Before the match even began, the war of words between the two sides had already erupted.

Bayern Munich's chairman, Uli Hoeness, publicly criticized the Bundesliga schedule, saying, "We just finished a match in Barcelona, and we have to rush back to Germany without stopping. After resting at home for a day, we have to rush to Dortmund again. There are only two days between these events! The team can't get a good rest at all, and the players are very tired. On the other hand, Dortmund played their Champions League match one day earlier than us, so they don't have to move after returning home. They can conserve their energy and wait for us in their home stadium... I really don't understand why there is such a terrible schedule. Why can't our match against Dortmund be postponed by one day? Why can matches between Hamburg and Wolfsburg be played on the evening of May 5th, while we have to play on the evening of May 4th? Are Hamburg and Wolfsburg participating in the Champions League? Can't the league be flexible in arranging the schedule and make temporary adjustments for special circumstances?"

Honestly, Hoeness's complaint was reasonable. Bayern Munich's Champions League semi-final away game against Barcelona was played on the evening of May 1st. After the match, Bayern Munich had to immediately take a connecting flight back to Munich, arriving there in the early hours of May 2nd.

The team was then dismissed, but the players could only rest for half a day. On the afternoon of May 2nd, the team had to gather for training.

On May 3rd, the entire team had to fly to Dortmund to prepare for the match on the evening of May 4th. They couldn't arrive too late, because they only had the evening of May 3rd to conduct field adaptation training. The match was on the evening of May 4th.

During this period, the entire Bayern Munich team was indeed "non-stop," flying from Munich to Barcelona, from Barcelona to Munich, and then from Munich to Dortmund. Flying three times in four days, to three different places, would exhaust even ordinary people, let alone professional players who require high levels of physical fitness. And the Bayern Munich players had to immediately face a high-intensity, important match.

Hoeness was complaining about the Bundesliga's official schedule, but his words also contained a hint of mockery towards Dortmund. Dortmund's general manager, Zorc, naturally wouldn't pretend not to hear it. He jumped out to retort, "Hoeness is complaining about the schedule being too tight? Then why doesn't he mention that they have one more day of rest than us between the two Champions League semi-final matches? Dortmund didn't complain about UEFA's schedule when playing in the Champions League semi-finals, so why is a normal schedule an unacceptable and terrible arrangement when it comes to Bayern Munich? I understand, Hoeness must be finding excuses in advance for Bayern Munich's failure. If Bayern Munich loses to Dortmund away from home, then the blame can be completely shifted to the Bundesliga officials..."

"Moreover, in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, we encountered fierce resistance from Real Madrid away from home, and the match was very difficult. We fought until the last moment, exhausting all our energy. And what about Bayern Munich? They faced a listless opponent away from home and won without any effort. They even made substitutions in the match in advance to prepare for the match against us. I don't believe they exhausted any energy in that match. It was basically no different from an internal scrimmage!"

Zorc not only criticized Barcelona, but also mocked them along the way...

As these two teams argued, countless other teams were caught in the crossfire. Hamburg and Wolfsburg aggrievedly stated, "Is it our fault that we can't participate in the Champions League?"

Real Madrid and Barcelona were once again brought out for a public flogging...

Fortunately, the Spanish media was no longer concerned with what was happening in Germany, otherwise there would definitely have been another cross-border war of words.

The club executives were constantly arguing, and at the player level, the intensity of the war of words was no less intense.

Bayern Munich's center-back, Van Buyten, stated in an interview that the advantage was still on Bayern Munich's side: "We are leading by two points, we have a psychological advantage, so as long as we draw this match, it will be a victory for us."

Regarding Van Buyten's comments, Zhou Yi, Dortmund's core player, replied, "Does he (Van Buyten) really think so?"

After receiving an affirmative answer from the reporter, Zhou Yi made a "relieved" expression and gesture, then said with a smile, "Then I'm relieved. Because in my experience, thinking that a draw will be enough is often the most dangerous time. Van Buyten has set up this flag very well." (fLAg is intentional)

After he finished speaking, the Chinese reporter who was interviewing him laughed. The German reporters may have been a little confused, but the Chinese reporters understood the meaning of Zhou Yi's words too well.

In the history of Chinese football, there have been too many instances of "a draw will be enough," but the results always went against expectations.

To the point that "qualifying with a draw" has become a major curse in Chinese football.

Zhou Yi's statement expressed his confidence in defeating Bayern Munich, and also contained a sense of self-deprecation, so that his attitude wouldn't be too arrogant and annoying. This was also Zhou Yi's characteristic: even when attacking others, he could make people feel that he was likable.

Zhou Yi's war of words was relatively gentle, but the exchanges between other players were full of hostility and tension.

Bayern Munich's captain, Lahm, also expressed his agreement with Hoeness's views in an interview, believing that the schedule was too unfavorable for them.

In response, Dortmund's player, Grosskreutz, ridiculed Lahm for being like a woman: "As a professional player, complaining about the schedule seems unmanly to me. The schedule is fair, and everyone may have times when the schedule is not to their liking. So what do you do? Does everyone change the schedule when they are dissatisfied? If Bayern Munich can request to modify the schedule today, then other teams can tomorrow. Wouldn't the entire league be in chaos?"

In response to Grosskreutz's ridicule of Bayern Munich's captain, Schweinsteiger retorted, "Dortmund's players should not talk nonsense. They are clearly the beneficiaries of the schedule arrangement. We are just fighting for our legitimate rights."

