Chapter 76

Dortmund pulled back a goal from the penalty spot in the seventy-sixth minute, making the score 2-1, with Paris Saint-Germain still leading at home.

But the situation was completely different from before.

Although Paris Saint-Germain was in the lead, they were not satisfied with the score. They were only one goal ahead and had conceded an away goal.

Dortmund could completely accept this score. When they returned to their home stadium, they only needed to win 1-0 to eliminate their opponents.

Paris Saint-Germain, however, could not accept it at all. Not to mention the psychological blow of going from 2-0 to 2-1, the score itself was very dangerous.

With the opponent already having an away goal, they had to minimize the impact of that goal. They had to score again and widen the gap.

And at this point, they didn't have much time left.

Just one goal had completely changed the mentality of the two teams. Paris Saint-Germain, who had been carefree and able to play as they pleased, suddenly became nervous, while Dortmund, who had been in a mess, felt much more relaxed than before because of one goal, even though they were still behind.

Faced with this situation, both coaches quickly made adjustments.

Klopp naturally asked the team to retreat and defend, looking for opportunities to counterattack Paris Saint-Germain. He knew very well that Paris Saint-Germain could not accept this result, and they would definitely take full advantage of their home advantage and launch a fierce attack on Dortmund's goal in the last ten minutes or so of the game.

At this time, Dortmund only needed to shrink their defense and wait for the counterattack. It would be great if they could steal a goal and tie the score. But if not, as long as they could constantly harass the opponent's defense, they would not dare to press forward with all their strength.

In the coaching area next door, Blanc did indeed make such an adjustment. He waved his hands on the sidelines, asking the players to press forward and strengthen the attack. He was not willing to get a result of only one goal ahead when he had the advantage.

The next game was Paris Saint-Germain pressing forward to attack, and facing such a fierce attack from Paris Saint-Germain, Dortmund had to temporarily avoid the limelight and defend across the board, unable to think about counterattacks for the time being.

In the seventy-eighth minute, Lucas started on the right and passed two Dortmund players before passing the ball diagonally to the edge of the penalty area, but unfortunately, Cavani, who was responding in the middle, was a little slow when he received the ball, causing the ball to be cleared cleanly by Hummels.

In the eightieth minute, this time it was He Ying who broke through and cut inside on the left, and after attracting two Dortmund defenders, he used the outside of his right foot to pass the ball to Cavani in the center. After receiving the ball, Cavani swayed to create an angle, and then curled a shot with his right foot, with the ball heading straight for the far post.

Goalkeeper Weidenfeller made a save, but did not touch the ball. Although Cavani's shot successfully bypassed Weidenfeller's fingers, it did not curve back because the arc was too large, and it also bypassed the post and flew out of the baseline.

"Cavani! That was close!" Marcel Reif exclaimed. "Paris Saint-Germain's attack is too fierce, I don't know if Dortmund can hold on..."

Paris Saint-Germain coach Blanc on the sidelines was naturally also very concerned. Seeing Cavani's shot, he jumped up excitedly, but in the end, the ball flew out of the baseline, so he turned around and pretended to kick, to vent his emotions.

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Paris Saint-Germain desperately wanted to score a goal before the end of the game, while Dortmund desperately wanted to block the opponent's attack and hoped that time would pass faster.

The two sides fought fiercely, and the atmosphere gradually became tense.

There were more and more physical confrontations in the game, and more and more players fell to the ground - of course, most of them were Dortmund players. Every time they fell, there would be boos from the stands. How could Paris Saint-Germain fans not know what the Dortmund players wanted to do?

Of course, it was to delay time!

In the eighty-fourth minute, Aubameyang successfully intercepted Verratti's foot in midfield, but in turn he was tripped by Verratti.

Aubameyang, who fell to the ground, looked very painful, clutching his ankle and unwilling to get up.

Verratti, however, thought that he was deliberately delaying the game and wanted to forcibly pull Aubameyang up.

The two sides clashed as a result.

The players on both sides immediately surrounded them, and the boos in the stands were deafening, even drowning out the referee's urgent whistle.

However, at this time, it was the Paris Saint-Germain players themselves who came up to mediate - they also knew that Dortmund wanted to take the opportunity to make things bigger and delay a little longer. Although stoppage time would consider adding this time, it was impossible to add it indefinitely...

In order not to let Dortmund's conspiracy succeed, the Paris Saint-Germain players took the initiative to maintain order, and they dragged away the emotionally agitated Verratti.

Because of their excellent performance, Dortmund's attempt to delay time by taking advantage of this opportunity did not succeed.

The referee called Verratti and Aubameyang to the side separately, and then gave each of them a yellow card.

