Despite Zhou Jianliang's earnest vigil in front of the television, he caught only fleeting glimpses of his son. With so many players warming up, giving each one a moment on screen would take ages. Besides, renowned stars always enjoyed special treatment, their faces frequently gracing the screen in extended close-ups.

Once the match began, it became even harder to spot him.

Still, Zhou Jianliang remained glued to the television, awaiting the moment his son would enter the game.

When he saw that Dortmund wasn't gaining much of an advantage after the kickoff, he began to daydream about his son being substituted in during the second half to help improve the midfield's performance.

He paid particular attention to Dortmund's starting midfielders, scrutinizing their every move. Whenever someone misplayed a pass or took a poor shot, he would grumble at the television, "The coach should take him off! Can't even pass properly!"

Sitting next to him, Li Cuiyun shot him a look of disdain. "I never knew you could be so chatty while watching a game..."

But it wasn't just Zhou Jianliang who was constantly wondering when Zhou Yi would get his chance. The television commentator, Duan Xin, who was covering the match, would also occasionally discuss Zhou Yi with the viewers at home, starting with his performance during preseason training.

He also speculated about when exactly Klopp would send Zhou Yi onto the field.

"...In recent matches, Dortmund's performance hasn't been great. I think bringing on Zhou Yi could be a reliable way to change things. In the previous friendlies, Zhou Yi has shown that he is calm and experienced, not afraid of the big stage. I think we can place more hope in him for official matches..."

"That's right, that's right!" Hearing the commentator's words, Zhou Jianliang pointed at the television screen and nodded vigorously.

Elsewhere, many Chinese fans watching at home shared the same sentiment—since they had only won one of the previous seven league games and were winless in six consecutive matches, which indicated the team was facing problems, why not seek change? Why not give opportunities to young players like Zhou Yi and Götze?

Some Chinese fans who didn't usually watch Dortmund games or support the team even felt that Klopp was courting disaster. If he continued down this path, he wouldn't be far from being sacked.

※※※

While everyone back home was guessing when he would finally play, Zhou Yi was sitting on the bench, watching the Bundesliga game from a close distance and soaking in the atmosphere.

However...

Zhou Yi felt that the Bundesliga atmosphere at Borussia-Park Stadium was nowhere near as intense as the one at the Westfalenstadion's Südtribüne...

It was just so-so.

Zhou Yi was more focused on the game itself.

Dortmund hadn't gained the upper hand after the kickoff; instead, the home team, Borussia Mönchengladbach, was playing more actively. This matched his simulated impressions of the game in the virtual world. In most of his simulated matches, the same problem occurred—Dortmund struggled to gain the upper hand when playing away.

The Borussia Mönchengladbach fans at Borussia-Park were excited, constantly cheering and supporting their team. They were just waiting for a goal to appear.

For the first thirty minutes of the match, Borussia Mönchengladbach did indeed create more chances.

A winless streak of six games had caused Dortmund's players' morale to plummet, so their performance on the field naturally wasn't great either.

However, the charm of football lies in its unpredictability. Based on what you see now, you can't accurately predict the future course of the game with one hundred percent certainty. The ball is round, and there are endless possibilities.

In the thirty-eighth minute, Dortmund launched an attack. The Brazilian midfielder Tinga passed the ball to Barrios.

As Barrios received the ball, the Borussia Mönchengladbach fans in the stands immediately started booing. It wasn't that they disliked Barrios. Barrios hadn't done anything in the game to make them angry. The booing was purely to mock him, to disrupt his performance.

Since arriving at Dortmund, Barrios hadn't scored a single goal in seven consecutive league games. The league was like a nightmare to him.

The entire Bundesliga knew this, so whenever Barrios got the ball in front of the penalty area during away games, the home fans would boo, hoping to disrupt Barrios and prolong his goal drought.

But this time, when Barrios received the ball and heard the ear-splitting boos, the tightening of his heart brought not nervousness and helplessness, but a surge of anger.

A person who has been under pressure for a long time always needs to explode. It was as if molten lava was flowing through his veins, and if he couldn't release it, it would only cause him to explode from the inside out.

But if he could release it, then he would transform into the most terrifying volcano, erupting with a bang, sending a surge of lava thousands of meters into the sky, then raining it down, making it seem as if the sky was filled with burning meteor showers.

