“Hey, Mark, they’re interviewing you. Can you not make accepting an interview sound like an awards speech…” After a day off, Zhou Yi complained to Mark upon seeing him again.

He had seen Mark's performance during the interview later.

“I was speaking from the heart…”

“But you were the star at that time. Instead of hogging the limelight, you pushed me forward and let me steal the show?”

“There's nothing wrong with you being in the limelight, ha!” Mark laughed.

Zhou Yi rolled his eyes.

But deep down, he was quite relieved that this kid hadn't changed after two consecutive outstanding performances. He was still the same Mark.

※※※

In the next league match, the sixth round, Borussia Dortmund faced St. Pauli away.

Judging from the strength of both sides, there was no suspense about the outcome of this game.

At the same time, considering the Champions League group stage match during the week, Klopp made some adjustments to the team's starting lineup.

Mark, who had performed well in two consecutive games, appeared in the starting lineup again.

However, Zhou Yi did not start.

His replacement was Lewandowski.

As a reward for scoring in the previous game and his hard work in training, Klopp also put Lewandowski in the starting lineup. This was the Polish player's first start of the season.

Borussia Dortmund played a 4-4-2 formation away, with only Sven Bender as a defensive midfielder.

The reason Klopp did this was naturally because he saw that Lewandowski and Mark could coexist in the previous game. So he planned to give this combination more time to experiment.

Anyway, the opponent in this game was not very strong. If not use this game to experiment, then use the next Champions League group stage match?

In the end, Borussia Dortmund, with a semi-main lineup, defeated St. Pauli 3-1 away.

Neither Mark nor Lewandowski scored.

However, Mark had one assist.

He assisted Kagawa Shinji to score a goal.

The remaining two goals were scored by Großkreutz.

After defeating St. Pauli 3-1, Borussia Dortmund began to prepare for the second round of the Champions League group stage in the middle of the week.

For Borussia Dortmund now, the Champions League was more important.

In the second group stage match, Borussia Dortmund hosted Twente—the champion of the Dutch Eredivisie last season.

In the first round of the group stage, the upset of this group was not Borussia Dortmund's away win over Valencia, but Twente's 2-2 draw against defending champion Inter Milan at home!

That game really exceeded everyone's expectations.

Inter Milan scored first after the game started, but Twente equalized the score six minutes later.

Then Inter Milan's striker Milito scored an own goal, and Inter Milan was actually behind on the scoreboard.

Before the end of the first half, Eto'o helped the team equalize the score.

Subsequently, in the second half, neither side was able to score, and the score of 2-2 was maintained until the end of the game. The defending champion Inter Milan did not win their first group stage match.

Although Twente was a third-tier team, everyone thought they were the weakest team in this group. It was taken for granted that Inter Milan would defeat them, and the key was to score more net goals on them.

As a result, facing the weakest opponent, Inter Milan failed to win!

After this game, Inter Milan's coach Benitez was criticized.

So Borussia Dortmund did not dare to underestimate Twente. What if they followed in Inter Milan's footsteps?

Although the opponent was not strong on paper, Klopp still asked the whole team to be prepared.

Mark, who performed well in the league, got the opportunity to start in this game. This was his first time participating in the Champions League, and also the first time starting in the Champions League.

Because of Inter Milan's example, Borussia Dortmund played cautiously in their home game after the game started, for fear of conceding a goal first.

And Twente also played very aggressively. They ran tirelessly, especially their pressing in the frontcourt, which did make Borussia Dortmund a little uncomfortable.

The first half was relatively stalemate.

In order to get points away from home, Twente can be said to have done everything possible, as long as the rules allowed…

Their goalkeeper, Nikolai Mikhailov, even received a yellow card for delaying time.

At that time, it was already the fortieth minute, and there were five minutes left before the end of the first half. Borussia Dortmund's offensive was gradually becoming fierce. Mikhailov was worried that the team would concede a goal in the final moments. If that was the case, it would be a huge blow to the team's morale and confidence, so he adopted a strategy of delaying time. Of course, this approach also earned him a yellow card.

In the end, at the end of the first half, neither team was able to score, and the score was 0-0.

Marcel Reif also felt that Twente was indeed a bit different: "In the last game, they drew 2-2 with defending champion Inter Milan at the end of the first half, and in this game, they still have a draw in the first half and have not conceded a goal. Their defense is indeed quite good..."

※※※

Not being able to score in the first half, and the team's attack unable to open up the situation for a long time, made Mark a little anxious, but in the locker room he found that Zhou Yi was very calm, so he asked strangely: "Zhou Yi, aren't you worried?"

"Worried about what?" Zhou Yi asked strangely.

"We haven't been able to break through Twente's goal in the entire forty-five minutes!"

Zhou Yi spread his hands: "Then we still have the entire forty-five minutes."

He really wasn't in a hurry. Mark shook Zhou Yi's arm: "How can you be so calm, Zhou Yi?"

