Chapter 156 The Aftermath of the Battle

After Zhou Yi finally walked off the field, Klopp was already beside himself. As he grasped Zhou Yi's hand, he anxiously asked, "How is it? Your foot?"

Zhou Yi shook his head, a smile on his face. "It's nothing, Coach."

"Whether it's really nothing doesn't depend on what you say, Zhou Yi. Nor does it depend on what I say. It depends on what the *daifu* (doctor) says," Klopp said sternly.

He called over the team doctor, Dr. Markus Braun, and asked him to examine Zhou Yi.

※※※

Mark Wagner, who wasn't included in the roster and could only watch the game on television at home, couldn't help but laugh when he saw Zhou Yi striding toward Klopp.

"I knew he was acting! He must be doing it on purpose to piss off those Manchester City fans, ha!"

But his older sister, Kotana, frowned slightly beside him and didn't respond.

The kid certainly liked to act, but they didn't agree on which part he was acting about…

Before long, the television broadcast gave Zhou Yi a shot.

Having already been substituted off the field, he was sitting in a chair, his left leg stretched out in front of him, propped up on a box, with a bag of ice clearly wrapped around his ankle.

"Zhou Yi's ankle is being iced, it looks like he's injured after all…" Marcel Reif said.

He Ping was even more excited. "Now it seems that the two steps Zhou Yi took after he was subbed off were probably fake, just to reassure the coach, but how could he be reassured? We have statistics here showing that Zhou Yi is the player who has been fouled the most on the field by both teams, as many as thirteen times. With so many fouls, it would be strange if his foot wasn't injured! Now, all we can do is pray that the injury isn't too serious. After all, a healthy Zhou Yi is very important to both Dortmund and the Chinese national team…"

Mark, watching this scene on television, was also somewhat surprised. "Huh?"

"What 'huh'? Isn't it normal for him to be injured? It would be strange if he wasn't," Kotana beside him snorted.

Mark wasn't an idiot, and he naturally understood what his sister meant. He was a soccer player himself, and having watched the game, he also felt that with Manchester City players deliberately targeting him, it would be strange if Zhou Yi didn't leave Manchester with some kind of "souvenir"…

So he remained silent.

But soon he suddenly turned his head to look at his sister.

"Don't look at me, I'm just an ordinary team doctor," Kotana knew why her brother was looking at her. "I'm not a miracle worker."

"I believe my sister's skills are definitely the best!" Mark said with a smile.

"You haven't even made it into the games yourself yet, why are you worrying about other people?" Kotana was speechless.

"He's different. I don't care if I get injured or something, but he can't get injured." To her surprise, her brother explained to her very seriously. "He's not just our core player, sister."

"Then what else could he be?" Kotana asked rhetorically.

"He's…" Mark opened his mouth but couldn't say anything, because he was racking his brains to find the right words to describe Zhou Yi, but he found it difficult to use any single word to accurately describe Zhou Yi as a person.

"Anyway, he can't get injured, he's very important!"

In the end, Mark could only say that.

Kotana rolled her eyes. She knew that her brother cared a lot about Zhou Yi, so she said, "Don't worry, it's not a big problem. He's more of an actor than you think…"

It was a good thing he knew how to act, otherwise he wouldn't have even lasted until he was substituted off, and would have been carried off on a stretcher… This kid was annoyingly cunning at times, but it was perfect for dealing with those opponents who had nothing but muscle between their ears.

※※※

After Zhou Yi was substituted off, Manchester City mobilized all their strength and launched a fierce attack on Dortmund's goal, still hoping to equalize the score in the remaining time.

At this point, victory seemed very slim, but if they could manage it, a draw against Dortmund would be good too. Taking one point was better than taking none.

In the ninetieth minute, Manchester City finally got a golden opportunity. Piszczek committed a foul in the penalty area, and they were awarded a penalty kick.

In the end, Balotelli kicked the penalty into Weidenfeller's goal, scoring a goal for Manchester City.

With five minutes left in the game and trailing by one goal, Manchester City suddenly saw hope.

In the following injury time, Dortmund retreated with all their players, facing Manchester City's bombardment. Even Reus, the forward, had to resort to fouls to stop the opponents, resulting in a yellow card for himself.

But the good news was that Dortmund still managed to win against Manchester City on their home turf.

After two rounds of the group stage, they and Real Madrid both had two wins and two wins, but they were temporarily ranked second because they had fewer goals than Real Madrid.

