When the Borussia Dortmund team bus arrived at their hotel, security had been heightened. Clearly, the situation the team encountered outside the Brackel training ground had quickly spread to the hotel. To ensure the players' safety and a smooth check-in, both the hotel and the police were prepared.

As the bus came to a stop, two lines of police officers immediately formed a human wall between the bus door and the hotel entrance, separating the team from reporters and fans.

The door opened, and everyone got off the bus, heads lowered and silent, quickly passing through the corridor and into the lobby.

No one stopped to answer the reporters' questions, nor did they respond to the fans' shouts.

The team's morale seemed to have plummeted to rock bottom.

The transfer of Götze to Bayern Munich had dealt the team two unavoidable blows. The first came when they initially learned of Götze's departure, fueled by anger and frustration at his betrayal. The second came after the news broke, as they felt they had lost the support of the fans due to their anger.

These double blows made it hard to believe how much fighting spirit they could muster to face a formidable opponent like Real Madrid.

※※※

That evening, as the Borussia Dortmund players rested in the hotel, Zhou Yi was chatting with everyone in a group chat on his phone.

The focus of their conversation was, of course, Götze's transfer to Bayern Munich.

The news had spread far beyond Germany and around the world, eliciting similar reactions:

"Holy crap, is this real?!" Sun Pan exclaimed in the group chat. "Götze is really going to Bayern Munich?!"

"What's he thinking..." Yang Muge couldn't understand. "They're mortal enemies, after all. Even if he wanted to go to Bayern Munich, he should have taken a detour first. Transfer to another team first—there are plenty of top clubs interested in him."

"Götze is a true warrior..." Guo Nu didn't know if he was teasing or mocking Götze.

However, He Ying was worried about Dortmund's fate: "With the current situation, isn't it bad for your team internally, Zhou Yi? You have a game against Real Madrid coming up, but now this news has broken. I'm really worried about how much energy you'll have for the game..."

Sun Pan also realized the real problem and said unhappily: "Damn it, if we get knocked out by Real Madrid because of this, I wish I had just lost to me in the first place!"

"Hey, it's not as bad as you guys say. As for the blow, we've already been hit. The team knew about this a long time ago," Zhou Yi explained. "This is just an aftershock now."

"Even the aftershock of a major earthquake is still scary..." Yang Muge was still worried.

Zhou Yi had already achieved the best result for a Chinese player in the Champions League—the semi-finals, which he reached last season. This season, he had the opportunity to reach the Champions League final, a feat no Chinese player had ever accomplished before.

Zhou Yi was the only hope, and as fellow Chinese players and good friends, Yang Muge and the others were all cheering him on.

But at this critical moment, the news broke that Götze was transferring to Bayern Munich. In their opinion, this was a devastating blow to the morale and confidence of the entire Dortmund team.

"Zhou Yi's luck is really too bad. If they get eliminated, it really wouldn't be their fault..." He Ying also sighed.

"Hey, hey, hey, the game hasn't even started yet. Don't talk like I've already been eliminated!" Zhou Yi protested.

"Damn!" Sun Pan suddenly exclaimed in the group chat again.

"What? You got a problem, Panpan?" Zhou Yi rolled his eyes.

"Bayern Munich is crazy! They're already leading Barcelona 3-0!" Sun Pan said.

Zhou Yi was stunned when he saw this, and so were the others.

The score was indeed shocking.

The match between Bayern Munich and Barcelona was considered a close "battle of the titans" before the game. Both teams were ranked first in their respective leagues this season and were performing exceptionally well. Their meeting was a true clash of the titans.

Who could have imagined before the game that it would turn out like this? Even if Bayern Munich was playing at home and had some advantage, it shouldn't be this big, right?

"Bayern Munich is really riding high now..." Yang Muge sighed.

In the transfer market, they had just confirmed their intention to poach Dortmund's talent. They were also leading Dortmund by two points in the league standings. And now, in the Champions League semi-finals, they were playing against Barcelona with a score of 3-0, with almost half their body already in Wembley Stadium.

Against the backdrop of Götze's transfer, Bayern Munich's victory was like a show of force.

It fully demonstrated that their lead over Dortmund was comprehensive and crushing.

Whether it was in terms of competitive performance, economic level, or the team's reputation, they surpassed Dortmund in every way.

※※※

Although the score of 3-0 was already surprising, the game wasn't over yet. In the eighty-second minute, Thomas Müller scored twice, changing the score to 4-0!

"Damn, this isn't the Barcelona I know!" Sun Pan exclaimed in the group chat.

