Chapter 57 Cold-Blooded Götze

With Lewandowski off the pitch and no proper center forward, Bayern Munich’s attack became even more flexible, specifically targeting the loopholes in Borussia Dortmund’s defense.

Müller, Götze, and Robben constantly harassed Dortmund’s defense with their flexible runs.

Dortmund’s defense already lacked tactical training. Before, they could focus on marking Lewandowski, but now, facing Bayern Munich’s trident, who were running all over the place, they were at a loss.

Dangerous situations started appearing frequently in front of their goal.

The Dortmund fans in the stands watched their goal as if it could be conceded at any moment, and they were anxious. But all they could do was boo loudly whenever Götze got the ball.

They wanted to use the boos to disrupt Götze.

But Götze in this match was as steady as a rock, unmoved by anything.

The boos couldn't make him hesitate for a moment, nor could they make his movements frantic in the slightest.

Every time he got the ball and passed it, he was clean and efficient, without any sloppiness.

It seemed as if he had really transformed into a cold-blooded killer, completely unburdened by emotions.

When Zhou Yi got the ball in the frontcourt, Götze quickly rushed up. Even though Zhou Yi wasn't his defensive target, he still fearlessly rushed up to intercept Zhou Yi’s ball.

Although Zhou Yi passed the ball away as quickly as possible, he was still hit hard by Götze and almost fell to the ground.

At the sight of this, ear-piercing boos rang out from the stands.

In addition to the boos, there were also many Dortmund fans shouting abuse: "Traitor! Judas!"

"Go to hell! You should go to hell!"

"How dare you foul Zhou Yi! What right do you have to appear in front of him!"

…

Similar curses and boos filled the air above the stadium.

Having been hit, Zhou Yi turned around to look for Götze, but found that Götze had no intention of coming over to show any friendliness. Instead, he turned around and resolutely ran away.

Seeing this, Zhou Yi shook his head.

This kind of Götze was really rare…

When they were in the Dortmund youth team and the first team, he had never seen such a determined Götze.

Did he have such a big hatred for Dortmund?

Zhou Yi couldn't understand.

※※※

In the fifty-seventh minute of the match, six minutes after Götze came on, Bayern Munich organized an attack in Dortmund’s thirty-meter area.

Toni Kroos sent a thirty-meter diagonal pass from the center, and the ball landed directly at Müller’s feet, who had pulled to the right wing.

Robben and Lahm rushed into Dortmund’s penalty area in one go.

The Dortmund defense, standing in a parallel line, could only retreat to respond.

But as mentioned before, although this parallel stance could ensure the integrity of the defense, it would leave some space in front of them, and Götze had keenly seized this space!

While everyone was rushing into the penalty area, he slowed down and stayed behind.

Then Müller saw Götze, who was in the open, and he quickly passed the ball across to him.

The ball passed in front of Dortmund’s defense. Because they had retreated too far, they could only watch the ball roll past, unable to intercept it.

Then Götze received the ball at the top of the penalty arc. There wasn't a single Dortmund defender around him, which showed how chaotic Dortmund's defense was now…

After getting the ball, Götze even took a step forward, moving into the penalty area. Then he swung his right foot and used the outside of his right foot to create an arc. The ball passed through Dortmund's defense, bypassed the hands of goalkeeper Weidenfeller, and flew into the goal, grazing the far post!

"Götze! Götze!!! A beautiful goal! He has broken the goal of his old club, Borussia Dortmund!!"

In Marcel Reif’s exclamation, the boos at Westfalenstadion faltered.

The scene that all Dortmund fans least wanted to see still happened – the traitor Judas they despised had broken Dortmund’s goal in such a crucial match, putting Dortmund behind…

After scoring, Götze didn't run wildly to celebrate. Instead, he raised his hands and placed them on either side of his shoulders, making an apologetic gesture.

Scoring against one’s former club and not celebrating was a way for many players to show respect to their former club.

But Götze’s move did not earn him applause and understanding from the Dortmund fans.

On the contrary, after a brief silence, the boos at Westfalenstadion reappeared, and they were louder than ever before!

"...After Götze scored, the Dortmund fans are booing him frantically. It seems that the conflict between the two sides is not so easy to reconcile. In fact, when Götze decided to leave Dortmund and join Bayern Munich, he should have been able to imagine today, right?" Duan Xin said from a neutral perspective.

Götze himself wasn't clear, but the Bayern Munich players were very excited. They rushed up to hug Götze and celebrate the goal.

