Chapter 1 The Beginning

Before the game started, Sun Pan had already turned on the TV, waiting for the match to begin. At the same time, he was chatting in the group with other friends who weren't participating in the game.

When the referee blew the whistle to start the match, he shifted his gaze from the phone screen to the television.

He saw Dortmund's forward, Marc, gently kick the ball out, and then another Dortmund forward, Aubameyang, stepped forward and passed the ball back.

The target was, of course, his good friend Zhou Yi.

At the same time, Atletico Madrid's players rushed up as one, heading straight for Zhou Yi.

This was the tactic they had arranged before the game. Zhou Yi, as Dortmund's midfield core, was naturally going to be given special attention.

Faced with the pressing of Atletico Madrid's players, Zhou Yi didn't panic. He didn't even bother to stop the ball, passing it to Yan Min on the left.

After receiving the ball, Yan Min made a slight adjustment and passed it back to left-back Durm.

Durm received the ball and passed it to Sven Bender, who was supporting in the center.

Sven Bender passed the ball to Zhou Yi, who wasn't far away.

Before Zhou Yi received the ball, an Atletico Madrid player had already stuck to him from behind, not intending to let Zhou Yi turn around.

But Zhou Yi wasn't even thinking about turning around. He directly used his heel to pass the ball that Sven Bender had passed to Reus.

Then he turned and ran forward.

From the start of the game, Atletico Madrid showed their way of dealing with Dortmund—adopting the same high-pressing tactic they used against Barcelona, ​​using completely tireless pressing to throw Dortmund into disarray.

But to their surprise, Dortmund didn't panic. Under their pressing, they used very quick passes to respond...

Not only Zhou Yi, but other Dortmund players also passed the ball quickly.

In less than a minute, the ball had circled from the left to the right.

When the ball was at Reus's feet, it finally wasn't passed out immediately—Reus dribbled the ball forward.

At the same time, Atletico Madrid immediately had players pressing up.

But after they pressed up, Reus passed the ball out—he didn't even need to look up to find a passing target, just passed it to the side, and Zhou Yi ran up to meet the ball.

Because they had passed midfield, Atletico Madrid's defense against Zhou Yi was even tighter. Gabi was following him almost every step of the way.

Even when Zhou Yi ran to receive the ball, the two had physical contact, with Gabi constantly putting pressure on Zhou Yi.

As long as Zhou Yi stopped the ball, he could completely lean on him. At that time, it would be very difficult for Zhou Yi to control the ball.

But Zhou Yi didn't stop the ball. He once again used his heel to pass the ball behind him, giving it to Sven Bender, who was coming up from behind.

Sven Bender then passed the ball to Yan Min.

After receiving the ball, Yan Min crossed it at a forty-five-degree angle.

Marc jumped up in the penalty area to compete for the header. He didn't get the ball. The ball was headed out by Atletico Madrid's defender Godin.

Although he didn't get the ball, Marc's challenge interfered with Godin. This caused Godin to not head the ball far. The ball flew out of the penalty area and landed in the area where Aubameyang was. He grabbed the second point of fall and shot!

The ball went towards the lower right corner of the goal!

"Courtois—!!" The Spanish commentator shouted, dragging out the sound, "Well done! He made a beautiful save!"

In his shouts, the Belgian goalkeeper flew over and pushed the ball out of the baseline with one palm!

"In less than two minutes after the start, Dortmund completed their first shot of the game, and it was a very threatening shot!" Marcel Reif said. "Dortmund's morale is very high. Such a performance should provide Dortmund fans with some confidence..."

The Dortmund fans in the stands regretted that the attack did not result in a goal—God knows if there would be such a good opportunity next time...

※※※

Dortmund's corner kick was taken, and unsurprisingly, it didn't threaten Atletico Madrid's goal.

Then Atletico Madrid launched their attack.

Their attack was also very fierce, but unlike when they played against Barcelona, ​​this time Atletico Madrid did not use the high-altitude bombing tactic. Because Barcelona's air defense capabilities are very weak, but Dortmund is different. Hummels and Papastathopoulos are both tall and strong central defenders with excellent heading abilities. Trying to break through Dortmund's defense from the air is no different than a daydream.

