Lin Hai Ting Tao
Chapter 596 Man of the Match
But the next second, the football went over the heads of Robert Lewandowski and Pepe and plunged directly into the goal, shocking many people.
No one could have imagined that Zhou Yi's "pass" would "pass" into the goal like that!
"Ahhhhh!" Marcel Reif was the first to react, shouting excitedly, "Eighty-fifth minute, Zhou Yi scores!! He has almost killed off Real Madrid!!"
"Zhou Yi! Hey! Great shot! What a great shot!" He Ping was also very excited. "Whether this ball was an accidental cross or intended as a shot, it's a world-class goal! You could say that just when Real Madrid wanted to win the game, Zhou Yi stabbed them right in the heart!"
The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium fell silent for a moment when the football flew into the goal. Real Madrid fans didn't expect the game to develop like this in the end.
They were all still expecting Real Madrid to win against their opponents at home, but now it looked like they were going to be defeated...
But soon, they let out huge, piercing boos.
Whether these boos were for Zhou Yi, who scored the goal, or for the Real Madrid players who conceded the goal, no one knew... Perhaps both?
In the midst of the Real Madrid fans' boos, Zhou Yi turned and ran toward the corner flag, also very excited. Robert Lewandowski chased after him and then bent down to lift him straight up.
"Borussia Dortmund only committed two players to this attack, Zhou Yi and Robert Lewandowski, but it was these two players' continuous cooperation that left the Real Madrid defenders helpless. The two players' skilled and coherent one-two passes used the simplest cooperation method to break through Real Madrid's defense and score a goal. Who says you can't score goals with fewer players committed to the attack?"
The Borussia Dortmund players who had been in the backfield earlier also ran up at this time, embracing and celebrating this goal with them, while also celebrating victory.
In fact, even they themselves didn't have much hope for Borussia Dortmund's counterattack. The fact that they were able to score in the end was truly a testament to Zhou Yi and Robert Lewandowski's abilities.
Borussia Dortmund's coach, Jürgen Klopp, rushed straight out of the coaching box after the goal, then ran wildly toward Zhou Yi and Robert Lewandowski, plunging into the crowd to celebrate with the players. His celebration was crazy, but this game was truly crazy! Before the game, who would have thought that Borussia Dortmund could beat Real Madrid on the road? Even Jürgen Klopp's goal was just a draw...
The television was replaying the process of the goal just now. Zhou Yi and Robert Lewandowski's continuous passes looked really ordinary, just the kind of simple cooperation that teams would practice in training, but such a simple pass led to a goal.
Real Madrid's defenders seemed hesitant in their defense, not daring to make any moves.
"...Zhou Yi's unexpected but resolute forward insertion should be the key." He Ping analyzed, referring to the replay. "If Zhou Yi had just made a long pass to Robert Lewandowski and didn't go up, then Borussia Dortmund's attack would have been harmless. Essien wouldn't even have had to fall back on defense, and Pepe and Varane could have taken care of Robert Lewandowski. But Zhou Yi chose to resolutely insert himself forward, which was somewhat unexpected by the Real Madrid players. And his addition helped Robert Lewandowski solve the problem of fighting alone, and because of his addition, the Real Madrid defenders couldn't go all out when defending. They always had to leave some energy to pay attention to another Borussia Dortmund player, which gave Robert Lewandowski and Zhou Yi the opportunity to break through Real Madrid's defense with just a one-two pass... In short, at the last moment of the game, probably few people could have thought that Zhou Yi still had the energy to sprint so far and run up to seek cooperation with Robert Lewandowski, and Zhou Yi was precisely the unexpected guest that Real Madrid didn't expect in their defense from the very beginning..."
※※※
Real Madrid's goal conceded in the eighty-fifth minute put them in a very passive position. Now they had to score two goals in the next few minutes, which was too much to ask of them.
If they were asked to score two goals when there were still eighty-five minutes left in the game, it wouldn't be too difficult for them. But now, the players' mentality was completely different. They would be impatient and anxious, while Borussia Dortmund would be more confident in their defense, defending more tenaciously, making it difficult for Real Madrid to find opportunities.
Breaking a dense defense originally required patience, and what Real Madrid lacked most now was probably patience.
Looking at the dazed expressions of the Real Madrid players after conceding the goal, one could see how big a blow this goal was to them.
Probably even the most die-hard Real Madrid fans wouldn't dare to guarantee that they would be able to beat Borussia Dortmund at home at this time.
Mourinho stood on the sidelines with a livid face, but he didn't make any adjustments or give any instructions. He had already used up all three of his substitutions and couldn't come up with any more effective adjustment methods.
When the game restarted, Real Madrid's attack became unusually simple, with frequent crosses from both sides, and Cristiano Ronaldo became the center forward, standing in the middle to compete for headers.
It had to be said that his headers were still threatening.
But the Real Madrid players' mentality still affected their attack, and the quality of their crosses wasn't particularly good.
Cristiano Ronaldo fought close and personal with tall center backs like Subotić and Hummels in the penalty area time and time again, but his success rate wasn't high.
If this were the first ten minutes of the game, he might have scored...
Mentality occupied a considerable proportion in football matches, and its impact on the game was definitely greater than ordinary people imagined.
Facing Real Madrid's frantic bombardment, Borussia Dortmund didn't have everyone retreat to the thirty-meter area to defend. Robert Lewandowski still stayed at the front, and Zhou Yi? While defending, he also passed the football forward from time to time, accurately delivering it to Robert Lewandowski's feet.
This approach made Real Madrid feel extremely uncomfortable—it felt like they were holding the determination to fight to the death with Borussia Dortmund with bayonets, but they didn't expect Borussia Dortmund's guns to not only have bayonets, but also loaded bullets...
Due to their mentality, although the Borussia Dortmund players didn't fully retreat to defend, they seemed to have plenty of energy in their defense, and they didn't find it difficult to cope with Real Madrid's fierce attack at all. They were playing with ease.
On the other hand, the Real Madrid players made mistakes themselves because of their anxiety.
Time passed quickly in this situation of ebb and flow.
When the fourth official raised the sign for four minutes of injury time on the sidelines, everyone realized that Real Madrid only had four minutes left to score two goals!
Perhaps it was time to adjust their goal?
Not to beat their opponents at home, but just to not lose at home would be good...
But even such a "small" goal,
Real Madrid was unable to achieve.
In the remaining four minutes, although they had as many as three shots, none of the footballs flew into the Borussia Dortmund goal.
When the referee Cüneyt Çakır blew the whistle to end the game after delaying for nearly a minute, the boos that rang out at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium were almost enough to make a normal person's heart stop.
In the overwhelming boos, the Borussia Dortmund substitutes rushed onto the field, celebrating this victory with their teammates on the field.
They didn't care about the boos or anything. These boos didn't scare them. Because they all knew that these boos were from Real Madrid fans to their own players, and had nothing to do with the Borussia Dortmund players. Before the end of the game, as long as the Real Madrid players made a mistake, there would be a burst of boos in the stands. These students were of course targeting their own people.
Being able to force Real Madrid fans and players to have internal strife on the road, the Borussia Dortmund players felt quite proud.
The television broadcast focused on Zhou Yi, who was celebrating victory with his teammates, and the commentator Marcel Reif said, "Zhou Yi is undoubtedly the biggest contributor to Borussia Dortmund's victory in this game! One direct assist, one shot that caused the opponent's own goal, and a goal at the last moment to help the team win the game, he is the best player of this game without a doubt!"