Facing Bayern Munich's relentless bombardment after their goal, Borussia Dortmund's entire team retreated to defend once more.

However, due to issues in the backline, even with the entire team packed into their own half, Dortmund wasn't faring well.

Every Bayern Munich attack seemed capable of breaching Dortmund's goal.

Even attacking players like Zhou Yi, Yan Min, and Aubameyang were forced to track back and defend, making counterattacks all the more difficult.

For the remainder of the match, Dortmund fans could only watch Bayern Munich besiege their goal and pray it wouldn't be breached again…

Zhou Yi was acutely aware of how dire and disadvantageous the situation was.

Realistically, for Dortmund to only lose by one goal, given their current form, would require an all-out effort.

Through no fault of their own, Dortmund had scored two goals, pushing Bayern Munich to such desperation; their performance alone should allow them to leave the field with their heads held high.

But Zhou Yi refused to accept defeat.

Having worked so hard, why should they still lose?

Bayern Munich's momentum was certainly overwhelming, but that didn't mean Dortmund was entirely without a chance.

First, they needed to ease Bayern Munich's frenzied assault.

So, when Dortmund regained possession, Zhou Yi didn't immediately launch a long ball forward for a counterattack—with all Dortmund players in their own half, a blind long pass wouldn't be very effective.

Despite the urgency to get the ball away from their own goal, Zhou Yi did the opposite.

Upon receiving the ball, he shielded it, and only after Bayern Munich players pressed him did he pass it, not forward, but laterally, or even backward.

After passing, he quickly moved to find an open space to receive the ball again.

Upon receiving the pass from a teammate, he repeated the process.

If a teammate tried to rush a forward pass for a counterattack, Zhou Yi would loudly stop him, gesturing for him to settle down and pass the ball back.

After several repetitions, Dortmund's other players understood what Zhou Yi was trying to do—he was slowing down the game's tempo, disrupting Bayern Munich's current offensive momentum.

Having played alongside Zhou Yi for many years, with a high degree of synergy, understanding him wasn't difficult. When Zhou Yi made several consecutive lateral or backward passes, everyone knew his intention.

Thus, his teammates cooperated with Zhou Yi, circulating the ball.

Although a weakened defense due to missing key players made the team's defense unstable, it didn't affect the passing ability of Dortmund's players.

When Dortmund focused on passing, even Bayern Munich found it difficult to intercept.

Moreover, they couldn't relentlessly press Dortmund players in their own half; otherwise, openings would appear behind them, and what if Zhou Yi seized the opportunity for a long through ball?

Whether it was Aubameyang, Reus, or Yan Min, they were all fast, technically gifted players, perfectly suited for counterattacks.

Bayern Munich's siege of Dortmund's goal was aimed at scoring another goal in a short time, not conceding another one…

In any case, Bayern Munich was in the lead. If Dortmund didn't counterattack and just passed the ball around in their own half, there was no reason to aggressively press them. They could let them pass the ball around, and as time passed, the scales of victory would tip further and further in Bayern Munich's favor.

Winning 3-2 was the same as winning 4-2; both were three points, with no difference. The result was more important.

So, seeing Dortmund passing the ball back and forth, Bayern Munich chased around for a while. After failing to intercept, they retreated as well. If Dortmund wanted to pass the ball around in their own half, they would let them. If Dortmund wanted to attack, Bayern Munich wouldn't mind countering.

Regardless, Bayern Munich felt invulnerable at this point.

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Seeing Bayern Munich retreat to their own half, ceasing their siege of Dortmund's goal, many Dortmund fans breathed a sigh of relief.

They were genuinely worried that their porous defense wouldn't withstand Bayern Munich's onslaught, and conceding another goal would spell the end of the match… although it wasn't much different from being over already, there was still a glimmer of hope…

Speaking of a glimmer of hope, many eyes turned to Zhou Yi.

Although Zhou Yi hadn't scored in this match so far, and substitute Yan Min had stolen the spotlight once again, in times of crisis, many people would habitually look to Zhou Yi, placing their hopes on him.

