Chapter 1 ......In 2002

"...In 2002, Real Madrid last won the Champions League trophy. Twelve years later, Real Madrid has experienced two Galáctico eras, spending more than a billion pounds on the world's superstars. But since 2005, Real Madrid has been eliminated in the Champions League Round of 16 for six consecutive seasons, creating the bitter joke of 'Mr. Sixteen'. Now, twelve years later, Real Madrid has finally reached the final stage. Will their tenth championship trophy await them?"

The TV screen was showing a preview program for the Champions League final, followed by a collection of Real Madrid's journey this season, especially the game where Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 4-0 away. Cristiano Ronaldo shaking his palm back and forth to celebrate the goal was particularly highlighted.

Coupled with the various roars of the live commentary, it was truly exhilarating to watch.

After introducing Real Madrid, it switched to Borussia Dortmund.

"As the Champions League champion last season, Borussia Dortmund created a miraculous season. But this season is even more miraculous. With a team plagued by injuries this season, many people were not optimistic about their performance. For a while, the league and the Champions League seemed destined to collapse for the defending champions... But who would have thought that this team would actually win the Bundesliga title in the end? Now they have also defeated Simeone's Atletico Madrid and reached the Champions League final for two consecutive seasons. Since the Champions League reform, no team has been able to successfully defend their title. This has become a 'curse'. So this time, can Borussia Dortmund, who miraculously entered the Champions League final, break the 'curse'?"

Similarly, Dortmund's Champions League journey this season was being played.

The highlight was the first leg of the semi-final, where Dortmund crushed Atletico Madrid at home with a blitzkrieg.

The players of the Chinese national team were sitting in the restaurant of the hotel where they were staying, eating dinner and watching TV.

The Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund was about to begin.

The Chinese national team players were waiting to watch the final live.

They weren't just cheering for Zhou Yi and Yan Min; this was a "task" assigned to the team by the new head coach, Lippi.

As a team participating in the World Cup, they should naturally have a global perspective.

So how could they not watch the most technically advanced football match in the world – the Champions League final?

Watching such a high-level game could also improve the players' tactical literacy, while broadening their horizons, letting them know what the top level of modern football is really like, so as to prevent many people's impressions of modern football from still being stuck on the tiki-taka label from several years ago. None of the teams that made it to the Champions League final this year were playing tiki-taka football. Real Madrid obviously wasn't, and although Borussia Dortmund had excellent passing and ball control skills, their style was more varied.

Lippi hoped that by watching the Champions League final, his players could gain more.

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While the TV broadcast organizations were using various programs to warm up for the final, players from both Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid had arrived at the final venue, the Estádio da Luz (Stadium of Light) in Lisbon, Portugal.

At the same time, the starting lineups for both sides were released.

For Real Madrid, Khedira replaced Alonso, who was absent from the final due to suspension, while Varane replaced the injured Pepe. Khedira had only played one hundred and seventeen minutes since last November. Ancelotti's arrangement was very risky and would be under pressure.

The starting goalkeeper was Casillas. Before this Champions League final, Casillas played one La Liga match, which was the last round of the La Liga season and also Casillas's second league match of the season. Although Mourinho had left Real Madrid, Casillas had not become a winner. After Ancelotti took over, he was still firmly on the bench. At the same time, in order to save face for the Real Madrid captain, Ancelotti adopted a bizarre rotation system, that is, Casillas would be the starting goalkeeper in cup matches such as the Champions League and Copa del Rey, while Diego López would continue to be used in the league.

After Real Madrid entered the Champions League final, if they insisted on only letting Casillas play in cup matches, then Casillas would face the embarrassing situation of not having a single game to play for a full twenty-four days from April 30th to May 24th.

This was very bad for Casillas, who was going to play in the Champions League final, because he would not be able to maintain his form if he didn't play for a long time.

What kind of performance would a goalkeeper who hadn't played a game in more than twenty days have in the Champions League final? It was unimaginable.

So, under such circumstances, Real Madrid finally arranged for Casillas to play two league games.

One was in the thirty-fourth round of the league on May 7th.

The other was the last round of the league, when Real Madrid played Espanyol at home.

Although he played two league games, he only played these two games in twenty-four days. Casillas's game time was still far from enough...

No one could say for sure what kind of performance he would be able to put on in the final.

In addition to goalkeeper Casillas, Real Madrid's starting defenders were right-back Carvajal, the central defender partnership of Varane and Ramos, and left-back Coentrão instead of Marcelo. The midfielders were Modrić, Khedira, and Di María, and the forwards were Bale, Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Dortmund's starting lineup was no different from before.

Goalkeeper Weidenfeller, right-back Piszczek, central defenders Hummels and Papastathopoulos, left-back Schmelzer. The midfielders were Sven Bender, Zhou Yi, Yan Min, and Reus, and the forwards were Aubameyang and Mark.

It could be said that, apart from players who were injured and unable to play, both teams had sent out their strongest lineups.

※※※

When going out to warm up, Zhou Yi didn't observe the layout of the Estádio da Luz, the final venue, nor did he look at the tifos of the two teams' fans in the stands. Most of the time, he focused his attention on Casillas.

In fact, Zhou Yi had simulated the final battle with this opponent many times in the virtual space.

In countless simulations, he discovered a problem, but he wasn't sure if it would appear in reality, so he now wanted to observe Casillas's warm-up to find some clues...

Real Madrid seemed to be consciously feeding Casillas balls during their warm-up, letting him find his form.

Zhou Yi noticed that Casillas performed relatively steadily when catching shots. But when his teammates started deliberately lobbing the ball high to Casillas, Casillas made some mistakes. Although there weren't many, they were captured by Zhou Yi.

In fact, Casillas has always had the weakness of not being able to catch high balls steadily, but he made up for some of it with his excellent second reaction, and he also deliberately strengthened his training in this area, so this problem was not very prominent during his peak. However, as he got older, and coupled with the fact that he hasn't been playing well these two seasons, his form has declined significantly, and this problem has re-emerged, and is even a bit...fatal.

Casillas's problem with not being able to catch high balls steadily stems from his personal height defect.

Among the world's top goalkeepers, Casillas's height of only one meter eighty-five is a weakness.

Compared with him, both Buffon and Neuer are over one meter ninety tall. Buffon is one meter ninety-one, and Neuer is one meter ninety-three, combining height and flexibility. Even Sun Pan is one meter ninety tall.

High balls were the weakness of Casillas that Zhou Yi observed in the virtual games, and in reality, he had not improved it well.

After seeing Casillas's performance, Zhou Yi withdrew his gaze and devoted himself to his own warm-up. He had already obtained the information he wanted.

※※※

After finishing the warm-up and returning to the locker room, Zhou Yi went directly to Klopp and told the head coach what he had observed during the warm-up.

"I haven't paid much attention to this before..." Klopp pondered after listening. "But this is helpful to us. Thank you, Zhou Yi."

"You're welcome, coach. It's within my ability."

"But few players pay attention to these details."

Zhou Yi scratched his head. He couldn't tell the head coach that he noticed this because he had discovered that Casillas always made mistakes on the same problem in one virtual game after another, right?

It seems that being unable to play regularly and stably for a long time has a much greater impact on Casillas than most people think...