Chapter 1 A Brilliant Shot, Wagner!

“Mark Wagner! A brilliant shot!! He’s scored his twenty-first league goal of the season! He’s broken his own single-season league goal record again! And he's widened the gap with Lewandowski again! Lewandowski just scored a penalty... Before, when they were both at Borussia Dortmund, they were both rivals and teammates, so they couldn't fully compete with each other. But this season, with Lewandowski moving to Bayern Munich, they don't have to worry about that teammate relationship when competing with each other… Both Lewandowski and Mark have been on fire this season, especially Mark, who has successfully made Borussia Dortmund fans forget about Lewandowski with his goals…”

Marcel Reif rattled on.

“If he can beat Lewandowski this season and become the Bundesliga’s top scorer, I think it will be very meaningful for Mark himself… After all, if he hadn’t been injured, Lewandowski might not have had a chance… When he recovered from his injury, he found it difficult to take back his starting position from Lewandowski…”

Duan Xin once again turned her praise to Zhou Yi: “…When Lewandowski was there, Lewandowski was the top scorer, but now that Lewandowski is gone, the top scorer has become Mark. Lewandowski scored twenty-six goals last season to become the top scorer, but this season his league goal tally hasn't even reached twenty. On the other hand, Mark, who previously scored a maximum of seventeen goals in a single season, has now scored twenty goals… What does this show? Both players, as forwards, need the support of their teammates. What do Bayern Munich's midfield and Borussia Dortmund's home ground lack? Of course, they lack a Zhou Yi! With Zhou Yi, Lewandowski is the top scorer, without Zhou Yi, Lewandowski can't be the top scorer! So Zhou Yi is the key factor in determining who can be the top scorer!”

Of course, Zhou Yi is the key factor in determining the top scorer.

Mark’s goal was his twenty-fourth assist of the season. He is the only player in the European leagues with more than twenty assists, and the only player to have more than twenty assists for two consecutive seasons.

After him, the player with the most assists is Real Madrid's Di Maria, who has fifteen assists so far this season.

There should be no doubt that Zhou Yi is one of the top midfield organizers in European football today.

Moreover, it should be noted that the definition of "assist" in the Bundesliga is very strict.

According to FIFA's definition of an assist: 1. Only the player who makes the final pass to the scorer is credited with an assist; 2. Of the two players who contribute significantly to the goal, only the last player is credited with an assist; 3. A shot that hits the goal frame and bounces back to be scored is considered an assist; 4. The player who creates the penalty or direct free kick that leads to a goal is credited with an assist; 5. If a player dribbles past opponents to score, there is no assist; 6. There is no assist if a player scores after receiving a pass from the opponent.

In the official Bundesliga statistics, only the first and second rules are recognized as assists, and the remaining situations do not count as assists. That is to say, if Zhou Yi is tripped in the penalty area, causing the referee to award Borussia Dortmund a penalty, and the penalty is eventually scored, it does not count as Zhou Yi's assist.

So under such strict standards, it is truly terrifying that Zhou Yi can still produce twenty-four assists in a single season.

Such a player is not only the best in the Bundesliga, but also the most outstanding midfielder in Europe.

In the past, people always paid more attention to the forwards who scored goals. But Zhou Yi’s emergence has changed this situation. Now, people discuss and value assisting players more. Excellent organizers and assisters are the dream of any team.

That's why Bayern Munich was willing to risk Borussia Dortmund suing them to FIFA in order to poach Zhou Yi.

They clearly understood Zhou Yi’s importance to the team.

Although Bayern Munich has no shortage of good midfielders, none of them are as efficient at assisting as Zhou Yi.

In the Bundesliga assists chart this season, the highest-ranked Bayern Munich players are Ribéry and Thomas Müller, who have both contributed ten assists. Next is Götze, who has contributed nine assists.

There are three Bayern Munich players in the top ten of the assists chart, while Borussia Dortmund has only two, but the number of assists is twenty-nine to thirty-seven. Twenty-nine is the number of assists on Bayern Munich’s side, and thirty-seven is on Borussia Dortmund’s side, with Zhou Yi at twenty-four and Reus at thirteen, ranking first and second respectively, a very clear advantage.