Piszczek ridiculed, "This is the first time I've seen the league leader so concerned about such a small matter. It seems they also know very well that facing us at Westfalenstadion is a terrifying thing."

Kuba said, "If I were a Bayern Munich player, I would shut my mouth during this time, rest and train well, instead of complaining about not having enough rest time while using the rest time to show my face in the media."

There were also Bayern Munich players who expressed confidence, such as Ribery, who believed they would win away from home: "What could be more exciting than defeating our arch-rivals away from home to win the league title!"

Reus responded, "What could be more exciting than defeating our arch-rivals at home to win the league title."

Of course, in the war of words, "Mario Götze" was a name that everyone couldn't avoid.

Before the match, Dortmund media wrote articles criticizing Bayern Munich's behavior of digging up talent from other teams, saying that it was damaging the competitiveness of the entire Bundesliga and German football.

"...Hoeness has invented a trick, that is, opponents they can't beat on the field, they can use money to win over in the transfer market, digging away the opponent's core players, both strengthening their own strength and weakening their competitors. It's really a good plan that kills two birds with one stone," the Dortmund media ridiculed.

Some opinions also held that the news of Götze's imminent transfer to Bayern Munich was released before Dortmund's home match against Real Madrid, which was a long-planned action by Bayern Munich officials, aimed at interfering with Dortmund's preparations for the Champions League semi-final and shaking Dortmund's morale. In fact, Dortmund's morale was indeed shaken. If the entire Dortmund team hadn't erupted with great energy at the last moment, and stabilized the morale under Klopp's leadership, the final result would have been hard to say...

Regarding this claim, the Bayern Munich media strongly refuted it: "...I want to remind the Dortmund side, which has always talked nonsense, that it was not Munich that officially announced this news, but your Dortmund. The first to break the news were not our Munich media and reporters... To say that Bayern Munich did this to hit Dortmund is nonsense. You must know that Bayern Munich was also caught off guard after this matter was suddenly exposed..."

"Now the Dortmund media is starting to hype up the Götze transfer again, just to find a reason for their upcoming failure. Turning all hatred towards Bayern Munich. I think there is a very bad trend in Germany, that is, wantonly stigmatizing Bayern Munich... The Dortmund side believes that Bayern Munich's practice of digging up talent everywhere is damaging the interests of German football, but in fact, it is they, Dortmund, who are digging up talent everywhere!"

"...Dortmund media always likes to boast about their youth training ability, as if the entire Dortmund first team is made up of people trained by their youth academy. Not to mention Reus and Grosskreutz, according to UEFA's definition, players who have been registered with the club for three seasons between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one are youth academy players trained by the club. Reus and Grosskreutz made their name at Rot Weiss Ahlen. Who was it that threw them to the regional league team like garbage back then? Don't even mention Zhou Yi. He didn't receive any professional training before the age of seventeen. His experience in the Dortmund youth team was more like a transition to join the first team. His current achievements have nothing to do with the Dortmund youth training team..."

"...Sven Bender was poached by Dortmund from Munich 1860, Gündoğan was poached from Nuremberg, Subotic was poached from Mainz... Even the veterans Kehl and Weidenfeller were poached from Freiburg and Kaiserslautern... They talk about training youth academy players all day long, and then get stolen by Bayern Munich, but they don't look in the mirror and examine themselves..."

The Munich media's counterattack was very sharp, and they all hit the nail on the head. In fact, Dortmund, like Bayern Munich, has to poach people from various teams to form their own first team. But this is actually a very normal transfer behavior. It's just that there will be different interpretations from their respective standpoints.

In the war of words, some media also ran to interview Götze, asking him if he would feel complicated about the upcoming match.

Götze shook his head: "Not at all. I am a Dortmund player now, and my task and goal is to help Dortmund win the championship. The matter between me and Bayern Munich will be discussed next season."

He was still very confident in saying this, in the two matches against Real Madrid, he assisted one goal, scored one goal, and also created a penalty kick. There is no disagreement in saying that he was a great contributor to Real Madrid's entry into the Champions League final.

Klopp refused to talk about topics related to Götze: "Götze is still my player, what do you want me to say?"

Grosskreutz was also unwilling to talk about Götze in the interview, but his starting point was not to let Götze get rid of this public opinion storm, but to disdain mentioning Götze's name: "Don't mention that person's name to me."

Reus, as Götze's good friend, was naturally not let go by the media at this time. He was relatively gentle: "Everyone has the right to choose. Götze has made his choice. As his friend, all I can do is bless him. But I also believe in his professional ethics. He will definitely do his best in the upcoming match."

What did Zhou Yi think of the Götze topic?

"It's Götze's freedom to go wherever he wants, no one can criticize him for that. Of course, the timing of the release of this news is indeed a bit... delicate, but it's not Götze's responsibility. I don't think everyone needs to dwell on this point. Götze himself certainly doesn't want things to turn out like this, let's shift our attention to the match. Honestly, let the managers take care of the transfer market, now it's time to focus on the football field..."

A reporter asked, "Will you go to Bayern Munich one day?"

Hearing this question, Zhou Yi smiled: "How is that possible? Go to Bayern Munich and win the championships I've won in Dortmund again? It's meaningless."

After speaking, he waved his hand and turned away.