Barrios poured all his lava into the foot that was about to shoot.

*Bang!*

A muffled sound, as if a volcano had erupted.

The football sped toward the goal!

Borussia Mönchengladbach's goalkeeper, Logan Bailly, made a diving save, also lunging towards the ball, but the power of Barrios's shot was clearly beyond his expectations. The speed of the ball was much faster than the speed of his body. It bypassed Bailly's fingertips, and then crashed into...the net inside the goal!

Goal!

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When the ball flew into the goal, the Borussia Mönchengladbach fans in the stands, who were still booing, were stunned. Their booing came to an abrupt halt, as if countless invisible hands had simultaneously grabbed them by the neck...

Marcel Reif, who was commentating on the game, exclaimed, "Barrios! Goal! He actually scored! He's finally scored his first league goal since joining Dortmund!!"

At the same time, back in China, the CCTV commentator Duan Xin also shouted, "Barrios! He's got it! Haha! He scored! He's finally opened his account! Barrios must have been under tremendous pressure during this period, but this goal will reduce the pressure by at least half! Ha!"

Zhou Jianliang, however, wasn't too happy. Dortmund had taken the lead, and Barrios had scored a goal. His pressure had been reduced by half, so did that mean his son's chances of playing had also been reduced by half?

※※※

After scoring the goal, Zhou Yi's words to him that morning suddenly surfaced in Barrios's mind.

"I had a dream, a dream about today's game. I dreamed that we won the game away from home, and that you scored the winning goal!"

He had originally thought they were just words of comfort, but now, when Barrios thought about it, they seemed like a prophecy, or a blessing!

He had actually predicted it—I really did score in this game!

So after scoring the goal, Barrios didn't run to the corner flag alone or do anything special to celebrate. He turned and ran towards the bench, while also constantly waving his hands to signal his teammates not to stop him.

As he ran toward the bench, he shouted at his teammates who had left their seats to cheer and celebrate the goal, "Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi!"

Everyone heard his shout, and the teammates around Zhou Yi consciously separated to both sides, highlighting Zhou Yi.

Then Barrios pounced on him and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you!" He buried his head in Zhou Yi's shoulder and said in his ear.

And so Zhou Yi appeared in the match broadcast for the first time...

※※※

When Zhou Jianliang saw Barrios score, he was still sighing, but in the blink of an eye, he saw his son on the television screen!

Zhou Yi was in the arms of Barrios, who had scored the goal!

"Look, our son!" Li Cuiyun pointed at the screen to remind her stunned husband. "We actually saw him!"

Hearing his wife's slightly excited voice, Zhou Jianliang didn't know whether to cry or laugh...

This wasn't how he wanted to see his son!

Now that the game had started, shouldn't he be seeing his son playing in the game?

The Chinese commentator Duan Xin was also quite surprised to see Zhou Yi appear in the broadcast in this way. "Zhou Yi? Barrios actually ran over to hug Zhou Yi after scoring? What's going on? Is there some story between them? I think the media and fans will definitely be paying attention after the game..."

"Yeah, what's going on?" Zhou Jianliang also muttered to himself while staring at the television.

Li Cuiyun rolled her eyes at her husband, finding that he was acting like he was bewitched today, and his mind wasn't clear. "Don't you know to call him tomorrow and ask?"

"Ah... that's right." Zhou Jianliang also woke up and patted his forehead.

Then he stared at Zhou Yi on the television, who was hugging Barrios. Thanks to the goalscorer Barrios, Zhou Yi also occupied a very prominent position in the camera shot. But the moment was very short, and his shot was cut to a close-up of Barrios and a replay of the goal.

But being able to see his son on television still made Zhou Jianliang very happy, especially seeing that the person who scored the goal had actually taken the initiative to run over and hug his son, and celebrate with him. Zhou Jianliang was very proud and very relieved—it seemed that his son was getting along well with his new teammates over there!

Thinking of this, he laughed out loud happily.

Hearing her husband giggling non-stop at the television screen next to her, Li Cuiyun rarely didn't give her husband an eye roll. She was also staring at the television screen, and the corners of her mouth were raised...

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ps, The three updates are over. From today onwards, there will be two updates every day. Thank you for your support!

The New Year is coming soon, and I wish you all a happy Spring Festival again!