So they went on the ground.

The combination of Diego Costa, Koke, and Raul Garcia is very impactful.

But this time they encountered the tenacious resistance of Dortmund's defense.

Their attack was blocked in front of Dortmund's defensive line.

When possession turned to Dortmund's side, Atletico Madrid directly launched a counter-attack in the frontcourt.

They would press whoever had the ball. If Dortmund players controlled the ball a little more or passed the ball a little slower, then it was very likely that they would be stuck to by Atletico Madrid players, and then use their physical advantage to steal the ball. Even if they couldn't steal it, they could interfere with Dortmund's passing and prevent them from launching threatening attacks, so that the game could not proceed according to Dortmund's usual rhythm...

This is the "feast" that Simeone carefully prepared for Dortmund.

But Simeone probably never imagined that Dortmund also carefully prepared a gift for him, to give him a surprise.

Sven Bender had just snatched the ball and quickly passed it out. As soon as he passed the ball, Atletico Madrid's player Koke pressed up. If he let the ball stay at his feet for even half a second, I'm afraid the ball wouldn't be passed out.

Not being able to pass it out was still a small matter. If the opponent directly intercepted the ball here, less than ten meters away from Dortmund's penalty area, Atletico Madrid could completely launch a counterattack directly, catching Dortmund off guard.

It can even be said that this is what Simeone was aiming for. When the ball was on Atletico Madrid's side, their attack did not necessarily have any results. The main thing was to hope that when the ball fell to Dortmund's feet, Atletico Madrid would launch a counter-attack on the spot to create opportunities.

Especially against Zhou Yi.

Everyone knows that Zhou Yi is the midfield core of the Dortmund team, and he has the ball much more often than other players.

As long as they can launch pressing around Zhou Yi, they can not only prevent Dortmund's attack from succeeding, but also directly launch a counterattack to threaten Dortmund's goal.

So even if Zhou Yi retreated to the front of the defensive line to receive the ball, there was an Atletico Madrid player following him every step of the way. This person would change at any time, but the task remained the same.

If Zhou Yi retreated to the backcourt, then the task of marking him would be handed over to Atletico Madrid's forwards. If Zhou Yi was in midfield, then the Atletico Madrid midfielders would mark him. If Zhou Yi broke into Atletico Madrid's thirty-meter area, then the Atletico Madrid defenders would stick to him, and at that time, it wouldn't be just one person, completely forming a circle around Zhou Yi.

After experiencing last season's failure, Simeone increased his research on Zhou Yi. He found that Zhou Yi plays football very well at observing the surrounding situation. He can always find gaps that are not easily discovered by others, and then receive and pass the ball.

In response to his characteristics, Simeone felt that the best way was to have someone always follow him. Wherever he goes, someone will follow him, and that is the safest.

So after Sven Bender passed the ball to Zhou Yi, Diego Costa almost ran towards the ball with Zhou Yi. He didn't want to directly intercept the ball, but to stick to Zhou Yi.

Simeone had specifically instructed the players defending Zhou Yi during pre-match training that unless the opportunity was particularly good, they should not try to directly intercept the ball when Zhou Yi received it, as he was likely to take the opportunity to get rid of them. Zhou Yi's ability to get rid of people is very strong.

The correct approach is to stick to Zhou Yi, not letting him pass the ball easily, and then try to intercept the ball. One person entangles him, drags him down, and then another person comes up to intercept the ball, so the success rate will be greatly increased.

But Zhou Yi didn't give Atletico Madrid's players a chance to stick to him.

Faced with the ball passed by Sven Bender, Zhou Yi did not stop the ball, but directly passed it out.

When Diego Costa rushed up, he didn't stop anything...

In addition to Zhou Yi, Atletico Madrid also used this tactic against other Dortmund players, but perhaps the intensity was not as great as against Zhou Yi.

But on these Dortmund players, Atletico Madrid also encountered the same problem - they found it difficult to entangle Dortmund's players, who could always pass the ball out in the first time, quickly and accurately...