Chapter 1 He Is the Key!

Zhou Yi gave Marco Reus a thumbs-up because Reus had just made a beautiful run, accurately positioning himself in open space and seizing a great opportunity—had Reus received the ball, he would have been behind Mainz’s entire defensive line, yet not offside, as he had started his run the instant Zhou Yi passed the ball.

Although Reus didn’t get the ball, he still gave Zhou Yi a thumbs-up, praising Zhou Yi’s excellent pass.

Zhou Yi’s praise might have been a simple formality, but Reus’s admiration came from the heart—Zhou Yi was clearly busy shaking off defenders and was even completely turned away from him. In such a situation, he could still accurately judge that he would move forward to appear in that spot and then send the ball there. That was truly amazing…

The two men gave each other thumbs-ups, a simple and common gesture often seen on the field.

But in the eyes of Mainz’s defenders, it had an unusual significance.

This was the first time Zhou Yi had orchestrated an attack since coming on the field, and it had almost led to a threatening shot for Dortmund.

People said that Zhou Yi was now a top midfielder in the Bundesliga.

This statement was simple and even overused. But after facing Zhou Yi, one could genuinely feel the accuracy of applying that statement to him.

Mainz’s players realized that even if they tightened their defense, the remaining dozen or so minutes would be very difficult for them. They suddenly felt immense pressure…

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Mainz’s tightened defense gave Dortmund more attacking opportunities.

Facing the “wall” erected by Mainz’s players near the penalty area, Zhou Yi was not impatient. He constantly passed, moved, and used gestures to direct his teammates’ passes, continuously searching for passable routes. All these routes transformed into a bird’s-eye view in his mind, and he chose the optimal one.

Then, when the ball reached his feet, he naturally didn’t need to look anymore and could directly send the ball with a single kick.

Against Zhou Yi’s organized offense, Mainz, despite tightening their defense, always felt like there were many loopholes, making it exhausting to cope.

During this time, Dortmund surrounded Mainz’s goal with relentless attacks.

If this were Dortmund’s home stadium, the roar would surely be deafening.

Of course, the stadium was already very noisy, mostly with shouts from Mainz fans, including exclamations of worry for their own goal and noises to disrupt Dortmund’s attack.

Such an environment might affect others, but it didn’t disturb Zhou Yi. He was like a precise computer, rapidly calculating the ever-changing situation on the field, while also constantly running, receiving, and passing.

In coordination with his actions, the lines in his brain increased and then decreased.

When only one line remained, Zhou Yi suddenly accelerated!

His teammate passed the ball from the wing to the center. Zhou Yi rushed towards the ball. It was a high ball, not difficult to control, but controlling a high ball would waste some time for Dortmund’s attack. And time was very important; football was essentially a contest between two sides for time and space.

Zhou Yi didn’t want to waste time, which meant the optimal route he had planned earlier would no longer be the best.

So Zhou Yi chose another solution—he jumped into the air, then twisted his waist forcefully, not for a header, but to use his chest to knock the ball towards the edge of the penalty area.

Aubameyang received the ball knocked over by Zhou Yi’s chest right there. He flicked the ball with the outside of his foot, bringing it past Mainz’s defender into the penalty area, followed by a clean and swift curler!

The ball drew an arc, flying close to the grass towards the far corner of the goal.

Mainz’s goalkeeper Karius dove to the side, but he was still a bit late. He didn’t touch the ball, and the ball sped past his hand, then flew into the goal, spun around inside, and was finally caught by the net, no longer moving…

“Aubameyang! Oooooooh! Dortmund equalizes in just five minutes! And these five minutes are precisely the five minutes since Zhou Yi came on!” Duan Xin shouted excitedly.

“tooooooooooooooooooooor!!! Aubameyang—!!! He equalizes for Dortmund! This is a beautiful ‘raid’! It wasn’t a great opportunity to begin with, but it ended up as a goal!” Marcel Reif exclaimed excitedly. “Zhou Yi’s pass was very clever, and Aubameyang’s control and shot were completed in one go, decisive and precise! The two completed a wonderful cooperation, helping Dortmund equalize! At the seventy-fifth minute, the two sides are back to the same starting line! But we have reason to believe that although the two teams are tied, the scene will definitely not be as dull and boring as before the goal!”

Marcel Reif was so sure because of his understanding and trust in Zhou Yi.

With Zhou Yi on the field, how could Dortmund be content with just a draw on the road? They were trying to catch up with Bayern Munich and Leverkusen!

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Aubameyang, after scoring, instinctively wanted to run towards the corner flag to celebrate, but he quickly thought of something more important, so he turned around and ran back, then hugged Zhou Yi.

If Zhou Yi had controlled the incoming ball, perhaps it would have been a different result.

Aubameyang certainly had to thank Zhou Yi’s assist, even though he himself had also done a great job…

More teammates swarmed up, surrounding them both, celebrating the goal.

Facing a disadvantaged situation on the road, Dortmund equalized in just five minutes, which was certainly worth celebrating.

