Chapter 180 An Unexpected Situation

After the Champions League quarterfinal draw results were announced, many Chinese reporters gathered outside Paris Saint-Germain's training base. He Ying was surrounded by fellow Chinese as soon as he finished training.

Everyone wanted to hear his opinion on the draw results.

"No matter who we face, we will go all out for victory," He Ying answered very standardly.

One reporter asked if he had any special thoughts about facing Zhou Yi. He Ying replied, "Is this the first time I've encountered him in a match? It's quite interesting, and I'm looking forward to these two matches."

Another reporter asked, "For Paris Saint-Germain, is it good news to be drawn against Dortmund at this time?"

He Ying didn't understand the logic of the question, and he looked puzzled.

"Dortmund's situation this season is not very good, and several players in the team are injured, which should weaken their strength. So, does Paris Saint-Germain have a chance to reach the semi-finals by meeting Dortmund at this time?" the reporter explained.

He Ying understood the logic behind it. Looking at the reporter's incessant explanations, he thought of what Zhou Yi had said in the group chat last night.

"What if we win another double crown?"

Zhou Yi's words ended the topic as soon as they were spoken, and everyone turned to teasing Guo Nu.

Zhou Yi didn't continue to talk about this topic.

He didn't know if he was joking or if he was serious.

But these words were firmly imprinted in He Ying's mind. At this moment, they jumped out again.

He shook his head and said to the reporter who asked the question, "I don't think so, and I don't think my teammates would think so either. We are facing the defending champions, and they are not easy to deal with. All we can do is go all out for victory."

He Ying's answer made the reporters think that he was just unwilling to express his true thoughts in public. Perhaps to save face for his good friend, he didn't want to make such definitive statements. After all, He Ying was not a big mouth like Sun Pan.

No one knew that He Ying really thought so.

※※※

The Champions League quarterfinal draw results were out, but the first quarterfinal would not begin until the evening of April 1st.

Before that, there were still three rounds of league matches.

Because of the World Cup this summer, the league schedule had to be compressed, otherwise the national team would not have much time for training camps when the season ended normally.

In addition to the league, there were also Champions League matches, which led to a very dense schedule for the teams.

Let's take the next three games as an example.

The twenty-sixth round of the Bundesliga started on the evening of March 21st and lasted until the evening of March 23rd.

The first game of the twenty-seventh round started on the evening of March 25th, just one day after the end of the previous round. The last game of the twenty-seventh round was on the evening of March 26th.

The first game of the twenty-eighth round kicked off on the evening of March 28th, two days after the previous round. The last game was on the afternoon of March 30th.

Then, on the evening of April 1st, Bayern Munich would go to Old Trafford to challenge Manchester United. On the evening of April 2nd, Dortmund would challenge Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes.

With such a dense schedule, it could no longer be described as "two games a week," but "three games a week."

In these three rounds of league matches, Dortmund would face Hannover 96 away, Schalke 04 at home, and Stuttgart away.

Bayern Munich would face Mainz away, Hertha Berlin away, and Hoffenheim at home.

Anyone could see that Dortmund's opponents were stronger than Bayern Munich's, especially with the Revierderby in the middle.

That was a crucial match.

Schalke 04 was now doing everything in its power to fight for the top four in the league. If they could beat Dortmund away, it would definitely consolidate their league ranking.

Conversely, if Dortmund made a slight mistake at home and lost to Schalke 04, they would basically lose hope of competing for the league title.

So, some media said that the next week would be a very crucial week for Dortmund, and they couldn't afford to lose.

※※※

In the twenty-sixth round of the league, Dortmund and Bayern Munich's matches started at the same time.

Before the game, some media joked that this time arrangement was, of course, a coincidence, but after the last round of the league, Guardiola could rest assured that his players would not be distracted in their own matches because they were watching the opponent's match broadcast in the locker room.

Hannover 96 had suspensions and injuries. On the Dortmund side, in addition to the players who were already on the injury list, there were no new injuries, so their lineup could be regarded as their strongest in recent times.

Dortmund had not had any new injuries for several games now. He wondered if this meant their luck was starting to get better...

Although they were playing away, Dortmund was not conservative. From the beginning of the match, they showed an offensive posture.

Less than two minutes into the game, center back Sokratis Papastathopoulos made a long diagonal pass from the backfield directly to the left wing in the frontcourt. He Ying received the ball and dribbled into the penalty area, then took a low shot from a narrow angle, but the ball was saved by Hannover 96's goalkeeper, Ron-Robert Zieler.

Hannover 96, playing at home, was naturally unwilling to be dominated by the opponent in their own stadium.

After twenty-five rounds of the league, Hannover 96 had 29 points, ranking eleventh in the league. This was a mid-table ranking, but the season was not over, so it didn't mean that Hannover 96 would finally get such an unremarkable ranking.

They were only seven points ahead of Freiburg, who was third from last. There were still nine rounds left in the league, and this was definitely not a safe point difference.

In order to successfully avoid relegation, from now on, they would try to get every point they could.

Playing Dortmund at home, they still had a home advantage.

Facing Dortmund's aggressive offensive at the beginning of the game, Hannover 96 chose to defend and counterattack, which was obviously well-prepared, and their counterattack efficiency was very high.

In the twelfth minute, Hannover 96 intercepted the ball and counterattacked. Lars Stindl crossed the ball from the right wing, and Leonardo Bittencourt shot with his right foot from about fourteen meters in the center of the penalty area, but the ball went wide of the left goalpost.

Two minutes later, Hannover 96 got a free kick in the frontcourt. Szabolcs Huszti crossed the ball from the left wing, and Marko, who had retreated to the penalty area to defend, headed the ball clear, but made a mistake, he didn't hit the ball!

