Halfway through the season, the champion isn't really an honor. There aren't even any trophies or medals. It's just an important reference for the probability of winning the league title.

So even though everyone was happy, that happiness couldn't last for long.

They still had games to play.

The media were excited for even longer than the Borussia Dortmund team. The local Dortmund media touted their team, claiming that Dortmund was unstoppable.

From the tenth round of the league, Klopp's Borussia Dortmund had maintained a winning record in all competitions, six consecutive league wins, two consecutive Champions League wins, a total of eight games, all won.

Saying they were unstoppable wasn't entirely unreasonable.

However, Dortmund ended their winning streak in the final round of the Champions League group stage against Twente, drawing 3-3 away from home.

Zhou Yi didn't even travel for this away game, and not only him, but Götze, Kagawa Shinji and others were not included in the match squad. Klopp rotated almost half the team, so it wasn't too surprising that they drew 3-3 with Twente.

Anyway, Dortmund had already qualified as the top of the group, so it didn't matter what the final game was like.

At the post-match press conference, Klopp was also asked about the winning streak.

"I don't think there's anything to regret about the end of the winning streak. Continuing to win would become a burden for my team. Winning or losing this kind of game doesn't matter. If losing this group stage game can get us the Champions League title, then I would lose the game without hesitation."

Then a Chinese reporter asked, "In a while, Zhou Yi will leave the team to return to participate in the Asian Cup. Will this have an impact on the team?"

Klopp frowned upon hearing this question, not because he was dissatisfied with the question, but because it did make him feel a headache.

Zhou Yi was leaving to participate in the Asian Cup…

When the team was in good shape, they would be missing a core midfielder. When he insisted on having Zhou Yi as the single core, why didn't he think about the Asian Cup?

And the Asian Cup, like the Africa Cup of Nations, was not arranged in the summer, but in the winter!

The Africa Cup of Nations was one thing. They were in the southern hemisphere, and the northern hemisphere's winter was their southern hemisphere's summer, which was the right time for football.

But Asia was in the northern hemisphere, why were they joining in the fun?

Klopp obviously forgot that although Qatar was in the northern hemisphere, the temperature there in the summer was over forty degrees, which was not suitable for football... so it could only be arranged in the winter.

And in the future Qatar World Cup, there was a high probability that it would be held in the winter as well. Then it wouldn't just be Klopp who was suffering, but the entire European league…

"Yes, the Chinese Football Association has already negotiated with us, and we will let Zhou Yi participate in the Asian Cup. It is impossible to say that the absence of an important main player will have no impact on the team. But Dortmund is a team, a whole, and our other players are also capable of making up for the gap left by Zhou Yi... In short, we will..."

After Klopp finished answering the Chinese reporter's question, a Japanese reporter raised his hand and asked, "What do you think about Kagawa Shinji going back to participate in the Asian Cup..."

Klopp really wanted to flip the table.

Oh yeah, there was Kagawa Shinji too!

Damn it!

Two main players were gone at once!

Klopp, who was obviously impatient, repeated the answer he had just given to the Chinese reporter to the Japanese reporter, just changing the player's name. Even a fool could see his perfunctory attitude.

The Asian Cup was indeed very unfavorable for Dortmund.

The 2011 Qatar Asian Cup started on January 7 and lasted until January 29, about a month.

Although the Bundesliga had a winter break, it couldn't last until February in one go. Moreover, even if they could take a break until February, the Asian Cup would still affect Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji's participation in the team's training camp.

The second half of this season's Bundesliga started on January 14, the eighteenth round of the league, Dortmund challenging Leverkusen away from home. This game was the first game of the second half of the Bundesliga.

Judging from the Asian Cup schedule, the group stage hadn't even finished at that time.

This was indeed a headache for Klopp.

But he couldn't refuse to let them go. The Asian Cup was a competition that FIFA stipulated clubs must release players for, otherwise the national team could completely sue the club to FIFA and demand compensation.

This was also one of the reasons why Klopp's team was frantically grabbing points during this period.

※※※

After finishing the away Champions League group stage game, the entire Dortmund team returned to Germany. Before the winter break came, they still had two league games.

