Dortmund passed the ball back and forth in their own half with no regard for anything, stalling for time. And yet, they were still greeted with cheers from the fans in the stands. The Dortmund fans even enthusiastically joined in counting how many consecutive passes Dortmund had made...

This was only possible at Westfalenstadion. If it were at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, the air would have been filled with deafening boos.

Simeone watched from the sidelines, his face ashen.

He never imagined Dortmund could be so shameless.

He had instructed his team to tighten their defense, not giving Dortmund any opportunities for quick passing plays.

Who would have thought that Dortmund would just abandon their quick passing game altogether and pass the ball around in their own half like this?

If the Atlético Madrid players didn't press forward, Dortmund wouldn't pass the ball forward either.

And since this was Dortmund's home turf, the atmosphere of the stadium completely favored Dortmund, and the Dortmund players felt no psychological pressure at all while passing the ball back and forth like this.

But time continued to tick away, second by second.

He couldn't just let them sit back.

Simeone now felt that if he didn't make any changes, Dortmund really could just keep passing the ball around in their own half...

Thinking of this, Simeone had no choice but to make adjustments.

He instructed the forwards and attacking midfielders to press forward and win the ball back, but the defensive line remained unchanged.

This would of course cause a disconnect between the front and back lines, but at least it would break the current deadlock. As long as their defensive line remained intact, even if there was a disconnect, the consequences wouldn't be too severe...

※※※

Simeone's adjustments were quickly relayed to the players on the field. Diego Costa no longer had to fall back, but was allowed to press forward and tackle.

Costa had been holding back a bellyful of fire for a long time. Now, he pounced on Dortmund's defense like a tiger descending from the mountains.

The other Atlético Madrid players quickly followed.

As they pressed forward and their formation stretched out, some gaps appeared behind them.

Dortmund wasn't really trying to stall for time. They wanted to lure the Atlético Madrid players to press forward, creating space they could exploit.

After the Atlético Madrid players pressed forward, Dortmund stopped passing the ball back and forth in their own half and instead passed it forward cleanly and efficiently.

The match could finally proceed normally...

In the fifty-fifth minute, Yan Min passed the ball into the penalty area. Courtois came out to intercept, but failed to clear it properly. The ball fell to the edge of the penalty box, where Reus followed up with a shot.

Fortunately, Courtois reacted quickly, and since Reus's shot was a bit too straight, the ball still landed in Courtois's arms.

In the fifty-ninth minute, Aubameyang continuously shook off his defenders in the penalty area and created an angle before unleashing a powerful right-footed shot, but the ball was once again saved by Courtois.

In the process, Atlético Madrid also organized some counterattacks.

In the sixty-first minute, Yan Min lost the ball, and Atlético Madrid launched a counterattack. They moved the ball all the way to the edge of Dortmund's penalty area, where Koke took a long-range shot, but didn't get much power behind it. Weidenfeller easily caught the ball.

"...Koke's shot is Atlético Madrid's first shot on target in this match! Not easy!" Marcel Reif said. "One hour into the game and only one shot on target... So far, Atlético Madrid has been completely suppressed by Dortmund."

※※※

During halftime, Simeone said that Atlético Madrid needed to be patient and wait for Dortmund to run out of energy.

But he had misjudged the situation. It wasn't Atlético Madrid that needed patience, but Dortmund. Time wasn't on Atlético Madrid's side.

You have to know that with the current score, if the match ended right now, Dortmund would absolutely accept it, but Atlético Madrid wouldn't.

They had to score.

But time was ticking away, and they didn't have much time left to break the deadlock.

It was already the sixty-first minute, and Atlético Madrid had half an hour left to score at least one goal.

But judging by the current state of the match, no one believed that Atlético Madrid could score. Sixty minutes into the game, they only had four shots in total, and only one was on target...

With such statistics and such a performance, how could they score in the last thirty minutes?

You have to know that as the game goes on, the initiative will gradually shift to Dortmund, who are leading by three goals.

Dortmund can be even more patient than Atlético Madrid.

To score, they must make changes again, at least they can't continue to play with such a disconnect between the front and back lines.

The impact might not be that great when defending, but it has a huge impact on attacking—after attacking, they find that there are no teammates following up to support them, and Atlético Madrid's attack will lack confidence and layers, and it will be easily intercepted by Dortmund.

