After the match, Dortmund wasn't satisfied with the victory, and Bayer Leverkusen, having lost the game, was even less satisfied. They believed Zhou Yi had faked the fall, or even if it was a real fall, it was too exaggerated, with obvious acting involved. They felt the referee had been successfully deceived by his performance. Furthermore, Mark Wagner's delaying tactics when leaving the field were criticized by Leverkusen-supporting media as evidence of Dortmund's lack of professional ethics and their despicable nature.

Leverkusen's fierce criticism naturally caused dissatisfaction on Dortmund's side.

Dortmund's media engaged in a war of words with their counterparts.

As for Zhou Yi, one of the parties involved?

He had already answered the question after the match, so he refused to answer related questions again, only telling those who thought he had faked the fall to watch the replay of the game. If they still insisted he had faked it, he offered two suggestions: one, to see an ophthalmologist; two, to see a neurologist to check if there was something wrong with their brains.

Although Zhou Yi said he wouldn't respond, the tone of his response was actually quite harsh.

Because in the past, when Zhou Yi wanted to criticize someone, he was relatively subtle. He had almost never directly said someone had a problem with their brain like this.

The media analyzed that this showed Zhou Yi was also under a lot of pressure and his mood wasn't very good.

Dortmund's situation was so bad right now, and as the core player, he was naturally held in high expectations. In this match, Dortmund defeated Bayer Leverkusen at home thanks to his two goals. So what about after that? What about the away game against Galatasaray? Everyone's hopes were pinned on him, and this invisible pressure would naturally make people feel miserable over time.

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After the match, news about Sven Bender's and Sahin's injuries also came out, which was what everyone was most concerned about.

Sven Bender suffered a torn ligament and damaged tendons in his right ankle, and would definitely miss Dortmund's final group match against Galatasaray next week. As for when he would be able to recover, Dr. Braun didn't give a definite answer.

Sahin had a fracture in the lateral ligament of his right ankle, which wasn't as serious as Sven Bender's injury, but it was hard to say when he would be able to play. He might be able to play in the match against Galatasaray.

At the same time, at this critical juncture, the latest news about Gündoğan's injury recovery also came out—Dortmund officially confirmed that Gündoğan was out for the season and would completely miss all the remaining games of the season...

Three of the team's four defensive midfielders were now injured, which was really adding insult to injury for Dortmund.

The only good news might be that contract renewal negotiations with Gündoğan could finally continue. Perhaps because his injury was too serious, Real Madrid had backed down from signing Gündoğan, which made Gündoğan give up his fantasy of transferring to Real Madrid and decide to talk about renewing his contract with Dortmund.

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Because the match between Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen had so many talking points, the duel between Son Heung-min and Zhou Yi wasn't mentioned much after the match.

Originally, this topic was hyped up the most by the Korean media. As a result, Son Heung-min lost to Zhou Yi in the match. Whether it was the team or the individual, they were defeated by Zhou Yi, so the Korean media naturally had no interest or motivation to hype up a defeat. They even had to desperately downplay this "Asian Derby" after the match.

The Chinese media was now focused on Yan Min's red card, so naturally they had no interest in following up on Zhou Yi and Son Heung-min's "duel."

Regarding whether Yan Min's red card should have been given, the Chinese media clearly expressed their disagreement with the referee, believing that although Yan Min went up to defend Zhou Yi, he maintained sufficient restraint and didn't lay a hand on anyone. On the contrary, he was a victim in the conflict—he was pushed away by the opposing player—so why should he be given a yellow card, which led to two yellows becoming a red and being sent off?

After the match, the Chinese media unanimously criticized the referee for the match, partly because his standards for penalties during the match were too lax, and partly because of Yan Min's controversial red card.

In addition to scolding the referee, Chinese fans were also worried that this red card would interrupt Yan Min's rise in the Dortmund team. Since the home game against Arsenal, everyone could see that Yan Min's position in the Dortmund team was becoming more and more important. He couldn't even get into the squad before, but now he was in the squad for every game, while the young player Hofmann, who had performed well at the beginning of the season, had been squeezed out of the squad by Yan Min.

Although he was still mostly coming on as a substitute, as long as he came on as a substitute, he would perform well and often be able to determine the outcome of the game. If he continued to play like this, everyone believed that it wouldn't be long before he could become a regular starter. At that time, there would be two Chinese players in Dortmund's starting lineup, which would be amazing.

