Chapter 21 Magath Dismissed

A day after Borussia Dortmund beat Schalke 04 2-0 at home, Bayer Leverkusen challenged Nuremberg away.

In this game, Bayer Leverkusen surprisingly lost to their opponent, and as a result, they missed a great opportunity to catch up with Borussia Dortmund. Now the point gap between the two teams has widened to six points again.

This is good news for Borussia Dortmund, because the Champions League knockout stage is coming soon, and Borussia Dortmund needs a lead in the league so that they can temporarily focus on the Champions League.

At the same time, after losing to Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 announced the dismissal of Magath.

Club chairman Tönnies explained to reporters: "From the club's point of view, this breakup has very good reasons, but we will not disclose it to the public. I think this is a good result for Schalke."

Although he said he would not disclose the reason, even a fool knows that it must be because of the poor record, especially the Ruhr derby lost to Borussia Dortmund again, which became the last straw that broke Magath's back.

Magath came to Schalke 04 after winning the league title at Wolfsburg. At that time, he had the highest annual salary in the Bundesliga of 5.4 million euros, but he did not reach the height that people hoped for.

However, although Schalke 04 announced Magath's dismissal, they did not announce who his successor would be.

Currently, the media speculates that Ralf Rangnick, who left Hoffenheim this season, may become Magath's successor at Schalke 04.

Zhou Yi was right. Magath left within a week.

So is this a good thing for Yang Muge?

No one knows...

※※※

In the twenty-second round of the league, the last league game before the Champions League eighth-final, Borussia Dortmund challenged Kaiserslautern away.

Obviously, the whole team was affected by preparing for the Champions League eighth-final. Not only did Klopp rotate players, but the players on the field also seemed a little absent-minded.

As a result, they were tied 1:1 by Kaiserslautern away.

Zhou Yi didn't play in this game at all.

And what about Bayer Leverkusen? They beat Frankfurt 3:0 away, and they caught up with Borussia Dortmund again, only four points behind Borussia Dortmund.

However, Borussia Dortmund's move was also a last resort, because the opponent they will face in the eighth-final is not easy to deal with. It is a giant in the Champions League—AC Milan!

Of course, Klopp didn't want his team to be eliminated just after entering the knockout stage. So he valued this game very much, so much so that he was willing to sacrifice the league.

Having said that, isn't the establishment of such a large lead in the league just to create some room for the team in the Champions League?

Using the league's point advantage in exchange for results in the Champions League is Klopp's idea. This can ensure both the league results and the Champions League results. It won't be like Schalke 04, who made it to the knockout stage in the Champions League, but ranked outside the top ten in the league, and as a result, the coach was dismissed...

In fact, AC Milan's performance in the Champions League group stage this season was not good. They won two, drew two and lost two in six group matches, scoring only seven goals, accumulating eight points, and ranking second in the group. Only one point more than Ajax, who was third in the group.

But Klopp still didn't dare to take it lightly.

Because the group stage and the knockout stage are completely different worlds. Playing well in the group stage does not mean playing well in the knockout stage, and playing poorly in the group stage does not mean that the knockout stage will definitely be bad. It's always right to be careful, especially for a team like Borussia Dortmund that hasn't participated in the Champions League knockout stage for many years...

Speaking of which, how many years has it been since Borussia Dortmund participated in the Champions League knockout stage?

I'm afraid even Klopp is not very clear about this, because it has been too long...

In fact, since Borussia Dortmund won the Champions League in 1997, they only made it to the Champions League knockout stage in the subsequent 1997-1998 season. At that time, they made it to the Champions League semi-finals, but were eliminated by Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

And Real Madrid, who eliminated them, eventually defeated Juventus and lifted the Champions League trophy.

Since then, Borussia Dortmund has never been able to enter the Champions League knockout stage.

In the 2002-2003 season, Borussia Dortmund once passed the first round of the group stage, but at that time the Champions League had two rounds of group stages. They ranked third in the second round of the group stage and failed to enter the real knockout stage.

So until now, Dortmund has not played in the Champions League knockout stage for thirteen years.

They have absolutely no experience in playing in the Champions League knockout stage.

Klopp had to be careful.

What's more, in the first leg of the eighth-final, as the first in the group, Borussia Dortmund will go to AC Milan as a guest.

The atmosphere of the San Siro stadium and the turf may not be very friendly to Borussia Dortmund...

※※※

Because of preparing for this game, Borussia Dortmund arrived in Milan two days in advance.

He was therefore able to meet Guo Nu.

Among the four friends, he had only seen Yang Muge in Europe. Guo Nu was the second person he had seen.

At the beginning, when Guo Nu took the initiative to invite Zhou Yi to come out and get together in the group, Zhou Yi refused: "No! I'm afraid you'll hit me, I can't beat you!"

"Damn, why should I hit you?"

"Because I won Inter Milan!"

"... Damn it, don't be so petty!" Guo Nu was speechless.

Jokes aside, Zhou Yi finally came out and had dinner with Guo Nu.

Compared with when everyone met in the reality show before, Guo Nu was much more lively and cheerful than that time, but compared with the group, he spoke much less.

Zhou Yi understood this very well, because chatting in the group is done by typing, and there is no stuttering...

