Perhaps it was because Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund were so familiar with each other in recent years, or perhaps it was because Real Madrid's eagerness for revenge set the tone—Real Madrid was eliminated in the semifinals last season, and the "culprit" was Borussia Dortmund. And later, Borussia Dortmund won the Champions League, which made Real Madrid fans couldn't help but wonder, if Real Madrid had eliminated Borussia Dortmund and entered the Champions League final, would Real Madrid have won the championship in the end?
Because of these factors, the pace of this game was very fast.
In the first four minutes, both sides had three shots, two of which almost broke the deadlock, one for each side, a tie.
When Borussia Dortmund restarted the game, they found that Real Madrid's players did not retreat to the midfield in one go. Benzema was at the front of Borussia Dortmund's defensive line, and the others also had corresponding defensive matchups.
Unless Weidenfeller kicked the ball far forward, if they wanted to pass and penetrate with short passes, they would definitely face Real Madrid's pressing in their own half.
Seeing this situation, Zhou Yi took the initiative to retreat to support his teammates.
Faced with his deep retreat, Khedira couldn't follow up, otherwise the area he was originally responsible for could become a gap, which Borussia Dortmund could seize and exploit.
Although Zhou Yi is the absolute core of Borussia Dortmund, he is not the only player who can get the ball and threaten Real Madrid's defense.
Borussia Dortmund's other players have cooperated with Zhou Yi for several seasons, especially Weidenfeller, who knows what to do in this situation.
In previous games, they had encountered situations where they were pressed like this by their opponents. Borussia Dortmund had done a lot of training to address this situation.
So when Zhou Yi just ran to a "no man's land," Weidenfeller decisively kicked the ball over.
Before Weidenfeller passed the ball to him, Zhou Yi first turned his head to the left to take in the situation on the left side. When the ball was passed to him, he quickly turned his head to the right, recording the situation on the right side. And when running towards Weidenfeller, he also turned his head to look at the situation behind him. So at this time, with his body as the center, he had a complete grasp of the surrounding 360-degree situation.
At the same time, in his brain, he analyzed all the information he had grasped, and then made the most reasonable choice based on the experience he had accumulated in countless games in the virtual world.
When the ball was passed to him, Bale had already rushed towards him.
If Zhou Yi wanted to turn around and dribble the ball himself, he would not be able to outrun Bale in terms of speed, and it would be easy for Bale to stick to him with his speed. And in terms of physical strength, he is also inferior to Bale. As long as the opponent keeps putting pressure on him, he will not be able to hold the ball well.
But at the same time, because Bale pounced on him, there were no Real Madrid players in his original position, which was a relatively empty space.
And Yan Min happened to retreat to that place.
So Zhou Yi did not stop the ball, but adjusted his body direction at the same time as receiving the ball, and then directly swept the ball horizontally with his left foot, passing it to Yan Min, who retreated to meet him.
Bale pounced but missed.
At the same time, there was a gap behind him.
After receiving Zhou Yi's pass, Yan Min immediately dribbled the ball forward.
Bale quickly turned around to chase Yan Min.
Before he caught up with him, Yan Min passed the ball again, passing it to his left back teammate Schmelzer, who was cutting in from the wing.
After passing the ball, he continued to rush forward, forcing Real Madrid's right back Carvajal not to dare to come up to defend Schmelzer, but to follow Yan Min instead.
However, Carvajal didn't have to worry about Schmelzer being unmarked. Bale ran to defend Schmelzer again.
Schmelzer did not hesitate and immediately passed the ball to the middle again. At this time, Zhou Yi had leaned over and appeared in a receiving position, just in time to receive Schmelzer's pass.
But at the same time, because Zhou Yi came up, he also entered Khedira's defensive zone, so Khedira also rushed towards him.
Zhou Yi did not really receive the ball, but spread his legs apart and let the ball pass through his crotch.
This leak was unexpected by Khedira, and he missed!
After leaking the ball, Zhou Yi accelerated forward.
The ball was leaked by him to Sven Bender, who also immediately pushed the ball forward, giving it to Zhou Yi, who was cutting in.
Zhou Yi thus got rid of Khedira's defense.
"Good ball!" He Ping exclaimed in admiration, "Got rid of him!"
After getting rid of Khedira's defense, Zhou Yi did not immediately pass the ball, but dribbled the ball towards Real Madrid's penalty area.
