Chapter 1 The Dortmund's "Bluff"

Many people were taken aback when Dortmund displayed their offensive and determination in the opening minutes.

The Dortmund fans in the stands cheered for their team, and some online were surprised by how fierce Dortmund was.

But as the saying goes, outsiders watch the excitement, while experts watch the details.

Guardiola, the expert, saw the weaknesses of Dortmund beneath their "bluffing" offensive.

Dortmund's fatal problem still lay in their defense.

Although Klopp had finally pieced together a four-man defense, the time they had spent training together was too short, and they especially lacked tactical training. This led to problems with mutual support and covering.

In Guardiola's view, this was a point that could be seized and exploited.

When Durm and Großkreutz pushed forward, huge gaps would appear behind them. To fill these gaps, Dortmund's two defensive midfielders had to frequently cover the flanks, making the midfield seem much emptier.

And this empty midfield area was what Bayern Munich could exploit.

Before the game, he had asked his team to be patient and not rush.

But now it seemed he had to modify his tactical arrangements.

Since he had already found Dortmund's weakness, he had to strike while the iron was hot!

Guardiola seized an opportunity during a dead ball to call Javi Martínez to his side and give him instructions.

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Klopp turned his head and saw Guardiola whispering in Martínez's ear. He didn't know what Guardiola had said, but his intuition told him it wasn't idle chatter.

He looked back at the field.

Dortmund had missed several opportunities in a row, and the situation would only get worse.

And what was worse was that there wasn't much he, as the coach, could do about it.

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After Guardiola brought Javi Martínez onto the field, he conveyed his latest instructions to his teammates—when Bayern Munich gained possession in their own half, Lewandowski, Robben, and Müller, who were at the front, should quickly sprint forward to the frontcourt and wait for passes from the midfield.

Lahm was the connection point for defense and midfield, quickly passing the ball forward to Kroos and Martínez after receiving it from the four defenders.

Guardiola's arrangement was aimed at the current state of Dortmund's defense.

Dortmund's usual defense was dynamic, often taking risks to press high and stop attacks. But this defense also had problems, namely that it exposed more space behind. However, the defense composed of Hummels, Subotić, Schmelzer, and Piszczek had been playing together for many years and was quite coordinated, so even if there were gaps, they would be quickly filled.

But with the current defense, Klopp was worried about their lack of communication and inability to quickly make up for gaps, so in this game, he adopted a parallel four-man defense.

The four players stayed on a line, advancing and retreating together. The advantage of this was that it ensured the integrity of the defense and prevented any large gaps or loopholes from appearing behind the defensive line.

But the problem was that doing so would give Bayern Munich a large amount of space in front of the defensive line, which was fatal…

When Bayern Munich completed their adjustments, the situation on the field quickly reversed.

Dortmund's threatening shots were gone, replaced by Bayern Munich's aggressive offensive.

In particular, Bayern Munich's two full-backs, in response to Großkreutz and Durm's forward assists, constantly cut behind Dortmund's defense, connecting Bayern Munich's counterattacks.

Faced with Bayern Munich's offensive, once Dortmund was pushed back into their own half, they could only struggle to hold on, and the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

Duan Xin said worriedly, "This won't work if it continues. Once Dortmund switches from offense to defense, the problems in their defense will be exposed. Look at this ball!"

Before the words were finished, Alaba broke through Großkreutz on the wing and then sent in a cross.

Lewandowski leaped high in front of the goal, overpowering Sokratis Papastathopoulos, and headed the ball towards the goal!

Weidenfeller made a wonderful save, single-handedly tipping the close-range header over the crossbar!

"Dangerous! Dangerous! Lewandowski almost headed the ball into his old club's goal!" Duan Xin breathed a sigh of relief.

Marcel Reif pointed out that this wasn't the first time Alaba had broken through Dortmund's wing defense: "...There is still a lack of coordination between Dortmund's four defenders. In the previous ball, Friedrich was too far from Großkreutz, allowing Alaba to easily make moves in a one-on-one situation, boldly breaking through... Things are going to go wrong if this continues!"

Soon after, Bayern Munich got another good chance in front of Dortmund's penalty area.

After Thomas Müller broke through on the left, he suddenly passed the ball to the center. Because Lewandowski had pushed Dortmund's defense into the penalty area, there was a lack of protection in front of the penalty area. Toni Kroos shot without anyone marking him!

The ball rolled along the grass towards the right post, and in the end, it was just a little off, grazing the post and flying out of the baseline!

"Kroos—Oh! That was close!" Duan Xin was startled. When the ball bypassed goalkeeper Weidenfeller, he almost thought it was going in...

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In the thirty-fourth minute, Bayern Munich gained possession in the backcourt. Defensive midfielder Javi Martínez, who had the ball, didn't pass it to Lahm for a short pass, but instead looked up at the situation in the frontcourt and then directly made a diagonal long pass, sending the ball to the right wing in the frontcourt!

There, Durm had left a huge gap after going forward to participate in the attack, and because Sven Bender had to protect the area in front of the defense, he didn't lean towards the wing, so there was an opportunity to exploit.

There, Robben sprinted forward at high speed!

Then he received a precise long pass from Martínez.

After bringing the ball down with his foot, Robben's speed didn't decrease, and he dribbled straight into the penalty area!

"Robben! Robben is here!!"

Friedrich and Papastathopoulos chased up one after the other, and goalkeeper Weidenfeller also decisively abandoned his goal and rushed out, intending to block Robben's shot.

Just as Robben was about to bring the ball into the six-yard box, he shot!

Not a powerful shot, not a low shot along the grass, but a… lob!

The ball soared over Weidenfeller's head and flew directly towards the back of the goal.

Großkreutz desperately chased back, trying to save the ball in front of the goal line, but his outstretched foot didn't touch the ball!

The ball fell into the goal in front of him!

"Arjen Robben—!!" Marcel Reif roared, dragging out the sound. "tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor!!!!!! Robben! Robben! He opens the scoring for Bayern Munich! Bayern Munich, playing away at Westfalenstadion, finally breaks the deadlock and takes the lead!"

When the ball flew into the goal, the Westfalenstadion fell into a very brief silence, followed by endless boos, sweeping over everyone...

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Seeing the goal conceded, Klopp leaned back slightly.

He was mentally prepared for conceding a goal, but if he had a choice, he still hoped not to concede.

But this put too high a demand on the defense.

The previous goal was a problem with the defense.

Of course, it wasn't the defenders' fault, it was a problem with his tactical arrangement. But besides this arrangement, were there any other better ways? If he hadn't pushed out to attack, but had instead contracted the defense, perhaps Dortmund would have conceded a goal before the thirty-fourth minute.

And now this situation was something he could have thought of when arranging tactics, and he had to bear the consequences...

He bet that his team would score before Bayern Munich scored, but he lost the bet.

He was willing to accept the loss, and he wasn't very upset, just a little regretful.

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On Bayern Munich's side, Guardiola jumped up and high-fived the people around him after the goal.

This goal occurred after his targeted adjustments, fully demonstrating that his adjustments were targeted.

As a coach, this was the most rewarding moment.

Next, he looked back at the field.

Now that they were leading by a goal, the next step was to score more goals and completely crush and collapse Dortmund's temporary defense!

He could already see that wonderful scene.

Bayern Munich would completely defeat Dortmund at home, avenging their loss of the league title and Champions League title last season, as well as their loss of the German Super Cup at the beginning of this season!