The changes that happened to Guo Nu also made Zhou Yi very curious. He stared at the top of Guo Nu's head for a long time and said, "Lao Guo, you should use less headers. Look at the hair on the top of your head, it's getting less and less..."

"Damn it!" Guo Nu said, "I, I... am a center back, how can I survive without, without headers?"

Zhou Yi smiled.

In addition to the thinning hair, Guo Nu's height has increased slightly, but he is still not tall. At least Zhou Yi can now look at Guo Nu at eye level. He is also stronger. Under the clothes that are not tight-fitting, the outlines of the muscles are faintly visible.

Zhou Yi couldn't help but reach out and pinched it: "So hard!"

"You, you are a man... can you... not say this, this word to me!" Guo Nu shivered, and goose bumps appeared on the arm that Zhou Yi had pinched.

"Lao Guo, your thoughts are so dirty!"

"Pah, pah!"

Although Guo Nu is not tall, only one meter seventy-eight. But this does not prevent him from being the main center back in Inter Milan's youth team.

His excellent physical fitness makes up for his lack of height. At the same time, his fierce defensive style coupled with the defensive awareness and skills he learned in Italy make him the "Chinese Wall" of Inter Milan's youth team.

"This, this is a nickname, nickname given to me by the local media in Milan, how, how is it?"

"A Great Wall that is less than one meter eighty tall, it seems that it can't stop the Xiongnu from invading the south, right?" Zhou Yi said with a frown.

"Get out, get out, get out!" Guo Nu knew that Zhou Yi was making fun of him again.

But he soon grinned and smiled: "I'm not stuttering now!"

He no longer cares about saying that he stutters. This was originally supposed to be a physiological defect, but he has been able to treat it calmly.

It is because of the person in front of him.

In this world, I am afraid that only Zhou Yi can tease him so unscrupulously, and he still feels happy.

Because Zhou Yi has really helped him a lot, without Zhou Yi, how could he be a one-meter-seventy-eight "dwarf Great Wall" in Inter Milan?

"Lao Guo, actually I quite like chatting with you offline." Zhou Yi said.

"Why?"

"When you speak, you can let the author make up some words." Zhou Yi said seriously.

"Making fun of me again!" Guo Nu pointed at Zhou Yi and laughed.

Zhou Yi also laughed. Lao Guo's mentality is really much better than before.

After teasing Lao Guo, they talked about serious matters.

"...AC Milan is currently ranked first, but I don't think they are anything special. The two people they are worth paying attention to are Zlatan Ibrahimović and Thiago Silva. It just so happens that they are one in the front and one in the back, a central axis... As long as you pay attention to these two people, there is nothing to worry about with AC Milan..."

Guo Nu began to provide Zhou Yi with information. This passage has been technically processed. If the scene is really reproduced, the author will probably be scolded for making up the number of words...

Zhou Yi listened very carefully to Guo Nu's stuttering information, but did not interrupt him, nor did he show impatience.

Although Zhou Yi may know the situation of AC Milan better than Guo Nu, after all, he has a virtual space to simulate the game in advance, but this is Guo Nu's intention, and he cannot refuse.

After listening to Guo Nu's information, Zhou Yi said, "Lao Guo, you are so hardworking in providing information. You don't want Inter Milan to reap the benefits, do you?"

Guo Nu glanced at Zhou Yi: "My, my, my heart is not as, as dirty as yours!"

Although Inter Milan was a bit miserable by Borussia Dortmund in the group stage this season, they finally qualified from the group, finishing second in the group. They drew Bayern Munich in the knockout stage.

"Okay, then do you need me to provide you with information about Bayern Munich?" Zhou Yi asked.

"It's, it's useless for you to provide it to me. I'm, I'm not in the first team, I can't, can't play in the Champions League!" Guo Nu said regretfully.

"Ah, okay, then I wish Inter Milan good luck." Zhou Yi said.

Then the two stopped talking about serious matters and began to chat about some trivial things. From recalling the past events during their reality show, to how everyone is doing in their respective teams now.

Expressing youthful feelings and lamenting the twists and turns of fate.

At nine o'clock in the evening, Zhou Yi and Guo Nu finished their meal. He said goodbye to Lao Guo and was about to return to the hotel.

Although the game is the day after tomorrow, Klopp requires every player to return to the hotel to rest before ten o'clock in the evening.

"Will you go to the stadium to watch the game?" Zhou Yi asked Guo Nu while waiting for a taxi outside the restaurant.

"No, no, I don't have, have tickets. But I will watch, watch the game live on TV." Guo Nu shook his head.

"Okay, let's chat in the group later." The taxi that Zhou Yi called arrived. He waved goodbye to Guo Nu.

"Chat later." Guo Nu waved his hand and watched Zhou Yi get in the car.

Looking at the direction the car was leaving, he was a little dazed.

Everyone met in the reality show, each with their own origins and their own destinations.

Now Zhou Yi is doing the best. But Guo Nu is not jealous of him, because he deserves it.

Among the five people at the beginning, he was the core of this small group, so it is normal for him to become the core of Borussia Dortmund so quickly in Borussia Dortmund.

In the future, when everyone goes to the national team, he will still be the core...