able to maintain stability and would be left behind sooner or later.

After analyzing and analyzing, the final conclusion was that Bayern Munich would continue to maintain a significant advantage in the league. If other teams in the first group wanted to pose a threat to Bayern Munich in the league, they might have to give up European competitions. Although Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 were eligible to participate in the Champions League this season, it might not be a good thing.

Because playing on two fronts would greatly distract them. Moreover, apart from Bayern Munich, no other Bundesliga team had the experience of playing on two fronts. Historically, there were too many examples of other Bundesliga teams participating in European competitions, resulting in a mess in the domestic league.

The most recent example was Hertha Berlin last season. The capital team participated in the Europa League last season and entered the knockout stage. However, in the league, Hertha Berlin ranked last and was relegated!

Therefore, Borussia Dortmund's performance in the Champions League was also likely to drag down their performance in the league, ultimately leading to a fruitless season.

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As a prestigious professional magazine in Germany, *Kicker*'s analysis article was quickly reprinted by Chinese media.

After being reprinted, it sparked a great debate online.

There were many people who supported *Kicker* and many people who supported Zhou Yi.

Those who supported *Kicker* believed that one should not be blindly optimistic, as blind optimism would harm Zhou Yi. It was not shameful to honestly admit one's shortcomings and improve them.

Those who supported Zhou Yi believed that *Kicker* was purely trying to smear him without any basis. Everyone had seen Zhou Yi's performance in the warm-up matches. If he performed well in the matches, they would say that the intensity of the warm-up matches was not enough and could not be compared with the real matches. If he did not perform well in the warm-up matches, why didn't they say it was to conserve strength for the official matches?

This was simply a double standard. Zhou Yi's outstanding performance must have made some people uncomfortable.

The two sides argued fiercely on the Chinese internet. At that time, Weibo (Chinese Twitter) was launched just before the World Cup and became well-known through the World Cup. This battle just happened to break out on Weibo, and the official Weibo was fueling the flames behind the scenes, with trending topics and official promotions…

This allowed more people to know about the dispute, and also took the opportunity to heat up the atmosphere of Weibo and attract a large number of new users.

For Weibo, this was a successful marketing case.

When a reporter told Zhou Yi about the dispute among Chinese fans over *Kicker*'s preseason preview, Zhou Yi was a little surprised, and he didn't expect it.

"This can also be argued?" he asked the reporter in surprise.

"Yes, those fans who speak up for you are defined as your 'brain-dead fans'," the reporter said.

Hearing this word, Zhou Yi laughed, and he laughed very happily: "That's good! I also have brain-dead fans! That's great, thank you."

The reporter felt that Zhou Yi's focus seemed to be wrong, and quickly reminded him: "What do you think of *Kicker*'s analysis?"

"This… analysis, it's like stock reviews, just listen to it, ha!" Zhou Yi said with a smile, with a completely indifferent tone.

"Are you saying that you think *Kicker*'s analysis is wrong?" the reporter asked persuasively.

"I can't say that." Zhou Yi was not fooled. "Their arguments are all reasonable. But the thesis is wrong, so even if the arguments are correct, they are useless, right?"

He asked the reporter rhetorically, and the reporter didn't know how to answer… He really deserved to be a passer, and he completed a beautiful pass in the blink of an eye.

"So you are still very confident?" another reporter asked.

This time, Zhou Yi nodded without hesitation: "Yes. Why shouldn't I have confidence in myself?"

It was another beautiful counter-question pass, and the reporter couldn't say anything.

Zhou Yi asked the reporters with a smile: "Are there any other questions?"

"…" Everyone looked at each other, and no one asked any more questions.

Zhou Yi's rhetorical question had directly killed all the topics, so what else was there to ask?

"Then goodbye, everyone." Seeing that no one was asking questions, Zhou Yi politely waved to everyone and then left.

Watching Zhou Yi's figure getting further and further away, a group of Chinese reporters gathered together, still looking at each other, wondering how to evaluate this matter and this person.

Zhou Yi's last sentence was actually quite reasonable - if Zhou Yi didn't have confidence in himself, he wouldn't have been able to achieve such a performance in Borussia Dortmund last season.

It was just that this kind of somewhat justified confidence inevitably gave people the impression of "not being humble enough". And China values personal cultivation very much, and humility is an important part of personal cultivation.

It wouldn't be right to say that Zhou Yi was rude or uneducated. He had always been very patient with reporters and fans, and he rarely put on airs, giving people the feeling that he was a very approachable young man.

But only in football did he show a completely different side of himself.

It was really hard to know how to face him…

※※※

After Zhou Yi's response was reported back to China by the media, it also produced a reaction similar to that of the reporters online, that is, although Zhou Yi's words were correct, wasn't his attitude a bit too direct?

Would it kill you to be a little more humble?

Of course, Zhou Yi's supporters were very happy - why shouldn't someone who has become famous at a young age be allowed to have a flamboyant personality?

Besides, our Zhou Yi has such strength, so what if he's not humble?

He doesn't need to consider the feelings of others, especially those who smear him!

It's called arrogance when you don't have strength, and it's called being realistic when you have strength!

Does someone have to consider the feelings of the weak when they tell the truth?

However, football is not a game that is won by words, so in the end, it still comes down to the game itself.

No matter how beautiful the words are, if you can't win the game, then those words will become slaps in your own face.

This is football, there are not so many fancy things, the winner takes all, the victor is king.