Shahin started to retreat, preparing to run up to the ball.

In front of Schalke 04's goal, it was still chaotic, with everyone fighting desperately for a better position.

Shahin's eyes swept over them, but did not linger on them. Instead, they shifted and locked onto Zhou Yi.

He estimated the distance between the two of them and what kind of kicking technique to use, and then began his run-up.

When he reached the ball, he kicked it out!

The football soared into the air with almost no spin, flying not to the near post, nor to the far post, but in a straight line towards the outside of the penalty area!

There, Zhou Yi came to meet it!

Shahin didn't kick the ball very high, because if it were too high, it would take too long for the ball to travel through the air, giving the Schalke 04 players time to react.

Moreover, there were relatively fewer people on the edge of the penalty area, so there was no need for the ball to go high, avoiding being intercepted.

So the ball quickly flew to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi didn't even need to jump. He just needed to stick out his chest and cushion it. The ball bounced on his chest, and the force quickly diminished.

At this time, the Schalke 04 defenders also reacted. Yang Muge turned and pounced on Zhou Yi, while the others quickly pressed forward, leaving the Dortmund players who had not yet reacted behind them. This way, as long as Zhou Yi passed the ball, these Dortmund players would definitely be offside.

But this time, Zhou Yi's choice was somewhat different from what they expected.

Zhou Yi had no intention of passing the ball. While the ball was still falling in the air, but had not yet reached the ground, Zhou Yi swung his right leg in place.

He swung it around from behind and struck the ball solidly with his straightened instep!

With a bang!

The football whistled past Yang Muge's ear, and the sound of friction with the air echoed in Yang Muge's ear, temporarily drowning out the noisy sounds of the stadium.

He didn't even have time to turn his head to see where the ball had gone.

The ball, struck by Zhou Yi, flew in a straight line towards Schalke 04's goal. Along this line, there were many players from both sides. If any of them touched the ball, it might cause Zhou Yi's shot to fail.

Matip leaned his head toward the ball, intending to head it out, but he was a little late. The ball had already sped past his head. At the same time, Lewandowski, who was diagonally behind him, leaned back rapidly, trying to avoid the ball.

The ball brushed past his face. That was close...

The last thing the ball had to face was Schalke 04's goalkeeper Hildebrand, who jumped up and扑forward.

He jumped in the air, stretching his arms as far as he could, trying to knock the ball out.

His fingertips did touch the ball, but in the face of such a powerful shot, the strength of his fingertips was not enough. Although he slightly altered the ball's trajectory, he did not change the final outcome. The ball crashed into the goal, ripping into the net!

※※※

"Zhou Yi—!!! A world-class goal!!" Duan Xin roared excitedly. "Amazing world-class goal! Amazing! A volley after a chest stop! This ball is too beautiful!!"

Marcel Reif was also shouting loudly: "Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi—Ahhhhh! Perfect goal! Only four minutes into the second half, and Dortmund has pulled back a goal!! Zhou Yi's shot is simply divine!"

The previously noisy Veltins-Arena suddenly seemed to have had its mute switch turned on. This stadium, which once set the Bundesliga record for fan cheering decibels, was now plunged into an embarrassing silence.

Seeing the goal, Zhou Yi was very excited. He spread his arms and shouted as he ran towards the corner flag, where Shahin was raising his arms in celebration.

Behind him were the other Dortmund players who were sprinting after him. They had all been clustered in the penalty area, planning to compete for the header, and now they were clustered together to celebrate the goal.

Zhou Yi crashed headfirst into Shahin, and among the others who followed, Lewandowski bent down and carried Zhou Yi on his shoulders, holding him high, while the others supported Zhou Yi with their arms, allowing him to be high above and receive everyone's cheers.

On the sidelines, Dortmund coach Klopp was extremely excited. He also ran directly to the corner flag to celebrate the goal with his players.

Although this was not a goal to tie the score, let alone a goal to reverse the situation and win, he knew very well how important Zhou Yi's goal was to a team in adversity.

This was a goal to boost morale, a goal to bring hope!

Without this goal, Dortmund would probably sink deeper and be unable to extricate themselves. Now, with this goal, everyone's minds would be filled with the thought: we are only one goal behind them, and there is still half a game left, enough for us to do more and better!