Manchester City and Ajax were in third and fourth place respectively.

After the game, Zhou Yi was stopped by reporters in the mixed zone and answered several sensitive questions.

When asked if he had pretended to be injured when he was substituted off, Zhou Yi didn't say anything, but instead raised his left foot, which was still wrapped in an ice pack and could only wear a slipper, high in the air for the reporters to see.

A reporter asked him what he thought of the boos from Manchester City fans aimed at him. He said, "I think there must be some misunderstanding. This is the first time I've played at the Etihad Stadium. I've never played against Manchester City before, so we shouldn't have any grudges. As for why they boo me? You should ask them, not me, who is equally confused!"

He spread his hands.

"They must think your actions before the game were a provocation," a reporter added for Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi shook his head. "If it was really a provocation, I would have drawn a middle finger on the soccer ball, not a smiling face. I believe no one on this planet would consider a smile a provocation, right?"

"But your actions were very unusual…"

"What's so unusual about it? I've already explained why I did it before, and I don't think there's any need to repeat it. Getting hung up on my actions is meaningless, and it won't help Manchester City win this game," Zhou Yi shook his head.

Chinese reporters were more concerned about Zhou Yi's injury. Zhou Yi smiled and said, "It's not a big problem. The ice pack is just a precaution to prevent the situation from worsening. But I don't think I'll miss the game against Australia."

He knew why the Chinese reporters were concerned about his injury, so he gave the standard answer directly.

German reporters were more concerned about the club's games. They asked Zhou Yi whether Dortmund had already achieved two consecutive victories in the group of death, and were tied with Real Madrid with six points. Did this mean that the group of death was misnamed, and that Dortmund and Real Madrid would actually qualify together in the end?

Zhou Yi disagreed. "I think so. There are six games in the group stage, and only a third of them have been played so far. There are still two-thirds of the games left, and anything is possible. Although Ajax is currently ranked last, underestimating them would also be a mistake…"

Then he ended the interview and limped back to the locker room.

At this moment, no one would have thought that his words would come true on the next match day.

※※※

At the post-match press conference, Klopp criticized the Manchester City players for their rough treatment of Zhou Yi during the game, and he also subtly criticized the referee for not giving Zhou Yi more protection. He also talked about Zhou Yi's injury: "...I don't know if he will miss the next game. That decision needs to be made by the team doctor, not me. If the team doctor says he can't play, then I won't let him play. If the team doctor says he's fine, then I'll let him play. It's that simple."

When it was Mancini's turn, he expressed his regret about the team's loss to Dortmund at home, but he didn't mention a word about Zhou Yi's injury or his players' rough actions.

There was actually nothing to mention. Admitting that his players' actions were too harsh would be like slapping himself in the face.

A reporter asked Mancini if Manchester City was very anxious in this game, whether it was because they had misjudged the situation and the opponent.

Mancini flatly denied this. "We respect our opponents very much. Dortmund is a strong team, and we couldn't possibly underestimate them."

But the next day, the local Manchester media published an article that slapped Mancini in the face, arguing that the players' mentality was wrong, as could be seen from Manchester City's pre-match preparations, which was why they were so easily provoked by Zhou Yi.

"...Perhaps the first group match, a narrow 2-3 defeat to Real Madrid, gave Manchester City up and down more illusions and ideas, making them feel that their strength was enough to break through in the group of death. But the reality is cruel. I admit that the 2-3 defeat to Real Madrid was a loss, but Manchester City played well in that game, and almost took all three points from the Bernabéu. But the performance in that game has nothing to do with the performance in this game. Just because you played well in the first group game doesn't mean you'll automatically play well in the second group game. And although Mancini denied it, it was obvious that Manchester City was a bit careless when facing Dortmund. They may have thought that Real Madrid was more powerful than Dortmund, and they could play Real Madrid so embarrassingly on the road. When they return to their home court, defeating Dortmund must be easy, right? But unfortunately, Klopp's team gave Mancini a good lesson. The Champions League and the Premier League are completely different games. Just because you won the league title last season doesn't mean you're a strong team in the Champions League. In fact, Manchester City still has a long way to go in the Champions League…"

The Manchester media's criticism of Mancini and Manchester City was merciless, but that was normal. This media usually leaned more towards Manchester United…

Losing the league title in the last three minutes of last season made Manchester United very unhappy. Now they finally had a chance to vent their anger - although we lost to them in the league, the Champions League will teach you how to behave!