Immediately afterwards, Blanc replaced Verratti, who was somewhat out of control and had little physical strength left, with Cabaye.

In the eighty-sixth minute, after a series of passes on the right, Paris Saint-Germain's right-back Jallet passed the ball into the penalty area to Lucas, who was on the edge of the penalty area. Lucas crossed the ball, and it was blocked out of the sideline by Sven Bender's body.

Afterwards, Paris Saint-Germain continued to besiege Dortmund's goal, and in the eighty-ninth minute, Cavani completed a threatening header. If Weidenfeller hadn't performed bravely, jumping up and dragging the ball off the crossbar with one hand in the process of retreating, the ball would have gone in...

Paris Saint-Germain got a corner kick opportunity. After the corner kick was taken, Motta suddenly inserted forward and jumped high to head the ball backwards.

However, after he headed it out, no one touched the ball behind him, and the ball flew out of the baseline, grazing the far post...

At this time, the fourth official raised the sign for five minutes of stoppage time on the sidelines.

The time delayed by the conflict just now was still added by the referee team.

These five minutes were Paris Saint-Germain's last five minutes, and if Dortmund could withstand Paris Saint-Germain's bombardment, they could return to their home stadium with a relatively good result, and then face Paris Saint-Germain with a more calm tactic and mentality in the middle of next week.

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In the end, Dortmund did try to counterattack, but their counterattacks were unable to threaten Paris Saint-Germain's goal because they could not invest enough troops, and their physical strength declined rapidly after playing a game.

Paris Saint-Germain was almost playing around Dortmund's thirty-meter area.

However, Dortmund's defense was still solid, and Paris Saint-Germain's fierce attack failed to break through Weidenfeller's goal.

This was the only thing that could make Dortmund fans feel relieved.

Now they only needed to hold on for the last few minutes...

In the ninety-third minute of stoppage time, Paris Saint-Germain, who was besieging Dortmund, got a throw-in just outside the edge of the penalty area.

Right-back Jallet came up to throw the ball.

He Ying, who was originally in the penalty area, looked left and right and found that there were people everywhere in the penalty area, and he didn't have any chance inside, so he simply pulled to the outside.

So he went straight to Jallet.

Jallet was holding the ball, observing and planning in his mind how to throw the throw-in. There was not much time left in the game, and every offensive opportunity was precious, so he had to make good use of it and not simply perfunctory.

However, after looking around, Dortmund's defense was very tight, and there was no good opportunity. If he threw the ball directly into the penalty area, there would be people everywhere, and he might not be able to guarantee that his side would be able to attack. The most important thing was that if the control of the ball was transferred to Dortmund's side, with their "shamelessness", who knew how they would delay time...

Just when Jallet was a little unsure, he saw He Ying running out and gesturing to him to throw it to him.

Did He Ying have a good opportunity? Not really. He ran out, but he also pulled out a Dortmund player.

So at this time, in theory, he should throw the ball into the penalty area instead, after all, the defensive strength there was slightly weaker because of He Ying's involvement.

But Jallet also thought that He Ying's state in the whole game today was very good.

If he gave the ball to him, maybe he could really create some opportunities...

Thinking of this, Jallet took a few steps back. This was to sprint and run up, and then throw the ball into the penalty area with force. Everyone naturally thought that he was going to do this.

But after running to the sideline, he faked it and threw the ball directly to He Ying, who was pulled out to respond.

He Ying stretched out his foot to stop the ball steadily.

He stopped the ball very well, but he was also marked by the Dortmund player Sven Bender who followed him out, and it was not easy to turn around.

In this case, he should pass the ball back to Jallet, who was responding to him on the sideline.

But He Ying didn't do this. He continued to control the ball, wrestling with Sven Bender.

At this time, Yan Min next to him immediately rushed up, wanting to take the opportunity to steal the ball.

Just as he was about to touch the ball, He Ying stretched out his foot and hooked the ball back with his right foot, while turning towards the baseline along with Sven Bender!

Compared with He Ying, Sven Bender's turning speed was much slower.

At this time, Yan Min passed Sven Bender and chased towards the baseline, and then shoveled towards the ball!

He was very close to the baseline. He was confident that his kick would either shovel the ball out of the baseline, or at worst give Paris Saint-Germain a corner kick. Or force He Ying to take the ball out of the baseline himself...

But what he didn't expect was that He Ying lightly poked the ball towards the penalty area before him. The ball rolled past the baseline, and he didn't touch anything!

Immediately afterwards, He Ying jumped up and crossed Yan Min, who was already lying on the ground, and regained the ball!