Chapter 1 The Affair

When Zhou Yi's relationship with Cortana was made public, it did attract a lot of attention. It was a big news in football, especially in Germany and China, where it sparked heated discussions.

Many female fans were heartbroken, while many male fans were more concerned about the beautiful team doctor, Cortana.

However, this craze did not last long. Just as Zhou Yi thought, this was not the mainstream in football, just some gossip on the sidelines. People would chat about it during their leisure time, and after a few days, no one cared anymore. Unless he and Cortana were constantly making headlines… But would that still be a normal person?

After Zhou Yi directly announced his relationship with Cortana, he put the matter behind him.

The eleventh round of the league, at home against Stuttgart, was just around the corner.

Now, after ten rounds of league matches, Dortmund's record was eight wins, one draw, and one loss, with twenty-five points, ranking second in the league standings.

In first place was Dortmund's old rival, Bayern Munich.

The team led by Guardiola had not lost a game so far. In the new season, they had eight wins and two draws in ten league matches, remaining undefeated.

If they hadn't lost to Dortmund last season, they might have set a new unbeaten record.

Of course, if they hadn't lost to Dortmund last season, they would have been the league champions…

Bayern Munich, with Guardiola at the helm this season, had only one goal, very simple: to snatch the position of Bundesliga hegemon back from Dortmund.

His coaching experience at Barcelona had made Guardiola a world-class coach, and his years of feuds with Mourinho were also a popular topic.

During his four seasons coaching Barcelona, Guardiola led the team to overthrow their arch-rivals Real Madrid and become the dominant force in Spanish and European football. In four years, they played a total of two hundred and forty-seven games, with one hundred and seventy-nine wins, forty-seven draws, and twenty-one losses, a win rate of an astonishing seventy-two point four seven percent. They won fourteen championship trophies, including three La Liga titles, two Champions League titles, two Copa del Rey titles, three Spanish Super Cup titles, two European Super Cup titles, and two Club World Cup titles.

He also led Barcelona to their first treble in La Liga history, the first treble of the twenty-first century, and the first sextuple in world football history.

The Barcelona team he led was known as the "Dream Team III," and was compared to Cruyff's "Dream Team I" and Rijkaard's "Dream Team II," but some people believed his achievements were even greater than Cruyff's and Rijkaard's. Under his leadership, Barcelona played beautiful football while also winning amazing honors.

For a time, Guardiola became a leader among young coaches in Europe, even overshadowing the "Special One" Mourinho.

At Barcelona, Guardiola had fully demonstrated his ability as a coach.

His coaching of Bayern Munich was considered key to Bayern Munich's resurgence. After being suppressed by Dortmund for three seasons, Bayern Munich finally had someone who could lead the team to compete with Klopp.

And Bayern Munich, after Guardiola took over, did perform very well. Ten league games undefeated was the best proof.

For Dortmund and Klopp, Guardiola was definitely the most powerful opponent.

This could be seen from the two teams' current performance in the league standings. Although the league had only just started ten rounds, the two teams were very close.

Dortmund was second with twenty-five points, and Bayern Munich was first with twenty-six points, only one point ahead.

No game could be lost.

In the eleventh round of the league, the game between Dortmund and Stuttgart was the first game of the round.

Despite having just played an intense Revierderby, and despite having a Champions League group stage match against Arsenal in three days, Klopp did not rotate the squad for this game.

They were only one point behind Bayern Munich, and with such fierce competition, there was no such thing as giving up on any front.

Just thirteen minutes into the game, Stuttgart, playing away from home, took the lead. Tunisian center-back Karim Haggui used his height advantage in a corner kick to head the ball into the goal. Weidenfeller had no time to react to the close-range header. Although he made a save, it was after the ball had already flown into the goal…

"Karim Haggui!!! He gives Stuttgart the lead!!"

Stuttgart players celebrated wildly at Westfalenstadion, silencing the Dortmund fans' uproar.

But soon, boos from Dortmund fans rang out in the stadium.

Stuttgart players did not seem to realize that their goal had angered Dortmund.

