Chapter 1 The Match

After the game started, Schalke 04, playing at home, launched a fierce attack on Borussia Dortmund's goal, taking advantage of their home field advantage.

Judging solely from the field, this Schalke 04 seemed truly different from the Schalke 04 of the previous matches, with players exhibiting more enthusiasm and a stronger fighting spirit.

This was, after all, the derby.

A derby is a special match, not to be compared with ordinary games.

Experience from ordinary matches cannot be applied to a derby like this.

In any case, Schalke 04 fans were watching with hope for their team.

Marcel Reif also said that Schalke 04 was finally about to sweep away their decline.

But it was Borussia Dortmund who scored first!

In the twentieth minute, Götze assisted Kagawa Shinji to score the first goal for Borussia Dortmund!

"Beautiful! Kagawa Shinji!" Marcel Reif shouted.

After scoring, Kagawa Shinji ran towards Götze, who had passed him the ball, and the other Borussia Dortmund players also swarmed towards the two of them.

This was Kagawa Shinji's first Ruhr derby, and he didn't expect to score a goal...

What made Duan Xin slightly depressed was that the goal was scored by a Japanese player, but it had nothing to do with Zhou Yi.

The pass to Götze was not from Zhou Yi, and this goal could not be counted as orchestrated by him.

However, Zhou Yi himself had no particular thoughts. He didn't think that all the team's goals had to be related to him.

It would be wrong if the whole team had to rely on him.

"It's really unexpected that Borussia Dortmund scored first! After the start of the game, Schalke 04's advantage on the field was not converted into a goal..." Marcel Reif said. As a neutral commentator, he enjoyed the excitement and wasn't afraid of things getting big, so he actually hoped to see Borussia Dortmund take the lead away from home.

Because in this way, it could stimulate Schalke 04's players, making them explode and making the game even more exciting.

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In reality, the game did develop according to this rhythm.

Schalke 04, who were behind at home, were obviously angered, and they launched a fierce offensive towards Borussia Dortmund's goal.

Generally speaking, the team that has just scored a goal will have a surge in morale and then press the losing side relentlessly.

But in this Ruhr derby, it was exactly the opposite.

Schalke 04, who were behind, launched a fierce attack, so that Borussia Dortmund, who were in the lead, did not dare to press forward—they were afraid that the goal they had just scored would be equalized by the opponent, which would be too demoralizing.

So Borussia Dortmund had to retreat to defend.

However, although Borussia Dortmund had already contracted their defense, they were still a bit embarrassed in the face of the fierce Schalke 04.

Full-back Owomoyela received a yellow card in the thirtieth minute, and two minutes later Kagawa Shinji also received a yellow card for tackling Rakitić in defense.

In a short period of time, two Borussia Dortmund players received yellow cards, which shows how critical the situation was in defense.

However, Borussia Dortmund fans felt that this should be the referee's problem. Because so far in the game, Borussia Dortmund had two yellow cards, but Schalke 04 had none.

"Crooked whistle!" Mrs. Wagner shouted with dissatisfaction.

Next to him, Borussia Dortmund fans were all shouting this.

They believed that the referee, Heckel, was too biased towards the home team.

They had a basis for thinking this. The actions of both sides were actually quite big at the beginning of the game, after all, this was a derby. There was an added element of gunpowder.

Logically speaking, it doesn't matter if the actions of both sides are slightly bigger in this kind of derby, and the referee generally won't blow the whistle. This can ensure the smoothness of the game and at the same time retain the fiery and intense nature of the derby. Unless it is too much, the referee will intervene.

Actually, these are all irrelevant, and it's okay to be stricter.

The most important thing is to be fair.

If the same defensive action with relatively large movements results in Borussia Dortmund players being called for a foul, but Schalke 04 players being ignored, then don't blame Borussia Dortmund fans for being dissatisfied.

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After the referee issued two consecutive yellow cards to Borussia Dortmund players, Borussia Dortmund had to be more careful and cautious in defense.

This gave Schalke 04's players a chance.

They took the opportunity to launch a fierce offensive towards Borussia Dortmund's goal.