Simeone naturally knew that to make the attack threatening, they had to commit more troops, at least the two full-backs must participate in the attack.

But in this way, there would be more space behind the defensive line, and he was worried that Dortmund would launch another quick attack.

But he had no choice but to do so, otherwise, returning to the home court with a score of 0:3 would be no different from being eliminated early...

Simeone is also a coach with a fiery spirit. He decided to fight Dortmund to the death in the last thirty minutes!

So he waved his hand and told Atlético Madrid to take the initiative to attack.

※※※

Faced with Atlético Madrid's adjustments, Dortmund on the field also made targeted adjustments—they restarted their quick passing game!

"Oh! My God! Dortmund is back in full force! Playing like this is very exhausting! I really wonder if Dortmund's players are all robots. Why can they still play like this?!" the Spanish commentator exclaimed.

Both sides are attacking, but it is clear that Dortmund's attack is more threatening. They not only suppressed Atlético Madrid's attack, but also threatened the goal guarded by Courtois.

In the sixty-fifth minute, Zhou Yi sent a wonderful pass with his heel outside the penalty area. Aubameyang received the ball in the penalty area, turned around and shot!

The ball bypassed Courtois's fingers, but went slightly wide of the far post...

Two minutes later, Reus cut inside from the wing and suddenly played a through ball. Mark's shot in the penalty area was saved by Courtois.

"Dortmund has had continuous shooting opportunities in a very short period of time, and they have all threatened Atlético Madrid's goal!"

Faced with Dortmund's aggressive offensive, Atlético Madrid can only use foul tactics to stop Dortmund.

In the sixty-ninth minute, Atlético Madrid's Brazilian midfielder Diego elbowed Sven Bender in the right side of the face when challenging for a header, and Sven Bender fell to the ground, covering his face.

But the referee only showed Diego a yellow card, and did not show a red card to send him off directly, which aroused dissatisfaction among the fans and Dortmund players and coaches.

For a time, boos erupted from the stands of Westfalenstadion, and assistant coach Željko Buvač stood up and yelled loudly to protest—Klopp has learned to be smart, and lets his assistant do things that may lead to penalties. In this way, even if the referee wants to use thunderous means to maintain his authority, it is only the assistant coach who is sent to the stands, not him, and the impact on the team is much smaller.

Buvač is also happy to be Klopp's "scapegoat." Everything is for the team's interests as the highest consideration. What's the big deal about him personally going to the stands?

On the field, Dortmund's players surrounded referee Eriksson, arguing for justice, thinking that a yellow card was too light and that it should be a red card.

If they could send Diego off with a red card, then Atlético Madrid's midfield would lose the ability to organize attacks, and Atlético Madrid would basically have no chance to counterattack. This game would be won. At the same time, Diego would definitely not be able to play in the next round, which would cause irreparable damage to Atlético Madrid's strength. When Dortmund went to the away game, it would be relatively easier...

Dortmund's calculations were like this.

However, there was also a reason why referee Eriksson did not give a red card—Diego's arm naturally extended after he jumped up and hit Sven Bender's face. The action itself was unintentional, and Diego had no intention of elbowing him deliberately, so giving a yellow card warning was already the limit. If he had met a referee with a more lenient standard of judgment, he might not have even given a yellow card, let alone a red card.

This penalty still affected the mood of the Dortmund players.

Sven Bender subsequently committed another retaliatory foul on Diego, which resulted in him also receiving a yellow card, and this yellow card will cause him to miss the second leg against Atlético Madrid...

"Sven Bender's foul was unnecessary, it was completely retaliation... There is no dispute about the yellow card. In this way, he will miss the second leg against Atlético Madrid. As Dortmund's main, or even only, defensive force in midfield, his absence will have a very big impact on Dortmund..." commentator Marcel Reif sighed.

Klopp on the sidelines was also very dissatisfied with Sven Bender's foul. He stood up and roared at the field.

Of course, he wasn't scolding the referee—Željko Buvač should be doing that—he was scolding Sven Bender. This retaliatory foul was too stupid.

It should have been a flawless victory, but now, because of this yellow card, Dortmund's victory was suddenly cast in shadow...