Chapter 112 Sorcery

The players from both sides stood on the field, but the game didn't start immediately. The fourth official held up the substitution board on the sidelines, indicating a substitution for Borussia Dortmund.

Number 19, Großkreutz, off. Number 26, Piszczek, on.

Guardiola glanced at the Dortmund side.

Klopp was making a substitution.

But it wasn't entirely unexpected. He had already made corresponding preparations during halftime. This substitution wouldn't affect his tactical arrangements.

The commentators, on the other hand, discussed the substitution at length.

"Großkreutz has been taken off. He has a yellow card, and Klopp certainly knows that he would be a key target for Bayern Munich's attacks in the second half. That yellow card is a major hidden danger, so he simply replaced him..."

"Actually, even if Großkreutz didn't have that yellow card, Klopp might have still substituted him at halftime. After all, his performance in the first half wasn't great. He was completely at a disadvantage in his duels with Götze, becoming the biggest weakness in Dortmund's defense in the first half. Such a performance would definitely warrant a substitution..."

The television broadcast gave a close-up of Großkreutz, who was already sitting on the bench.

The intention of this shot was to show everyone the embarrassment of Großkreutz being substituted at halftime, or to see if he was very dissatisfied with being taken off early.

But the result was surprising. Großkreutz was chatting with his teammates on the bench. Although he covered his mouth with his hand, you could tell from his eyebrows and eyes that his emotions weren't low at all, and even a little... animated?

This really surprised the audience, and the commentators were even more surprised, not even knowing how to explain this scene to the audience...

"Uh... Großkreutz, who was substituted, seems to be in good spirits. I wonder what he's saying to his teammates..."

In the end, the commentator could only say that.

As for why he was in good spirits, no one knew.

Großkreutz was indeed in good spirits, and the reason was that scene that had just happened in the player tunnel.

He was excitedly telling his teammates about his conflict with Müller and Götze in the tunnel just now.

Of course, the focus wasn't on what he did, but on what Zhou Yi said.

"...Zhou Yi is going to cast a spell! Open your eyes wide and watch in the second half! Zhou Yi is definitely going to cast a spell! I'm sure of it. Zhou Yi was enraged by them! I've never seen Zhou Yi speak with such a tone, even though he had a smile on his face... but I think that's more like a threat to them! Müller that guy probably doesn't know that he has successfully angered the terrifying 'Eastern Wizard'! Now Bayern Munich is going to be in trouble!"

Großkreutz's tone was exaggerated, and the teammates listening to him showed a slight look of disapproval on their faces.

Zhou Yi's nickname is "Wizard," but that doesn't mean he can really cast spells... It's just a joke.

Substitute goalkeeper Langerak expressed a different opinion on this: "We all know that Zhou Yi doesn't really cast spells, that's just his nickname, Kevin..."

Großkreutz snorted and didn't bother to argue with Langerak: "Facts speak louder than words. Don't disbelieve it when the time comes!"

※※※

When the substitution was announced, Piszczek was already on the field, so there was no need for a substitution ceremony.

After the fourth official put down the board, the referee blew the whistle to start the second half.

The second half began with Dortmund kicking off.

They used the kickoff to pass the ball back and forth in their own half, while Bayern Munich pressed forward, intending to steal the ball and launch a counterattack directly.

At this moment, Zhou Yi kept running in the backfield, while looking up to observe the situation. Just as Yan Min passed the ball sideways from the wing to him in the center, Zhou Yi didn't stop the ball, but instead made a long pass, sending the ball to the front of the right wing.

Aubameyang sprinted forward at high speed and received the ball from Zhou Yi.

"A long pass as precise as a remotely guided missile! Aubameyang received the ball behind Bayern Munich's defense! This is a counterattack opportunity for Dortmund!"

Duan Xin shouted excitedly.

Although Aubameyang received the ball from behind, Bayern Munich's defender didn't give up either. Alaba's speed wasn't slow either, and he chased closely behind. Aubameyang still had to dribble the ball, and for a moment he couldn't shake him off.

Fortunately, Reus was there to meet him in the middle.

So he chose to pass the ball sideways.

Reus was preparing to receive the ball on the edge of the penalty area, but the ball was tackled and destroyed by Martinez, who had returned to defend.

At the same time, the referee Zwayer blew his whistle, and from his gestures, it was judged that Reus was offside...

The television replay told everyone that this penalty was questionable - when Aubameyang passed the ball, his body and the ball were both before Reus, and he passed the ball to Reus, so under such circumstances, Reus was not offside.

However, although this penalty was controversial, it didn't really cause the players to argue, after all, even if the referee didn't call Reus offside, he didn't get the ball anyway...

The game continued.

Bayern Munich quickly took the free kick in their own half and attacked the front.

Then Lewandowski took a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area, the ball hit Hummels' leg, changed direction, and flew out of the bottom line. Bayern Munich got a corner kick.

At this time, the second half had just started for a minute and a half.

Robben took the corner kick, and he chose to send the ball directly to the back post of the goal.