※※※

The news of Borussia Dortmund's goal made the atmosphere on the Bayern Munich coaching bench and substitute bench somewhat heavy. The previous cheerful atmosphere had disappeared.

The television broadcast also redisplayed the real-time standings – Borussia Dortmund had regained the lead over Bayern Munich by one point, becoming the league leader again.

This was enough to make Bayern Munich feel frustrated.

But it wasn't over yet.

Three minutes later, just three minutes after Borussia Dortmund scored, they scored again!

This time it was still Zhou Yi, who flicked the ball behind him with his heel on the edge of the penalty area, and Reus, who followed up, shot!

The football drew a beautiful arc, bypassed Hertha Berlin's goalkeeper Kraft, and flew into the goal for the second time!

“2:0!! 2:0!! Borussia Dortmund leads Hertha Berlin by two goals! Reus extends the lead for the team!” Marcel Reif shouted excitedly. “They are two goals ahead of Hertha Berlin away from home, which means they are one step closer to winning the league title for the fourth time in a row!”

“Damn it…” Someone on the Bayern Munich coaching bench lowered his head and cursed.

On the Borussia Dortmund coaching bench, however, it was a completely different scene – everyone jumped up, hugging and cheering.

“The twenty-fifth assist of the league! Zhou Yi is further breaking his own record!” Duan Xin was also particularly happy for Zhou Yi.

※※※

After Borussia Dortmund took a 2:0 lead over Hertha Berlin, the score did not change again until the end of the first half.

The first half of the game ended at about the same time on both sides.

Bayern Munich players didn't have to ask anyone about the score of the Borussia Dortmund and Hertha Berlin game, because they already knew. During the game, there were two very loud boos at the Allianz Arena, the first of which was when they had just scored and were celebrating.

Everyone knew what that meant. It meant Borussia Dortmund had scored.

Two such boos meant Borussia Dortmund had scored two goals.

And apart from the loud cheers when Bayern Munich scored, no other cheers were heard, which meant Hertha Berlin had not scored.

So the score in the first half should be 2:0, with Borussia Dortmund leading by two goals.

Entering the locker room, some people were still angrily complaining: “I knew you couldn't rely on the Berlin team!”

But more people remained silent.

Götze leaned back in his seat, panting heavily. He had worked very hard in the first half and even provided an assist.

But he could only determine the outcome of his own team, not the outcome of Borussia Dortmund.

He left Borussia Dortmund to prove that he was no worse than Zhou Yi, but now he was being left further and further behind by Zhou Yi…

So was his original choice still meaningful?

Guardiola walked into the locker room and clapped his hands, saying: “Don't worry about other things, focus all your attention on the game in front of you. Doing your best is more important than caring about others!”

Götze didn't even bother to pretend to be invigorated.

※※※

Completely different from the Bayern Munich locker room, the Borussia Dortmund locker room was full of a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere, so when Klopp opened the door and felt this atmosphere, he immediately roared loudly: “What are you doing?! Celebrating the championship in advance? Should we prepare the champagne now?!”

His roar frightened the players, and everyone turned to look at him. Klopp's face was contorted and furious, and the locker room fell silent for a moment.

“Do you think everything is fine with 2:0? Think about AC Milan, they lost the game after leading 3:0. So anything is possible. As long as the game isn't over, never think you've won. In the second half, we have to play seriously. I don't accept the score of 2:0, because I don't think it's safe. I want you to score more goals and continue to extend the score until our opponents feel desperate!”

Borussia Dortmund’s opponents are not only Hertha Berlin in this game, but of course also include Bayern Munich.

Klopp didn’t know whether Bayern Munich would give up because of the current score. He preferred to believe that his old rivals wouldn’t give in so easily, so in order to ensure safety, Borussia Dortmund of course had to go all out.

But Klopp definitely couldn't have imagined that this time he had completely defeated his old rivals who had been entangled for several years…