Chapter 215 The Continued Hype

After the match, some media outlets expressed great interest in the conversation between Zhou Yi and Yang Muge on the field, and rushed to interview both parties involved.

However, both Zhou Yi and Yang Muge avoided the topic.

Yang Muge only stated that Zhou Yi tried to distract him with some meaningless nonsense.

But he refused to reveal exactly what Zhou Yi had said.

Zhou Yi also did not reveal the specific content, jokingly saying that he was just catching up with Yang Muge.

With the two refusing to talk, the reporters were helpless. However, this led to the birth of many jokes online, and some people even created videos, dubbing the two of them and imitating their conversations, which were hilarious.

Thus, Zhou Yi once again sparked a wave of online spoofs...

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After overcoming the hurdle of the Revierderby, Borussia Dortmund was still only four points behind Bayern Munich, and had not fallen behind, still holding hope of winning the league title.

This was quite surprising to many people.

You see, before the winter break, when Borussia Dortmund was constantly plagued by player injuries, many people confidently stated that the league title this season was already a foregone conclusion.

How could Borussia Dortmund win the league title with a group of injured players?

It was already great that they had historically won three consecutive league titles; how could they possibly dream of four in a row? Impossible.

In the history of the Bundesliga, no team had ever achieved four consecutive titles.

The longest streaks were only the three consecutive titles created by Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bayern Munich, and Borussia Dortmund.

If anyone could break this record, everyone thought it would definitely be the natural king of the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich, and not Borussia Dortmund, which relied entirely on a group of people, a coach, and a surge of energy.

After winning three consecutive league titles and the Champions League title, Borussia Dortmund's energy had been released. The team would inevitably enter a period of decline, accelerating its slide from the peak until it reached the bottom, and then stop, begin rebuilding, and start a new cycle.

The departures of Götze and Lewandowski were just a few pieces of snow falling from the mountain before the avalanche began, but they foreshadowed a more terrifying future.

Subsequently, Borussia Dortmund players continued to get injured, with Gündoğan never playing again after just one league match, and Subotić also being ruled out for the season... At the worst of times, Borussia Dortmund couldn't even put together a complete back line.

These all seemed to be manifestations of the avalanche.

But what no one expected was that after the winter break, Borussia Dortmund's avalanche suddenly stopped, and the enormous avalanche was actually blocked!

Forcibly blocked!

Injuries still occurred occasionally, but they couldn't break through the dam and continue to rush down.

It was magical and unbelievable.

Now, reviewing each match one by one, Zhou Yi's name was certainly unavoidable.

With assist after assist, goal after goal, he helped Borussia Dortmund overcome mountain after mountain that seemed impossible to climb.

After the Revierderby, Zhou Yi's photos and name once again appeared on the front pages of major newspapers, in the footage of major sports programs, and was one of the most frequently mentioned names online. Countless fans flooded his social media, including many Borussia Dortmund fans, but also many fans from other teams, including Chinese fans and fans from other countries.

Everyone was impressed by Zhou Yi's performance during this period.

Some media commented that Zhou Yi was the main reason why Borussia Dortmund could still stand tall this season: "Although Zhou Yi did not even make the top three in the FIFA Ballon d'Or, which caused controversy at the time, Zhou Yi himself was not affected by this... His form after entering 2014 has been outstanding, and he fully deserves the European Best Player award he won at the beginning of the season..."

"Borussia Dortmund is enjoying the benefits of Zhou Yi. If it weren't for Zhou Yi's outstanding performance this season, I would bet that Bayern Munich would have won the title in advance. But because of Zhou Yi, Borussia Dortmund can hold on to Bayern Munich... Zhou Yi's performance in the league is so good that it makes me start to look forward to how the Chinese team will perform at the World Cup in Brazil—I am not a fan of the Chinese team, and I used to know almost nothing about Chinese football, but Zhou Yi has made me interested in Chinese football. I am really curious to see what kind of performance Zhou Yi can put on at the World Cup..."

In addition to direct praise from the media, there were also interviews with Borussia Dortmund players to hear how they praised Zhou Yi in various ways.

Großkreutz: "We've become accustomed to Zhou Yi always scoring at key moments and in important matches. Doesn't he have a nickname called 'Wizard'? Did you think this nickname was just a joke?"