Here, Papastathopoulos jumped high and headed the ball out.

The ball flew high out of the penalty area, flying about ten meters outside the penalty arc.

Ribéry ran here, preparing to get the second landing point.

The ball fell from the high sky, and Ribéry stretched out his right foot, preparing to stop the ball.

Although this ball flew high and fell sharply, stopping the ball shouldn't be a problem for players of Ribéry's level...

As a result, when the ball hit Ribéry's foot, his foot didn't have time to make a cushioning movement, the ball landed hard and bounced out...

Landing three meters away in front of him!

This happened to give Yan Min, who was rushing up with the ball, a chance. He accelerated and ran towards the ball, intending to steal it.

Ribéry naturally knew what would happen if he lost possession here, so he also started quickly, while leaning his whole body towards Yan Min.

Yan Min still managed to poke the ball first, but at the same time he was knocked to the ground by Ribéry.

Ribéry, who knocked down Yan Min, didn't fare much better. He lost his balance and fell to the ground as well.

However, he was better than Yan Min. He could still struggle to get up, while Yan Min was pressed under Ribéry and couldn't move at all.

Ribéry struggled to get up and regain control of the ball.

But the ball had already been taken away by Zhou Yi, who was ambushing next to the two of them.

This was truly a praying mantis stalking a cicada, unaware of the oriole behind...

By the time Ribéry got up, Zhou Yi had already dribbled the ball almost ten meters away.

Ribéry originally wanted to chase back directly, but he saw that the team's captain, Lahm, had already approached Zhou Yi, so he ran to the middle to fill Lahm's position.

Zhou Yi dribbled the ball straight into Bayern Munich's frontcourt, and he passed the midfield line very smoothly.

At this time, Lahm also came up.

Zhou Yi didn't intend to make physical contact with Lahm, nor did he intend to get past Lahm.

Counterattacks are all about "speed." The speed must not be slowed down here, so he made a sudden stop and dribbled the ball, dodging the rushing Lahm, and immediately passed the ball diagonally to the right wing, where Aubameyang was sprinting forward at high speed.

At the same time, after passing the ball, he continued to rush into the penalty area.

"Dortmund's counterattack!!" Marcel Reif exclaimed. "Bayern Munich's players are desperately retreating! Now in the frontcourt, it's three against three for Dortmund!"

Aubameyang received Zhou Yi's pass outside the penalty area, and Reus was also approaching Aubameyang, wanting to establish contact and play a combination.

So the other two Bayern Munich players also surged in that direction.

Even Lahm, who was faked out by Zhou Yi, turned around and rushed over there, completely unaware of Zhou Yi behind him.

After Aubameyang received the ball on the edge of the penalty area, as a forward, of course he only had one thought, and that was what!

Before the Bayern Munich players could surround him, Aubameyang took the lead in shooting!

But his shot didn't reach Neuer, the ball was blocked by Rafinha's foot, and then bounced up, flying to the other side of the penalty area in a strange way.

And originally the players from both Dortmund and Bayern Munich were concentrated near Aubameyang, who was there?

Zhou Yi, who had inserted, told them the answer!

"It's Zhou Yi!"

"Zhou Yi's chance!"

Although the commentators said so, looking at the trajectory of the ball and Zhou Yi's insertion route, you would find that the two were not perfectly overlapping.

Zhou Yi was rushing further ahead, but the ball was deflected and flew to the space behind him.

If it continued to develop like this, the ball and the person would pass each other, flying in completely opposite directions.

At this moment, Zhou Yi slammed on the brakes while running, turned around, and looked up at the ball as he jumped up.

While jumping up, his right leg swung upwards, hitting the ball that was about to fly past him!

However, Zhou Yi's kick didn't hit the ball solidly, but instead brushed past the lower part of the ball.

After being brushed, the ball changed direction and flew towards the goal, but it wasn't the kind that crashed straight into the goal like a bullet.

Instead, it drew a slightly strange arc, falling towards the back corner of the goal...

When Aubameyang shot, Neuer reflexively made a save.

Of course, in the end, the ball didn't fly over, but was blocked by Rafinha and flew to the other side.

So Neuer quickly got up from the ground and ran over desperately, intending to block Zhou Yi's shot.

At this moment, Zhou Yi kicked the ball back to where he was originally.

Faced with such a shot, Neuer didn't have time to change direction and run back, he could only jump backwards on the spot, while trying to stretch out his arms as much as possible, wanting to reach the ball in the air. It seemed that in order to increase the defensive range, he turned around in the air while jumping backwards, wanting to use the force of the turn to make himself jump higher.

He did jump very high, but apart from the air, he didn't touch anything...

The ball flew higher than his hand, and in theory, a ball so high couldn't fly into the goal.

But after the ball passed Neuer, it suddenly fell, not fast, swaying and flying straight into the upper corner of the goal.

That's why it's said to be a strange arc?

Neuer twisted his head in the air and watched the ball brush against the lower edge of the crossbar and fly into the goal he was guarding... then he lost his balance and crashed to the ground.