"Marko misses the header!"

The ball flew over his head, and behind him, Hannover 96 defender André Hoffmann controlled the ball with his chest, then shot with his right foot from twelve meters away from the goal!

At that time, neither Dortmund's defenders nor goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller could do anything about this close-range shot.

But André Hoffmann's shot hit the near post hard!

"Ahhhhh!" Marcel Reif exclaimed. "André Hoffmann! He almost scored the first goal for the team! But the goalpost of the HDI-Arena mercilessly rejected his shot! At this moment, Hannover 96 fans must be thinking—whose home is this anyway!"

Marcel Reif was, of course, joking. The reality was that this was Hannover 96's home stadium, and the first threatening shot of the game came from Hannover 96's side. Currently, Hannover 96 was also leading Dortmund 2-1 in shots.

Although Dortmund's attack looked more powerful and they had the upper hand in possession.

But Hannover 96 created the more threatening attack.

※※※

Coincidentally, on the other side, Bayern Munich, who were challenging Mainz away, also encountered some trouble.

Considering the Champions League knockout match in the middle of next week, Guardiola made some adjustments to the team's starting lineup. Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski were both on the bench.

And Mainz didn't need to consider the issue of playing on two fronts at all. They had performed well this season and were currently ranked fifth in the league, and had a very good chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season.

So, before the game, Mainz's coach Thomas Tuchel shouted the bold statement of "sending Bayern Munich their first defeat of the season": "We are full of courage. It seems that Bayern Munich is unbeatable, and we are not at the same level as our opponents. But we don't have a better opportunity to beat Bayern Munich. If not this weekend, I don't know when it will be! I am full of confidence in my players, and we will do our best to beat them! We want to beat Bayern Munich!"

After the game started, Mainz, playing at home, was not afraid of the powerful Bayern Munich, but bravely launched an attack against Bayern Munich. Just eight minutes into the game, Mainz had a great opportunity. South Korean player Koo Ja-cheol was successful in getting behind the defense on the left wing and formed a good opportunity for a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but he chose to cross the ball to the bottom line instead of breaking through and shooting. The ball was cleared by Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng in front of the Mainz striker.

In the twelfth minute, Mainz had another chance. Nicolai Müller launched a quick counterattack on the right wing. He shook off David Alaba and shot, but it was saved by Manuel Neuer.

Compared with Mainz, Bayern Munich's performance in these twenty minutes was very ordinary, with nothing to highlight. It even gave the impression that they were being suppressed by Mainz...

The two teams competing for the championship were both held back by their opponents at the same time. He wondered if it was the influence of the Champions League in the middle of next week...

※※※

In the HDI-Arena in Hannover, the game between the two sides was still going on in a situation of mutual offense and defense. The scene was very anxious, and both sides had opportunities.

In the twenty-fourth minute, He Ying received a throw-in from Marcel Schmelzer on the left wing, then used a beautiful turn to get rid of Hannover 96 defender André Hoffmann who was defending him, and then directly broke into the penalty area!

"He Ying is here again! He is performing very actively in this game!"

In Marcel Reif's shouts, He Ying, who broke into the penalty area, pushed a shot from a narrow angle, but the ball was blocked out by Zieler again.

"It's just the handling of the last shot... It's a bit inconsiderate. Wouldn't it be better if he crossed the ball?" Marcel Reif analyzed.

Several minutes later, Hannover 96 also got a good chance—Huszti crossed the ball from the right side, and Stindl took the ball and took a shot with his right foot on the edge of the penalty area!

The ball was saved by Weidenfeller at the near post.

"So dangerous, so dangerous! Hannover 96 almost scored! Now it seems that although both sides have mutual offense and defense, Hannover 96's offense is still more threatening! If they keep playing like this, the first goal might be scored by Hannover 96, who is playing at home..." Marcel Reif said.

※※※

On the Mainz side, in the twenty-third minute, Mainz player Moritz launched a lob shot, but the ball was just slightly higher than the crossbar.

The Bayern Munich fans were frightened, and the atmosphere at the Mainz home stadium became more and more heated.

In the thirtieth minute, Bayern Munich finally launched a threatening attack. Arjen Robben and Thomas Müller cooperated to break into the penalty area, but unfortunately his shot was blocked.

Subsequently, Mainz's over-the-top cross once again passed Bayern Munich's entire defense line, and Neuer had to rush out of the penalty area again to clear the ball with his feet.

Although Mainz's attack did not form a shot, the Mainz fans in the stands still burst into huge cheers. They cheered for every attack and every attempt by their team. This kind of cheering itself can bring pressure to Bayern Munich players.

"Tuchel said before the game that he has been studying Bayern Munich's video and prepared three targeted tactics to meet Bayern Munich... From the past twenty minutes of the game, Tuchel is not bragging, he really did it..." the commentator of the game said.

"Tuchel's tactics in this game are very appropriate. They used their home advantage to fight Bayern Munich head-on. I bet this must have been unexpected by Guardiola. He would never have thought that a team would dare to fight Bayern Munich head-on... But Mainz did it. Their fast counterattacks are very sharp. The forwards Shinji Okazaki, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, and Nicolai Müller all used their speed to create offside opportunities and successfully attacked behind the defense many times. This forced Neuer to often abandon his goal and clear the ball—although Neuer is very good at doing this, it also makes him a little embarrassed..."

"Of course, on the other hand, it is also fortunate that the one guarding Bayern Munich's goal is Neuer, who has always had a wide range of activity. If it were a goalkeeper who didn't like to rush out of the penalty area, then Mainz might have already taken the lead..."

The two games that started at the same time seemed to have entered the same rhythm—the teams playing at home were more dominant, and the two teams competing for the championship both encountered trouble at the same time.