Chapter 1 When Klopp Announced Yan Min Would Replace the Injured Reus in the Starting Lineup Before the Game

When Klopp announced Yan Min would replace the injured Reus in the starting lineup before the game, it didn't cause an uproar in the locker room. Everyone had seen Yan Min's abilities and form recently, and his attitude in training was also obvious. There was nothing surprising about him getting a starting opportunity with such performance.

Even Yan Min himself wasn't very surprised.

Two hours before the game, the outside world also received the starting lists for both sides. Leverkusen had no surprising arrangements.

For Dortmund, Reus did not appear in the starting lineup, and Yan Min replaced him.

"Reus isn't even starting, it seems his injury is indeed not optimistic..." The host and guests of the TV station discussed the list.

"Dortmund's luck this season is really at its worst. Many of the team's main players have suffered injuries one after another... And judging from this trend, Dortmund's injury wave will continue, and it is impossible to solve it in a short time..."

"Of course it can't be solved. As long as Klopp insists on his current tactical style and training intensity, Dortmund's injured players will continue to increase..."

"I can't quite understand Klopp's thinking. This team has already won enough championships. It can be said that this group of Dortmund players has been squeezed to the limit by him. Why continue to insist on this style of play? You must know that doing so will inevitably cause more injuries. And the players' fighting spirit may not be as strong as before... Dortmund's erratic performance this season is not only affected by injuries, but also has something to do with the players' desire to win not being as strong as before..."

The guests started talking endlessly about Dortmund's injury problems, and the host had to bring the topic back: "In any case, Reus is already injured. Klopp has chosen Yan Min as his replacement. What do you think of this adjustment for this young Chinese player who has been performing well recently?"

The guests looked at each other, and one of them said: "Yan Min is indeed a very talented and capable player, but he doesn't seem to have adapted to European football very well yet. I have noticed a very obvious problem with him now - when he comes on as a substitute, he can often come up with amazing performances, but when he starts, his performance is far worse than when he comes on as a substitute..."

"A super substitute?" the host asked.

"Yes, a bit like that. I don't know if it's because of physical reasons that make him run better than other players when he comes on as a substitute, or because of mental issues - thinking more, demanding more, and being more anxious after starting. And coming on as a substitute, the positioning is relatively not so high, and it may be easier to play..."

"So, Klopp's choice to let Yan Min start in place of Reus is not a very good choice?"

"I didn't say that. But I do have these concerns. In fact, Dortmund doesn't lack people on the wing. They also have Kuba, and Mkhitaryan can also play on the wing. I think Klopp chose Yan Min as a way of rewarding him for his performance in the recent games - in the Champions League group matches against Napoli and Arsenal, and in the match against Bayern Munich, Yan Min played a crucial role when he came on as a substitute. It's impossible to keep such a player on the bench all the time..."

In China, there was no such worry or discussion. Whether it was commentators, media reporters, or ordinary fans, they were all very happy that Yan Min could start.

This meant that Dortmund would have two Chinese players starting at the same time, and they naturally hoped that Yan Min would be able to secure a starting position from now on.

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When the players from both sides walked out of the tunnel and onto the field, the TV broadcast gave close-up shots of Zhou Yi and Son Heung-min respectively, fully illustrating that these two people were the key figures of their respective teams in this game.

Zhou Yi is the core of Dortmund, and Son Heung-min can be said to be "Dortmund's nemesis." He has scored three goals against Dortmund alone, making him the player with the most goals against Dortmund in the current Leverkusen team.

Although before the game, the discussion was about Reus's replacement, Yan Min, when the game really started, everyone still had to watch Zhou Yi and Son Heung-min.

It can be seen from the starting lineups of these two teams that they did not intend to hold back in this game, and did not intend to reserve their strength for the Champions League group match in the middle of next week.

The Champions League group match is of course important, but this league match is equally important.

Although it was an away game, Leverkusen played very actively after the game started.

They did not play relatively conservatively because it was an away game, nor because Dortmund was strong, nor because there was a Champions League group match in the middle of next week.

Only eight minutes into the game, Son Heung-min passed the ball back in the penalty area, and Leverkusen's midfielder Hegeler followed up with a shot from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball was saved by Weidenfeller's dive.

Four minutes later, Leverkusen's attack came again. Full-back Emre Can dribbled the ball on the left wing and cut inside, then took a long shot from the arc of the penalty area, but the ball went over the crossbar.