Just six minutes after taking the lead, Dortmund also won a corner kick. Sahin kicked the ball in front of the goal, and center-back Hummels headed the ball into the Stuttgart goal, tying the score!

"Just six minutes later, Dortmund tied the score! Another header from a corner kick!"

Westfalenstadion erupted in cheers again.

But tying the score was not the end, only the beginning.

Just three minutes after tying the score, Zhou Yi sent a pinpoint pass in the frontcourt, Reus cut inside to meet it, and curled a shot into the far corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area, putting the ball into the Stuttgart goal for the second time!

"Reus! Dortmund leads 2:1! It only took three minutes to go from tying the score to taking the lead!"

After taking the lead, Dortmund's attack was like a storm, and Stuttgart could not even lift their heads. They could only shrink their defense to avoid conceding more goals.

In the end, the first half ended with Dortmund leading Stuttgart 2:1.

After a fifteen-minute half-time break, the two sides changed sides and fought again.

In the fifty-fourth minute, Reus crossed from the wing, and Mark headed the ball into the goal in front of the goal, 3:1!

Two minutes later, Dortmund came back again. In a counterattack, Zhou Yi passed the ball to the open space on the flank. Mark received the ball there and shot directly from long range. The ball flew along the ground into the Stuttgart goal, 4:1!

"Mark!! Scores twice! In just two minutes, Dortmund changed the score from 2:1 to 4:1! This game is over early!!"

Just as Marcel Reif said, this game was over early. Although there were still more than thirty minutes left in the game, Dortmund, who were leading by three goals and playing at home, would never allow Stuttgart to come back on their home turf.

Considering that they still had a game against Arsenal coming up, Klopp also made substitutions.

In the fifty-ninth minute, he replaced Reus with Aubameyang. This was to give Reus more rest, after all, the game against Arsenal in midweek was the most important battle.

Ten minutes later, Schmelzer was also replaced by Durm.

However, the continuous substitutions did not stop Dortmund's scoring momentum, or rather, did not stop Mark Wagner, who was in extremely good form today.

In the seventy-second minute, he seized on an opponent's mistake and scored again!

"Mark!! Hat-trick! Hat-trick! This is his first hat-trick of the season!! After Lewandowski left the team, many people were worried about Dortmund's scoring ability on the front line, but Mark's current performance has dispelled many of these worries! People seem to see the rising star before his serious injury again!"

Mark was also very excited after scoring, and he ran wildly to the coaching bench and the bench, plunging into the crowd.

The past two seasons had been too difficult for Mark. Just when he was soaring, he suddenly suffered a serious knee cruciate ligament injury and did not play for a whole season. After returning, just when he was showing some good form, he suffered another injury, and then minor injuries continued. He played intermittently, and his main position in the team had long been taken by Lewandowski. He went from being the club's hope and a new national team player to losing everything.

But in the Champions League final, his key goal helped Dortmund get the opportunity to reverse Bayern Munich. After Lewandowski left the team, Klopp entrusted him with an important task, putting him back in the starting center position, and his performance was extremely good, and he immediately found his peak state.

When Lewandowski left the team, the problem that many people were worried about was filled by him…

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Not long after Mark scored, Klopp used the last substitution spot in this game. He replaced Zhou Yi with Mkhitaryan, so that Zhou Yi could also get some rest. After all, he had just recovered from a serious injury. The Revierderby against Schalke 04 in the previous game was his first game after recovering from injury.

It was still necessary to be cautious.

Dortmund, with Zhou Yi off the field, did not stop their attacking pace.

In the eighty-first minute, Mark, who had completed a hat-trick, provided an assist to help substitute Aubameyang score, and Dortmund completely crushed Stuttgart 6:1.

After this game, Dortmund temporarily surpassed Bayern Munich, who had not yet kicked off against Hoffenheim, with the advantage of playing one more game, and became the first in the league.

Bayern Munich's game would be played the next afternoon, away against Hoffenheim.

But Dortmund could not bother to pay attention to Bayern Munich. Their eyes were already on the Champions League group stage game in midweek, which was likely to be a key battle for the defending champion to qualify from the Champions League group stage…