In the sixteenth round of the league, Dortmund returned to their home stadium to face Werder Bremen.

Zhou Yi, Götze, and Kagawa Shinji, who didn't go to the away Champions League group stage game, all returned to the starting lineup, helping Dortmund beat Werder Bremen 2-0 at home, achieving a seven-game winning streak in the league.

A week later, Dortmund would go to Frankfurt to challenge Eintracht Frankfurt away from home. After playing this game, the Bundesliga would enter the winter break, and the players would get a half-month vacation. Most players would choose to accompany their families to warm and picturesque Southern Europe for vacation.

And Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji would leave the team and return to their respective countries to participate in the preparations for the Asian Cup.

Regarding the Asian Cup issue, reporters not only asked Klopp, but also Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji.

Strictly speaking, Chinese football and Japanese football were not on the same level now. Chinese football was far behind Japanese football, but everyone was still very interested in the confrontation between Chinese and Japanese football, whether it was Chinese reporters or Japanese reporters.

Especially when there were two players from China and Japan in one team, and these two players were still the leading stars in their respective national teams.

Not to mention Zhou Yi, although young, he was the absolute main player of the Chinese national team.

What about Kagawa Shinji?

Half a year ago, he was unable to be selected for Japan's 23-man World Cup squad, but now, with his outstanding performance in Dortmund, he had become an indispensable main player for the Japanese national team. This could be seen from his jersey number in the Japanese national team - number ten, a number symbolizing the core and the main player.

And for Kagawa Shinji, there was another good news - because of his outstanding performance in Dortmund for half a season, he also won the honor of the best player in the first half of the Bundesliga season.

If there were no accidents, these two people would become high-profile stars in the Asian Cup.

"Me and Kagawa?" Zhou Yi, who was surrounded by Chinese and Japanese reporters, was a little surprised that they would ask about the Asian Cup in advance. "The Asian Cup hasn't started yet, right?"

"It will open in more than half a month, right? The Chinese team is in Group A, and the Japanese team is in Group B. According to the knockout rules, the first in Group A will play against the second in Group B, and the second in Group A will play against the first in Group B..."

"Well, wouldn't it be over if we just get the first place in the group?" Zhou Yi said.

If they both get the first place in the group, if they can still meet, they will have to wait until the final…

"If we meet, do you think the Chinese team can beat the Japanese team?" This question was not asked by a Japanese reporter, but by a Chinese reporter.

"As long as we go all out, nothing is impossible." Zhou Yi answered neither humble nor arrogant, neither arrogantly expressing that he could definitely win, nor feeling inferiorly that he could definitely not win.

Kagawa Shinji was also facing the same problem as Zhou Yi.

He was also surrounded by Japanese and Chinese reporters.

The Japanese reporters didn't seem to care much about whether the two teams could meet, and who would win if they met, but were more gossipy: "Kagawa, you and Zhou-san have a good relationship, right?"

"Yes, we communicate a lot in private and have a good relationship." Kagawa Shinji nodded in agreement.

"So what kind of issues do you usually exchange when you are together?"

"We talk about all kinds of topics. Zhou-san is just like ordinary young people..."

The Chinese reporters still cared about the topic of Sino-Japanese football confrontation: "If you want to meet Zhou Yi, it's either in the first round of the knockout stage or in the final..."

Kagawa Shinji smiled and waved his hand and said, "I don't want to meet him before the final!"

The Chinese reporters liked to hear this, because Kagawa Shinji thought that Zhou Yi was a powerful opponent who made him feel troublesome and didn't want to meet.

However, some Chinese reporters still wanted to get to the bottom of it: "So if you meet him, who do you think will win?"

"Although Zhou-san and I have a good relationship, I will not lose to him if we meet in the game." Kagawa Shinji said seriously. "I will do my best to defeat him."

He also showed the qualities that a professional player should have.

"Do you have any agreements about the Asian Cup?" This question with a touch of chuunibyou (中二病) was asked by a Japanese reporter.

"Uh, I don't think so." Kagawa Shinji frowned and thought for a while.

Faced with this question, Zhou Yi directly shook his head and said, "No."

This was a bit disappointing for the media - there was no agreement, how could they hype it up?