Hummels: "Every time we go to Schalke 04's home stadium, Zhou Yi gets the most boos. But I think that's the highest praise for him—if you can make your opponents hate you to the bone, it means you're the biggest threat to them. This game just proved that."

Kehl: "Zhou Yi is really amazing. I've never seen a player so young yet so mature and experienced. With Zhou Yi, I feel like my own experience is wrong..."

Sven Bender: "Zhou Yi makes you feel at ease on the field. As his midfield partner, sometimes I feel like playing football is a very easy thing..."

Reus: "Zhou Yi is a genius, absolutely. I'm very happy to be able to play with him. We've encountered some difficulties this season, but fortunately we still have Zhou Yi. I hope he can stay healthy."

Mark Wagner: "I've been playing with Zhou Yi since the youth team, and I was impressed by his ability very early on. Who is his number one fan? Of course, it's me! Did you think Zhou Yi is only this good now? No! He was very good from the beginning!"

Aubameyang: "I haven't played with Zhou Yi before, but since coming to Borussia Dortmund, it's been a real eye-opener. I still remember the scene when I came to the team for training on the first day—he seemed to have been playing with me for several years, he was very familiar with my characteristics. He was always able to pass the ball comfortably to my feet during training, and I was shocked at the time! I really wanted to ask him if we had played together somewhere before? But I didn't, because if there was such a powerful guy around me, there's no way I wouldn't know his name!"

Yan Min: "He is the most amazing player I have ever seen! I think he is better than Messi and Ronaldo!"

……

For a time, praising Zhou Yi had become a trend, and domestic fans' biggest concern every day when they went online was whether there were any new "Zhou praises" coming out.

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The outside world could of course continue to hype up Zhou Yi, but Zhou Yi couldn't really immerse himself in this emotion.

He didn't take the outside world's praise of him to heart.

It was just a victory in the Revierderby; to him, it wasn't much of an achievement.

If he couldn't lead Borussia Dortmund to the championship, then all the efforts of the season would be in vain, and that was what mattered most to him.

Before winning the championship, he would not relax his demands on himself.

He sweated and gave it his all on the training ground every day. After returning home, he also had Cortana give him a good massage to relax his body and avoid strains during training or matches due to fatigue.

Cortana's physical therapy and massage were also the key reasons why Zhou Yi had not had any muscle strains so far.

The rest time from the Revierderby to the next round of the league was very short.

After playing the match against Schalke 04 on the 25th night, Borussia Dortmund would be playing away against Stuttgart on the 29th afternoon.

There were only three days in between, and it was an away game, so they would inevitably have to travel a long distance.

These would all affect the players' physical condition and form.

But despite the tight schedule, on the 26th, Klopp still gave all the players who played in the Revierderby a day off.

Yes, a whole day off, no training in the morning or afternoon. The players could rest at home or go shopping. No one would care about them; they could do whatever they wanted.

Despite the dense schedule, Klopp was so extravagant, also because the players really needed to rest at this time.

Next were basically two matches a week. After playing the twenty-eighth round of the league on March 29, on the night of April 2, Borussia Dortmund would challenge Paris Saint-Germain away, and on the night of April 5, Borussia Dortmund would face Wolfsburg away again. Then, on April 8, Borussia Dortmund would host Paris Saint-Germain, and on the night of April 12, they would challenge Bayern Munich away.

Fortunately, Borussia Dortmund had already given up on the German Cup, otherwise there would be the semi-finals of the German Cup on April 15 and 16.

In such a dense schedule, if the players could not get enough rest, the team would be in a situation where they would be unable to exert their strength at the final sprint of the league, and they could only watch their opponents widen the gap with them.

After a day of rest, the main players returned to the Brackel training base and began joint training with the whole team to prepare for the upcoming league match against Stuttgart.

After twenty-seven rounds of the league, Stuttgart had accumulated twenty-four points, ranking seventeenth, second from the bottom.

This meant that Borussia Dortmund would face another relegation team.

As the season neared its end, relegation teams were often more difficult to play against than title contenders.

And in the same round of the league, Bayern Munich would be hosting Hoffenheim, who were ranked tenth.

The two teams' battle for the league title seemed to have reached a watershed again...