"This isn't the Bayern Munich I know either..." Zhou Yi also said.

Even if Bayern Munich was in strong form, Barcelona shouldn't be this vulnerable...

When Dortmund eliminated Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals last year, it took a lot of effort. Now, Bayern Munich had won 4-0 at home without much effort at all, and even ended the suspense of who would advance to the final in advance!

After the game, Zhou Yi said good night to his friends in the group chat. He needed to go to sleep, he had a very, very important game to play tomorrow, and he needed to get a good rest.

His friends also expressed their understanding, and before leaving, they all cheered him on.

Zhou Yi thanked them one by one, and then went offline.

After he went offline, Yang Muge sighed in the group chat: "Zhou Yi's luck is too bad. Dortmund has been performing so well in the Champions League this season, but this kind of thing happened at the end..."

The remaining three also felt sorry and upset for Zhou Yi.

※※※

Lying in bed, Zhou Yi tried hard to fall asleep. Too many things had happened in the past few days, and his brain couldn't easily calm down and get into a state of sleep.

With great difficulty, he finally entered the virtual space and began training and simulated games.

The opponent was, of course, a virtual Real Madrid.

As the game progressed, he found that the situation was really not optimistic. His teammates were performing poorly, making frequent mistakes, while Real Madrid was performing well, making the game very difficult.

Zhou Yi certainly knew what caused this change.

He still remembered what the dozens of virtual games against Real Madrid during the group stage were like.

At that time, Real Madrid's players were not in good shape, and the team's infighting greatly consumed Real Madrid's fighting power.

The conflict between coach Mourinho and Casillas was well known and irreconcilable.

But now, it was Dortmund's turn to taste the bitterness of "infighting."

On the Real Madrid side, Mourinho had the support of the club's senior management and temporarily won the war with Casillas. However, in the league, Real Madrid was as much as thirteen points behind Barcelona, and Mourinho should be well aware that it was impossible to defend the league title. His only hope this season was to lead the team to complete the "Tenth Crown" (Decima).

As long as he could win the championship, he would be in a dominant position, whether he stayed or left.

If he failed in the Champions League, the raging undercurrents would swallow him up.

He was well aware that his insistence on keeping Casillas on the bench had angered many people, and the only way he could get away with it was to lead Real Madrid to win the Champions League. If he failed, he would be ruined.

Before that, Mourinho had coached Inter Milan for two seasons. In the first season, he only led the team to win the league title, but in the second season, he led the unfancied Inter Milan to win the treble of the league title, the Italian Cup title, and the Champions League title.

Therefore, people generally recognized Mourinho - as long as he was given enough time, he would bring earth-shaking changes to the team.

At Real Madrid, in the first season, Mourinho led the team only to the league runner-up, but in the second season, he led the team to the league title and created a record of one hundred league points. At that time, Real Madrid and Mourinho were generally optimistic, and it was believed that Real Madrid's dream of the Tenth Crown was about to be realized in the hands of this Portuguese.

As a result, in the last season, Real Madrid was finally eliminated in the Champions League semi-finals by Bayern Munich on penalties. Ramos's penalty kick that could have been kicked to the moon also sent Real Madrid's dream of the Tenth Crown to the sky.

After the start of the third season, Mourinho's team was no longer magical in the league, and they were far behind Barcelona in the league. They also stumbled in the Champions League.

They were assigned to the group of death in the group stage, and as a result, they were double-killed by Dortmund in the home and away games, and finally qualified as the second in the group.

In the round of 16, they met Manchester United, and they were tied 1-1 by Manchester United at home. If it wasn't for Cristiano Ronaldo's goal in the away game, they might have become "Real Madrid Sixteen" again.

In the quarter-finals, they met Galatasaray, who were not very strong. After defeating their opponents 3-0 at home, they went to the away game but let the other side win 3-2...

This road has really been bumpy. Facing Dortmund again, the Madrid media was also unsure, and felt that Real Madrid was probably in trouble this time.

As a result, at this critical moment, they were lucky enough to catch up with the incident of Götze's transfer to Bayern Munich being exposed.

The Madrid media suddenly had a feeling of "seeing the light after the clouds cleared", and felt that all the good luck they had lost before had come back in one go.

The Madrid media was the most active in reporting the Götze transfer to Bayern Munich, besides the German media.

They all wanted to stir up the matter to cause more adverse effects on Dortmund.

This sudden situation boosted the morale of the entire Real Madrid team and lowered the morale of Dortmund. Reflected in the virtual game, the Dortmund players were in a slump, while the Real Madrid players were aggressive, and had a tendency to turn the away game into a home game.