This was the trust Zhou Yi had earned through repeatedly turning the tide in the past few seasons.

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Seeing Bayern Munich retreat, Zhou Yi also stopped passing the ball back and forth with his teammates in the backfield. He began to pass the ball forward, but not with simple, crude long passes, but with short passes and intricate through balls, advancing bit by bit.

It wasn't just a cooperation between a few individuals, but the entire attacking lineup was pushing forward, even Großkreutz and Durm, the two full-backs, Zhou Yi gestured for them to charge forward and participate in the attack.

To some, this approach seemed too risky—didn't he know that Bayern Munich was just waiting to exploit the space behind Dortmund's two full-backs?

Zhou Yi used even more diligent running to appear near teammates who had the ball at any time. When they encountered difficulties and didn't know how to pass, they passed the ball to Zhou Yi.

He was responsible for the transition.

Bayern Munich wanted to strengthen their defense against Zhou Yi, but they couldn't find an effective way—unlike passing the ball in the backfield, once they advanced to the frontcourt, Zhou Yi's passing tempo increased. He would hardly let the ball stay at his feet and would pass it out immediately. If Bayern Munich's players focused on Zhou, trying to intercept the ball from him, it would be almost impossible; instead, it would cause their marking on other Dortmund players to be lax, giving Zhou Yi the opportunity to pass.

In this way, although slowly, Dortmund tenaciously advanced their line forward bit by bit, all the way to Bayern Munich's thirty-meter area.

Of course, by this time, a lot of the match time had also passed.

It was now the eighty-fifth minute of the match, with only five minutes left until the end of the ninety-minute game, including stoppage time, it would be no more than eight or nine minutes.

Since Dortmund had already attacked to the edge of their penalty area, Bayern Munich simply tightened their defense, hoarding troops inside and outside the penalty area, not letting Dortmund easily attack in, nor giving Dortmund space and opportunity.

The attack had reached this point, turning into the most difficult kind of positional warfare.

Bayern Munich's defense was unlike Dortmund's; they maintained their formation very well, and the players didn't lack tacit understanding due to a lack of tactical training. Their awareness of mutual defense and cover was impeccable.

In such a situation, breaking through Bayern Munich's goal was not an easy task. Even if Dortmund was given another half hour, it would be difficult, let alone with less than ten minutes left…

Watching Dortmund continuously passing the ball back and forth outside the penalty area, Bayern Munich's fans were very relieved.

They kept taunting Dortmund: "Pass it around, pass it around, time will run out!"

Bayern Munich fans' ease was not without reason. In fact, Dortmund was indeed encountering the "last step" problem. They had already reached the edge of Bayern Munich's penalty area, only one last pass away from forming a shot.

But this last pass was not that easy, or rather, not as simple as people imagined—just a pass into the penalty area, right?

In reality, that wasn't the case. Passing into the penalty area was simple, but what would happen after the pass?

If the pass couldn't form a shot, what was the point?

And Zhou Yi's requirements were even higher. With so little time left, if the last pass couldn't lead to a goal, what was the point?

He wanted to ensure success rate, not the number of shots.

When faced with the same situation, many teams would choose to cross from the wings, sending the ball repeatedly towards the goal, and then relying on luck. If they were lucky, the ball could be touched by their own players, and then, if they were even luckier, it could go into the goal.

However, this luck-based approach was not in line with Zhou Yi's philosophy.

He would rather maintain possession of the ball on his side than casually and perfunctorily hand over possession to the opponent.

He was constantly observing and looking for opportunities during the back-and-forth passing.

But it must be said that Bayern Munich's defense was very well-maintained and compact, giving Dortmund few opportunities, or even none.

Dortmund passed the ball back and forth in front of Bayern Munich's defense, but they were unable to create an opening.

Zhou Yi realized that if they kept passing like this, his teammates would soon lose patience, and it would be even more difficult to get a good shooting opportunity.

He decided to make a change.

Since passing couldn't find space, then they would actively create space!