And in the forty-first minute, Huntelaar scored after receiving a pass from Christopher Moritz!

"Huntelaar!" Marcel Reif shouted excitedly, "He equalized the score for Schalke 04! The score is now 1:1! That's right! This is the Ruhr derby!"

The on-site announcer was also shouting: "Beautiful goal! The scorer is Klaas-Jan—"

Inside the Veltins-Arena, Schalke 04 fans shouted in unison: "—Huntelaar!!"

Amid the cheers, Huntelaar spread his arms, looked up and ran, fully enjoying this moment.

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At the moment Huntelaar scored, the Veltins-Arena sounded like a volcanic eruption, and the fans who could create the European stadium decibel record were indeed extraordinary!

At that moment, Mark, who was sitting on the bench, seemed to have a sense of suffocation and couldn't breathe. He quickly took deep breaths, as if he were a drowning man about to die.

It took several deep breaths before Mark felt the air entering his body again.

And his heart was still beating rapidly... so fast that it seemed like it was about to jump out of his throat, and he had to bite his lower lip tightly.

He was only sitting on the sidelines, and the pressure he felt was so great, so what about the people on the field?

He turned his gaze to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi looked calm, as if nothing had happened.

Mark was no stranger to this expression. He and Zhou Yi had played together in the youth team. If their team was behind or in a difficult situation during a match, other people would frown and become anxious to varying degrees. But Zhou Yi didn't, he just looked calm.

Actually, a calm face is a nice way of putting it. A not-so-nice way would be "a blank face," "a sleepy face," or "a dumbfounded face."

But no matter how you describe it, Zhou Yi wouldn't have any expression on his face at this time.

Seeing Zhou Yi showing that expression again, Mark's heart, which had been beating wildly, suddenly became much quieter.

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"Good stuff! Well done!" Draxler jumped up from his seat when Huntelaar scored, waving his fists and shouting at the field.

Yang Muge and Hao Junmin also stood up from their seats and clapped their hands excitedly.

They weren't as excited as Draxler, but they were still very happy. After all, they were Schalke 04 players, so naturally they would want their team to win.

At this time, no matter how good their relationship with Zhou Yi was, they had to put it aside.

※※※

After Schalke 04 equalized the score, their morale was greatly boosted and they began to besiege Borussia Dortmund's penalty area.

Borussia Dortmund, playing away, were forced to retreat to defend.

In this way, their goal was once in danger.

If Borussia Dortmund's defenders and goalkeeper hadn't performed well... they might have conceded another goal before the end of the first half.

However, Borussia Dortmund fans were also very dissatisfied with this situation. They believed that the referee was the culprit. If the referee hadn't given Borussia Dortmund players two yellow cards in such a short period of time, how could Borussia Dortmund have been so hesitant and afraid to make moves in defense?

If this were Borussia Dortmund's home field, Borussia Dortmund fans would probably have cursed the referee to death with boos.

But... if this were at Borussia Dortmund's home field, maybe the incident of giving two yellow cards in a short period of time wouldn't have happened either.

Borussia Dortmund retreated across the board, finally holding on to the score of 1:1 until the end of the first half.

During the halftime break, Klopp criticized the team's performance in the first half.

"Get two yellow cards and then stop defending? Does that make sense? Do what you have to do! Clean them up!"

After speaking, he turned to look at Zhou Yi: "Zhou Yi, you were cut off from contact with others in the first half. You must change this situation in the second half."

He didn't say how he wanted Zhou Yi to improve. He believed that Zhou Yi could solve this problem, and he had that much trust.

And Zhou Yi also nodded, without questioning what the coach should do. He felt that this kind of problem didn't require asking the coach for help.

Mark had been secretly observing Zhou Yi's performance.

Even after the opponent equalized the score, and back in the locker room, after being "gently" criticized by the coach for his first-half performance, Zhou Yi's face was still calm.

Sometimes Mark wondered if this calmness was the reason why Zhou Yi was never nervous and could solve any problem he encountered.

He envied Zhou Yi a little, he might never be able to be as calm and composed as Zhou Yi in his life.

But he wasn't jealous, because... my idol is awesome!