Once they had this thought, the players would work harder and be more aggressive in the game, with clearer goals and a greater willingness to fight.

Klopp plunged into the celebrating Dortmund players and celebrated the goal with them.

The small number of Dortmund fans in the stands were also cheering and jumping for joy.

At this time, the Veltins-Arena finally regained all its sounds, and huge boos filled the entire stadium, drowning out the cheers of the Dortmund fans.

This was the anger of the Schalke 04 fans.

※※※

Watching the Dortmund players celebrating wildly, Yang Muge stood outside the penalty area with his hands on his hips. This was where Zhou Yi had just kicked the ball. He had waited until Zhou Yi had shot the ball before running here, and it was too late.

In the first half of the game, he had prevented Zhou Yi from having much space to organize passes.

But he never expected that in the second half, Zhou Yi would change his approach and score from a free kick where he couldn't closely mark him!

He felt懊恼(àonǎo - upset) that he had not been able to prevent this goal.

In fact, he had a chance to do so, which was to follow Zhou Yi closely from the beginning. But this was not in line with the coach's tactical arrangements for corner defense, and he couldn't do that. He had to be in whatever position the coach assigned him. If the coach didn't tell him to stick to Zhou Yi during corner defense, then he couldn't go. The coach must have considered the overall defensive tactics when planning them, with each link connected to the next. If he arbitrarily changed his position and followed Zhou Yi, causing one less person to mark the Dortmund players in front of the goal, wouldn't that cause a goal to be conceded as well?

So it was difficult for Yang Muge to judge for himself what was the appropriate thing to do. He was far less adaptable than his teammates, which was also a major shortcoming of his.

Regarding Zhou Yi's goal, he had no other thoughts besides懊恼(àonǎo - upset). As for going from leading by two goals to leading by only one goal, he wouldn't think about that either. That was not something he should be concerned with. Whether they were leading or trailing, he would focus on doing his job well, and other things would naturally be considered by those who should be considering them.

This characteristic allowed Yang Muge to remain calm in the face of any difficulties, but it also meant that he lacked initiative and couldn't actively find ways to solve problems.

The other Schalke 04 players were probably not as calm as Yang Muge after conceding the goal. The anxiety on their faces showed it.

When they were leading by two goals, everyone was confident that the game was basically in the bag. But now that Dortmund had scored a goal, making the score 1:2, many people began to worry about whether they would be tied, even though they were still leading by one goal.

Going from leading by two goals to leading by one goal, and from leading by one goal to being tied, were all a difference of one goal. So it could be understood that leading by two goals was actually just two one-goal leads.

But the feeling was completely different. A two-goal lead made people feel safe, while a one-goal lead was generally considered a dangerous situation. Even though they were both leads.

Not to mention that Dortmund's goal was very beautiful, which boosted the morale of the Dortmund players and naturally dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Schalke 04 players.

That was a world-class goal!

A corner kick, a chest stop, and then a direct volley!

Such a beautiful goal could definitely compete for FIFA's Puskas Award for the best goal of the year.

※※※

The Dortmund players' celebration finally ended. Klopp waved his fists at the stands as he ran back to his coaching area. Fortunately, the Dortmund players were celebrating on his side of the coaching area. If it had been on the other side, he would have had to pass in front of the Schalke 04 bench and coaching area. If someone lost their temper... and secretly stuck out their foot and tripped Klopp, causing him to fall flat on his face, that would have been a sight to see...

Although the Schalke 04 fans in the stands couldn't rush onto the field and beat up Klopp, they could use their boos and curses to express their attitude towards Klopp's show of force in their home stadium.

The opponents in the Revierderby never had any warmth between them. When they met, they would definitely confront each other directly.

The Schalke 04 fans waved their fists, raised their middle fingers at Klopp, and shouted, "What are you so smug about! You're still behind! Idiots!!"

"Wait to eat our shit, you Dortmund bastards!!"

Klopp was used to such insults and didn't pay any attention to them.

What he was thinking about now was how to take advantage of this momentum and make further efforts to try to tie the score as soon as possible, so that Dortmund would have more time to score another goal and win the game.

If they only ended up with a draw, Klopp felt that it wouldn't be very meaningful. One point would be insignificant for catching up with Bayern Munich, and the blow to the team's morale from not winning would be even greater.