As a result, Yan Min was suspended with a red card at this time.

In addition to the fact that being suspended for one game would interrupt his appearances, everyone was also worried that the red card would expose Yan Min's temper, which might affect his evaluation in the Dortmund coaching staff...

Yan Min's second yellow card was very unfair, but his first yellow card was considered by many to be self-inflicted—that dangerous tackle at the time was actually unnecessary, too impulsive. If it weren't for that yellow card, even if the referee unfairly gave him a yellow card next, he wouldn't have been sent off.

The previous flying tackle proved that Yan Min still couldn't control his emotions and temper very well.

In fact, Chinese fans' demands on Yan Min were unknowingly getting higher and higher. When they thought so, they all ignored the fact that Yan Min was actually only a twenty-one-year-old young man, and impulsiveness and recklessness were exactly what he should be showing at this age.

Perhaps because of the image Zhou Yi usually gave everyone, everyone thought that young people in their early twenties should be like Zhou Yi.

If you calmed down and thought about it objectively, you would realize that if it hadn't been for Yan Min's flying tackle foul, how could Bayer Leverkusen have gotten an attacking opportunity with a free kick in the frontcourt? How could Dortmund have gotten the opportunity to counterattack immediately after? Without this counterattack, how could they have gotten that penalty?

So everything was actually interconnected, and no link could be missing.

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While the outside world was in turmoil, Klopp didn't have that much time to engage in verbal battles. From the league to the Champions League group stage, there were only four days in between. He not only had to think about the lineup in advance, but also had to conduct targeted training. The time left for Dortmund was actually not much.

Sven Bender was definitely out, and Sahin was uncertain... Klopp crossed out Sahin's name on the paper, assuming he wouldn't be able to play.

In this situation, Dortmund only had one defensive midfielder available, Sebastian Kehl, the team's old captain.

Previously, Dortmund had always played with two defensive midfielders. Last season it was Sven Bender and Gündoğan, and this season, after Gündoğan was injured, it was Sven Bender and Sahin. Both of these combinations had good results. Sahin's good form this season made people temporarily forget about Gündoğan's injury. Further back, when Kagawa Shinji was there, it was Zhou Yi and Sven Bender who partnered as defensive midfielders.

This team was very familiar with the tactical approach of using two defensive midfielders, but now there was only one defensive midfielder left. How could they play with two defensive midfielders?

There were now several options in front of Klopp—the first option was to have Zhou Yi move back to the defensive midfielder position to partner with Kehl, and have Mkhitaryan start as an attacking midfielder, thus maintaining the original formation.

The second option was to take full advantage of Großkreutz's characteristic of being a versatile player, who could fill any position needed, and have him play as a makeshift defensive midfielder, forming a double defensive midfielder partnership with Kehl, while Zhou Yi continued in the attacking midfielder position.

The third option was to change the formation and not play the double defensive midfielder tactic anymore, but instead play a 442 formation with a parallel lineup, with Mark and Aubameyang forming the two forwards, and Zhou Yi and Kehl in the center of midfield.

None of these three options was the best option in Klopp's opinion.

In the first option, if Zhou Yi moved back to the defensive midfielder position, he would be further away from the penalty area, and his threat would indeed be less than when he played as an attacking midfielder. And if Mkhitaryan played as an attacking midfielder, who would organize the attack? Mkhitaryan or Zhou Yi? Would the team be at a loss because there were two organizers?

Would there be a tactical conflict between Mkhitaryan and Zhou Yi? Zhou Yi needed to have possession of the ball. When he had possession of the ball, what about Mkhitaryan? If he didn't get the ball in the attacking midfielder position, what was the difference between him and a shadow striker?

In the second option, Großkreutz was ultimately playing out of position. Although he was a versatile player, he was not as good as a dedicated defensive midfielder. Moreover, he and Kehl had never partnered as defensive midfielders in training or matches before. What if there were mistakes in their coordination?

In the third option, the 442 parallel tactic was unfamiliar to the entire Dortmund team. How could they ensure that the team could adapt to this new formation in the short space of three days?

The time left for the team to train was short, and the time left for Klopp to consider and hesitate was also not long. He had to choose a path immediately and then continue down that path.

It was like gambling.