However, Zhou Yi in the crowd didn’t seem to want to celebrate to the fullest. He said to his teammates: “Our goal isn’t a draw, but to win!”

He reminded everyone not to celebrate too enthusiastically, as the time left for them was actually not much.

Although Zhou Yi wasn’t the captain, his words had an effect.

Hearing him say that, everyone stopped celebrating and turned around to run back together.

They still had to seize the time and strive to score more goals; they had to win this game!

After falling to third in the league, Dortmund had no room for maneuver, unless they wanted to give up on the league.

But who would surrender before even half the league season was over?

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During the brief time when Dortmund’s players were celebrating the goal, Mainz’s coach Tuchel had already made new adjustment instructions.

In fact, after Aubameyang’s goal, Mainz faced a choice: A, choose to actively attack, continue the previous fast-paced style of play, and strive to regain the lead in a short time. B, temporarily abandon the previous fast-paced style of play, defend steadily and counterattack. Anyway, it was Dortmund who should be anxious now, because they couldn’t afford to draw after being thrown to third in the league by Bayern Munich and Leverkusen.

Tuchel quickly made a choice—abandon the previous fast-paced style of play, tighten the defense, let Dortmund press up to attack, and then exploit the gaps behind them.

This was the safest approach.

After the restart, Dortmund did desperately press up to attack, hoping to seize the time to score another goal.

For Dortmund, just one goal was enough. This goal might come in a few minutes, just like their previous goal, but it might also not come until the end of the game—football is round, anything can happen. Sometimes, it’s not even that you put in a lot of effort that you can get the desired result.

Especially when Mainz tightened their defense and counterattacked.

Dortmund did launch several attacks after the kickoff, but they were also countered twice by Mainz seizing the opportunity. It seemed that Mainz’s counterattacks were more threatening.

Generally, teams, encountering such a situation, would temporarily shrink back, slow down the pace of the game, and make a long-term plan.

But Dortmund didn’t do that, or rather, Zhou Yi didn’t plan to do that. He seemed to be completely unaware of the hidden dangers of this pressing attack, constantly sending the ball forward, helping Dortmund burn the flames of war directly to Mainz’s goal.

This seemed to be a contest with Mainz to see who would score first.

Didn’t Zhou Yi know that the gaps behind him would be exploited by the opponent’s counterattack?

Of course, he knew, but Zhou Yi had other considerations—now that Dortmund had just equalized, it was the time when their morale was at its peak. If they slowed down at this time, it would be like abandoning their martial arts. They couldn’t give up such an opportunity because they were worried about conceding a goal.

Dortmund had been holding back their anger for most of the game and needed to vent it, otherwise it would burn them up instead.

All Zhou Yi could do was to do everything possible to find a correct breakthrough for this surging anger, so that the magma under the ground could erupt from the volcano, destroying everything.

After trying to pass in the center without success, Zhou Yi moved to the wing.

When he received the ball on the wing, he lowered his center of gravity and leaned his body to the right, making a posture to break through and go down the right. Mainz’s Korean left-back Park Joo-ho swayed his upper body, but quickly realized that Zhou Yi was faking it, so his lower body stood still and didn’t move, which made it impossible for Zhou Yi to cut inside.

Zhou Yi was indeed faking it. He tilted his body slightly, quickly retracted it, and didn’t move his feet either. He just used his upper body to sway, hoping to deceive the defending player.

But Park Joo-ho saw through his feint in time, turning the game from dynamic to static all of a sudden.

Zhou Yi had to stop, unable to continue forward. When the player with the ball stops completely, the difficulty of defending also decreases accordingly. At the same time, because he stopped, Dortmund’s entire attack had to stop as well, even if it was just a momentary pause, it could lead to errors in cooperation—for example, Zhou Yi stopped, but the supporting player didn’t stop, so when Zhou Yi passed the ball again, the supporting player might be offside…

When Zhou Yi stopped, he raised his foot again and made a movement to pass the ball, but he didn’t ultimately pass the ball, but just made a feint, because Sieber was offside in the penalty area. If this ball was passed, Dortmund’s attack would end here.

Park Joo-ho naturally thought that it was because he had seen through Zhou Yi’s feint that Dortmund’s attack had fallen into such an embarrassing situation.

It wasn’t wrong for him to understand it this way, but he seemed to be rejoicing a little too early.

Because just as Zhou Yi retracted his foot, he suddenly kicked it out again!

This time it wasn’t a feint, his instep pushed into the ball, pushing it into the penalty area, and the ball just went through Park Joo-ho’s legs!

A nutmeg pass!

The other Mainz defenders saw that Zhou Yi had really passed the ball, and they all raised their arms reflexively, indicating that Dortmund was offside!

But the referee and linesman didn’t think so.

Sieber was indeed offside, but he didn’t participate in the attack. Zhou Yi’s pass went past Sieber, landing near the penalty spot. Here, Aubameyang, like a black panther, rushed out and then turned the ball from Zhou Yi to the left!

“Chance!!”