"Because this is the Champions League, Mark. This is the Champions League." Zhou Yi said, shaking his head. "Think about it, which of the teams that can come to the Champions League are weaklings? Which one doesn't have some skills of their own? So it's not a big deal if we don't score in just forty-five minutes, right?"

Hearing Zhou Yi's words, Mark was also stunned. He slowly let go of his hand, looked at Zhou Yi, and after a while he reacted.

"You're right, Zhou Yi… This is the Champions League!" He clenched his fist and said, looking up.

This was his first Champions League game. Apart from the different music when entering the stadium, the Champions League was actually a little different from the league…

※※※

Although the first half didn't go very smoothly, Klopp didn't adjust his tactics, nor did he make any substitutions.

The team returned to the field in the same formation.

After the start of the second half, Borussia Dortmund continued to control the situation, while Twente retreated to their own half.

Everyone knew that the first five minutes of the game and the five minutes before the end were the easiest times to concede a goal.

Twente wasn't stupid either, of course they didn't need to press out and attack each other.

In this game, they had a very realistic wish, which was to strive for a draw, and then consider winning if there was a particularly good opportunity.

Twente did a good job of defending.

But their goal was still broken in the forty-eighth minute—just three minutes after the start of the second half!

"Mario Götze!!!" The stadium announcer Norbert Dickel shouted to the sky with his microphone.

The cheers from the stands were even more deafening.

In their cheers, Götze ran to the corner flag.

His teammates chased after him and hugged him at the corner flag.

"Götze's goal opens the scoring for Borussia Dortmund! This is his second goal in the Champions League!! Scoring in consecutive Champions League group stage matches, Götze is truly a highly anticipated genius!" Marcel Reif praised Götze with all his might.

Last season, Zhou Yi was in the spotlight, and Götze was less conspicuous in comparison, mostly coming on as a substitute. However, this season, with Şahin's transfer away and Zhou Yi's position moving back, Götze also ushered in his own moment.

This German football genius naturally also carries the expectations of more Germans. Everyone hopes that he can perform well, get better and better, and bring his form from the club to the national team.

Zhou Yi is good, but unfortunately he is Chinese…

※※※

Götze's goal helped Borussia Dortmund take the lead, and also allowed the entire Borussia Dortmund team to find their rhythm.

Just three minutes after his goal, Mark received a pass from Zhou Yi in the penalty area and was tripped to the ground by a Twente player. The referee unhesitatingly ruled that Twente had committed a foul and gave Borussia Dortmund a penalty!

This penalty was beyond dispute, and there was no sign of any dive from Mark, so Twente players couldn't appeal or protest.

Borussia Dortmund has an unwritten rule, which is different from other teams, they don't have a fixed penalty taker order, such as the first penalty taker, the second penalty taker.

No, Klopp didn't make such arrangements at all.

So what happens after Borussia Dortmund gets a penalty?

It depends on which player on the field feels good and who takes it. If he scores, then the next time there is a penalty, it will still be him, until this person doesn't want to take the penalty, or misses it.

Previously, Borussia Dortmund's penalty kicks were taken by Şahin. Remember the penalty kick in Schalke 04's penalty area when Zhou Yi fell to the ground in the Ruhr derby last season?

The penalty taker was Şahin.

However, Şahin transferred away from the team this season, and Borussia Dortmund has not received a penalty kick yet.

So who will take it?

Götze had just scored a goal and was in good form, and everyone wanted him to take it.

But Götze didn't want to take this penalty. He asked Zhou Yi: "Why don't you take it?"

As a result, Zhou Yi shook his head and refused: "I don't want my first Champions League goal to be a penalty."

"Hey, don't look down on penalties!" Götze couldn't help shouting.

"I don't mean to look down on penalties, I just think that such a memorable goal, if it's a penalty… it's so boring to talk about…" Zhou Yi waved his hand and shook his head, refusing to take the penalty.

At the same time, he asked Mark again: "Why don't you take it?"

Mark looked at the football and then shook his head: "I don't want my first Champions League goal to be scored by a penalty either. I think with my own strength I should be able to score a more beautiful one…"

Götze, Zhou Yi, and Mark all didn't take the penalty, which was really unexpected to everyone.

Originally, they all thought they should be rushing to take the penalty, after all, penalties are easy to score, and as long as they score, their names will be on the goal statistics.

But unexpectedly, Zhou Yi and Mark both seemed to have aspirations.

Seeing that none of the three young teammates would take it, Hummels couldn't help it and stood up from the crowd: "I'll take it."

Everyone had no objections, so Hummels stepped forward and placed the football on the penalty spot.

The others retreated from the penalty area.

When there was only Hummels and the opposing goalkeeper Mikhailov in the penalty area, the referee blew the whistle in his mouth.

Hummels ran up and then swung his foot to shoot!

The football flew into the goal, 2-0!

※※※

ps, the second update is at six o'clock in the afternoon, from now on, if there are two updates a day, there will be one chapter at eight o'clock in the morning and six o'clock in the afternoon every day!