"Oh! Emre Can! That was close! Just a little high!" Commentator Marcel Reif exclaimed. "After the start of the game, the more aggressive team is actually Leverkusen, who is playing away. This is somewhat beyond everyone's expectations..."

The Korean commentator was very excited: "Son Heung-min's performance after the start is very active! He runs tirelessly, and he can appear in almost any corner of the frontcourt! This game is an opportunity for Son Heung-min to officially challenge Zhou Yi, the number one star in Asia!"

Although the Koreans cheered for Son Heung-min, they did not deny Zhou Yi's current status, saying that he is the number one star in Asia, that is really right. After Park Ji-sung left Manchester United and left the main European leagues, and Shinji Kagawa couldn't even play for Manchester United, among so many Asian players playing in Europe, who can be compared with Zhou Yi?

Sun Pan is one, but he is a goalkeeper, and no matter how good his performance is, it still feels like it is a notch below.

It is really no problem to say that Zhou Yi is the number one star in Asia. But why hasn't the number one star in Asia won the Asian Footballer of the Year award?

This has to do with the AFC's pretentious rules - in the past, the AFC did not restrict Asian players playing overseas from participating in the Asian Footballer of the Year awards, so Hidetoshi Nakata, who played in Perugia, won the Asian Footballer of the Year twice.

But later, the AFC stipulated that the winner must attend the awards ceremony, otherwise the qualification would be cancelled. The AFC's awards ceremony is held at the end of November every year, and at this time, the European leagues are in full swing. Few clubs are willing to let their main players fly thousands of kilometers just to receive an award. For example, Park Ji-sung, the iconic figure of Korean football, has never won the Asian Footballer of the Year award, because he directly rejected the AFC's awards ceremony every time, and the AFC naturally would not give the award representing the highest personal honor in Asian football to someone who disrespects them so much.

And starting last year, the AFC reformed the selection of the Asian Footballer of the Year again. It no longer separately listed an Asian Footballer of the Year award. The Asian Footballer of the Year became the best Asian player playing in Asia, for those players playing outside Asia, the AFC newly established a "Best Overseas Player Award", this award is specially prepared for Zhou Yi, Son Heung-min and others. But this also means that if they don't return to Asia to play, Zhou Yi, Son Heung-min and others will never get the Asian Footballer of the Year...

The winner of the first Best Overseas Asian Player award caused some controversy. Shinji Kagawa won the award. At that time, it caused dissatisfaction among Chinese media, who believed that the selection result of this award was controversial. In terms of strength and influence, how can Shinji Kagawa be compared with Zhou Yi? You must know that in Dortmund, Shinji Kagawa has always been under Zhou Yi. Now that Shinji Kagawa has gone to Manchester United, he has won the Best Overseas Player award instead. Everyone can only think that it is because Manchester United's reputation is greater than Dortmund's.

And Shinji Kagawa didn't even attend the awards ceremony at that time. The reason given to the outside world was that he was busy with the Premier League, but who knows if there were other reasons.

This year's Best Overseas Player award is finally not controversial. Zhou Yi, who led Dortmund to win three consecutive league titles, won the Champions League, and was elected as the European Player of the Season last season, if he still can't get the Best Asian Player, the AFC will become a laughing stock in the world football.

The winner of this award is Zhou Yi, but the award result was not announced at the AFC's annual awards ceremony that just ended not long ago.

This is because Zhou Yi did not attend the AFC's awards ceremony either.

At that time, Zhou Yi publicly stated that because Dortmund's schedule was intensive and there were many key games, he really had no time or energy to fly to Abu Dhabi to receive the award. He also specifically thanked the AFC for its recognition of his achievements.

His attitude and speech were impeccable, but everyone still felt that Zhou Yi's failure to attend the award ceremony was not as simple as he said. There must be some "venting" factors in it.

Anyway, in China, both the media and fans felt understanding and relieved about Zhou Yi's actions. Even if someone occasionally criticized Zhou Yi for acting like a big shot, they would soon be drowned in the saliva of more people.

Since the AFC has separated players playing in Asia and Asian players playing in Europe, then even if Zhou Yi does not attend the awards ceremony, this award is still his. There will not be a situation like Park Ji-sung, who did not attend the awards ceremony and did not receive the award. It's just that, it is hard to say whether Zhou Yi still cares about such an incomplete award now.

Anyway, Chinese fans don't care.