They didn't have Götze’s psychological burden, so they naturally wanted to do whatever they wanted, and they didn't care what the Dortmund fans thought.

Off the field, Guardiola also waved his fist to celebrate the goal.

Götze’s goal illustrated one thing – the loopholes in Dortmund’s defense were becoming more and more numerous, and bigger and bigger. It didn't take much effort to exploit them. If the match continued like this, Bayern Munich’s advantage would increase, and the final victory would still belong to Bayern Munich.

※※※

While Dortmund fans were doing their best to send their boos to Götze, Klopp didn't have time to feel sad about Götze’s fatal blow. He had more important things to do.

They had finally managed to equalize, but now they were behind again, and the problems in the defense had been further exposed. He didn't have any good ways to adjust the problems in the defense, but he couldn't remain indifferent and do nothing, watching the opponent take all the advantages.

Of course, he had to counterattack, and he had to counterattack forcefully.

Klopp was considering how to adjust in order to give Bayern Munich a strong counterattack.

He naturally thought of making a substitution.

But how to make the substitution was a very particular matter.

Now, the players sitting on Dortmund’s bench who could enhance the attack were Kuba, Mkhitaryan, Schieber, and Yan Min.

After thinking about it, Klopp made a decision.

He asked assistant coach Buvac to tell Yan Min to warm up.

This time, Buvac didn't even hesitate or show any surprise. He went directly to Yan Min.

What the team needed now was the kind of fearless temperament, and no one was more fearless than Yan Min in this regard.

He had already fully demonstrated his ability in the Champions League group match against Arsenal, so this match was the second stage prepared for him.

Yan Min wasn't surprised that he was called up to warm up. Of course, he knew he was going to play, so what? If he was told to play, then he would play. It wasn't a big deal. He ran to the warm-up area and started warming up with his head down.

※※※

Seeing Yan Min warming up, the broadcast immediately gave him a shot. This was the advantage of the Bundesliga broadcast. The director always understood the game very well, knowing which shots were important and knowing when to give what shots. The television broadcast was speaking with camera language, revealing key information to the audience.

Like now, seeing the shot of Yan Min warming up, everyone knew that Yan Min was going to play.

There were so many people in the warm-up area, so why was it Yan Min who was going to play? The television broadcast gave another shot of Dortmund assistant coach Buvac calling Yan Min to get up. The meaning was very clear and complete.

Duan Xin became excited: "Yan Min is warming up. It seems that Klopp plans to bring him on! Since performing well in the match against Arsenal, Yan Min has gradually gained Klopp’s trust, which is a good thing. But as his playing time increases, Yan Min also needs to show more and better performances to seize these opportunities. Otherwise, like the previous league match, although Yan Min started, his performance was far from his performance in the match against Arsenal, so in this match against Bayern Munich, he has returned to the bench..."

※※※

In the few minutes that Yan Min was warming up, Bayern Munich continued to besiege Dortmund’s goal. They exploited the weakness of Dortmund’s defense – the space in front of them when the defensive line moved in parallel – and constantly launched attacks in this area. If it weren't for Weidenfeller’s outstanding performance, they might have conceded another goal within two minutes.

"Dortmund’s situation is very critical now..." Marcel Reif said. "Götze is performing very actively in Bayern Munich’s attack. Although Dortmund’s fans are still booing him, it seems that the boos from the Dortmund fans are a helpless expression..."

Even Zhou Yi had participated in the defense, constantly retreating to the front of the defensive line to protect the center.

But in this way, he couldn't participate much in the attack, which was also a loss for Dortmund’s attack.

But at this time, Dortmund simply didn't have the heart and energy to consider attacking. They should be thankful if they didn't concede another goal.

A few short minutes became incredibly long at this moment.

When Sven Bender tackled the ball out of bounds, Bayern Munich players wanted to quickly throw the ball in, but the referee stopped them from doing so.

He turned to the sidelines and made a substitution gesture.

Dortmund was finally going to make a substitution!

"In the sixty-second minute of the match, Dortmund has made the first substitution of the match. About to come on is Yan Min!" Duan Xin said excitedly. "And the player being replaced by Yan Min is... Sahin?!"

At the end, Duan Xin’s tone was full of surprise.

He knew Yan Min was going to come on, but he thought Yan Min would replace Aubameyang, which would at least be a like-for-like substitution.

As a result, Klopp once again surprised everyone. He chose to replace defensive midfielder Sahin!

The defense was already unstable, and now he was removing a defensive midfielder, wouldn't the defense become even more unstable?

In order to strengthen the attack, had Klopp gone so crazy?!