His forward movement forced Ramos to rush up to fill Khedira's gap, resulting in loopholes in their defense.
This is what Zhou Yi wanted. After seeing Ramos come up, Zhou Yi subtly pushed the ball to the right front with the outside of his right foot while dribbling, passing it to Aubameyang, who was pulling horizontally.
Varane quickly came over to defend Aubameyang. Under his interference, Aubameyang's shot went wide.
"Aubameyang... missed, alas! What a pity!" He Ping exclaimed. "Although Borussia Dortmund did not score in this attack, the entire process of the attack was very smooth. From Weidenfeller's pass to Aubameyang's shot, Borussia Dortmund kept passing the ball without letting a Real Madrid player touch the ball. And in this process, Zhou Yi was the key figure in promoting this attack. He repeatedly supported and passed the ball, allowing Borussia Dortmund's attack to run smoothly... He is the brain of Borussia Dortmund!"
No matter what the situation, praising Zhou Yi is absolutely right.
And Zhou Yi's performance does deserve the praise.
This attack was very beautiful, but it is a pity that Aubameyang's shot did not grasp the opportunity.
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Borussia Dortmund did not play conservatively in this attack, and quickly pushed the ball to Real Madrid's frontcourt.
And when it was Real Madrid's turn to attack, they gave full play to the tacit understanding and personal abilities of the BBC combination. Modric sent a wonderful through ball to Bale, and the Welsh winger cut inside and then passed the ball horizontally. If Hummels had not poked the ball in time, the ball would have been passed to Cristiano Ronaldo, who was in the middle of the penalty area, which would have been dangerous.
Both sides are not conservative and have opportunities to threaten each other's goals.
The following game is also like this.
Back and forth, the pace is fast, and there are many shots, which makes the audience really enjoy it.
The commentators also praised the two teams' game mentality:
"...This may be the fastest-paced Champions League final I have ever seen!"
"Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund are not conservative at all. Borussia Dortmund's coach Klopp has always been a madman who doesn't play cards according to common sense, but it is a bit surprising that Ancelotti, such a steady coach, is also doing this... Of course, perhaps Ancelotti is confident enough in his team's offensive firepower, so he is dealing with Klopp like this—if you want to attack, then Real Madrid will definitely not be at a disadvantage!"
"The game has been going on for fifteen minutes, and the two sides have jointly contributed eight shots, four shots each, and the number of shots is tied. The number of times they have entered the opponent's thirty-meter area is even more, with a total of ten times for both sides. You must know that the game has only started for fifteen minutes... Such a high-quality attack is rare in ordinary games, let alone the Champions League final!"
"Thanks to Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund's active attack, we have seen a wonderful fifteen minutes!"
"...I think this final can be regarded as a major test of heart health for the fans of both teams..."
But the active attack of both sides does not mean that their defenses are all in vain.
In fact, while actively attacking, the intensity of the two teams' scrambling is not low at all.
In the sixteenth minute, Coentrao pushed Royce to the ground. Royce was not slow to react to Coentrao's action, and he asked the referee to show Coentrao a yellow card. However, the referee Kuipers did not do so, but only gave a verbal warning.
Then in the twenty-second minute, Royce retaliated by tackling Coentrao in the game. This time, the referee Kuipers did not hesitate to show Royce a yellow card, which was the first yellow card in the game.
This penalty caused some dissatisfaction among Borussia Dortmund players, who believed that the referee's penalty was clearly biased towards Real Madrid.
However, Real Madrid's center back Ramos came up at this time to accuse Royce's retaliatory foul of being too excessive. His actions further intensified the emotions of Borussia Dortmund players. In order to control the situation, the referee Kuipers also showed Ramos a yellow card...
"What is Ramos doing?" The Spanish commentator was very surprised. "What does this have to do with him? What is he doing up there? He even got himself a yellow card! He is a center back! A center back getting a yellow card so early because of this meaningless thing has planted a time bomb for himself in the next game... What is he thinking?"
Not to mention that the Spanish commentator couldn't figure it out, Real Madrid's coach Ancelotti was also very dissatisfied with Ramos's actions. He waved his arm angrily on the sidelines, and then turned to his assistant coach Zidane to complain: "It was clearly a situation where we had the advantage, but now it's even! It's even more unfavorable for us..."
Zidane explained: "Sergio is a bit impulsive sometimes. He may want to stand up for his teammates..."
In this way, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund each had one player get a yellow card.