Chapter 144 An Alert Rebound

Neither side made any personnel changes during the halftime break, only minor tactical adjustments.

Chelsea strengthened their containment of Zhou Yi in an attempt to restrict Dortmund.

Mourinho was pleased that he had made such adjustments during halftime. In his view, he had plugged the final loopholes, and with Chelsea leading by one goal, there was nothing to worry about.

He had faced Zhou Yi and Dortmund last season, so he knew how formidable Zhou Yi was and didn't dare to be careless. However, he also believed that his current adjustments would definitely be effective.

With this in mind, Mourinho returned to the coach's seat, sat down, and waited for the second half to begin.

With the referee's whistle, the second half began.

Chelsea kicked off in the second half, using the opportunity to launch an offensive toward Dortmund's goal.

However, they failed to seriously threaten Weidenfeller's goal.

Torres's shot went over the crossbar, not even earning a corner kick.

Next, possession fell to Dortmund.

As in the first half, Dortmund did not pass the ball back and forth in their own half when they had possession, but instead advanced directly forward, with great speed, quickly reaching Chelsea's thirty-meter zone.

When Zhou Yi received the ball, he was immediately confronted by two Chelsea players, one in front and one behind, trying to surround him. Zhou Yi immediately passed the ball, sending a diagonal pass that rolled horizontally from the center toward the ribs of the penalty area.

Reus cut in from the wing and received Zhou Yi's pass, but he did not continue to break through to the baseline and cross the ball.

Instead, as he received the ball, he used his right foot to hook the ball inward, suddenly cutting inside!

This cut was sudden and swift, catching Ramires, who had retreated into the penalty area, off guard. By the time he wanted to turn around and follow up, his foot slipped, and he had to use his hand to support himself to avoid falling completely to the ground, but he also lost control of Reus.

After cutting inside, Reus shook off Ramires and shot directly without hesitation!

He remembered what Zhou Yi had said in the locker room: shoot as much as possible, shoot when you have the chance, don't think too much.

So he swung his thigh around, filled with power, and hit the ball solidly with the outside of his right foot.

The struck ball flew straight to the far corner!

Almost at the same time as Reus shot, Sun Pan soared into the air, reaching for the far post. He accurately judged that Reus would shoot for the far corner, not the near corner. His timely intervention also meant that he did not miss the ball this time.

He got to the ball!

However, the ball he pushed away did not fly directly out of the baseline but bounced back in front of the goal!

Like playing pool, the ball pushed away by Sun Pan hit someone's head as it bounced back...

When Reus shot, Mark Wagner had already planned to rush in front of the goal to make a follow-up shot. Although he didn't know if there would definitely be a chance for a follow-up shot, as a forward, he had to be prepared to seize any opportunity in front of the goal, otherwise, he would find it was too late when the opportunity came...

His preparation paid off, and the ball pushed away by Sun Pan just happened to fly in front of him!

Mark didn't have time to think at all, and reflexively headed the ball!

His forehead hit the top of the ball, creating a bouncing ball!

The ball slammed down on the ground, bounced up again, and flew into the goal!

At this time, Sun Pan fell to the ground and had no time to get up and make a second save... His goal had been breached!

"Mark! Mark Wagner!!" Marcel Reif shouted excitedly. "A clever follow-up shot! Dortmund has equalized!!"

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"Ah, damn it!" Mourinho cursed on the sidelines as he saw the goal.

Once again, there was a problem with the defense in the penalty area. Ramires was too easily shaken off by Reus, and there were no Chelsea defenders interfering with Mark Wagner's follow-up shot!

However, from Reus's shot to Mark's follow-up shot, everything happened so fast that Chelsea's players might not have had time to react... But Mourinho didn't care so much, this goal made him furious.

He had just thought that his defensive arrangement for Zhou Yi could be considered damage control, but who would have thought that they would concede a goal just two minutes into the second half!

"Two minutes into the first half, Mark once headed the ball wide, wasting a chance! And two minutes into the second half, Dortmund created another chance! This time Mark Wagner didn't let the opportunity slip away! His header was very clever! The quality of the header was also very high!" He Ping praised. "After Lewandowski transferred to Bayern Munich, Mark became Dortmund's starting lineup, and the task on his shoulders is very heavy because he and Lewandowski are not the same type of player, and frequent injuries have also made people doubt whether he can take on the responsibility after Lewandowski's departure... But seeing such a goal, I think it can dispel some people's doubts..."

As Zhou Yi's good friend, He Ping was very friendly to Mark. Mark also had many supporters in China because of Zhou Yi. Everyone liked this talented but ill-fated player. If it hadn't been for that serious cruciate ligament injury, maybe Lewandowski wouldn't have been anything at all...

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Mark was also very excited after scoring. He turned and ran to the coach's seat, giving coach Klopp a hug.

Of course, he wanted to thank Klopp, and thank Klopp first.

After Lewandowski left, it was Klopp who gave him more trust, encouraged him, and told him that he didn't plan to buy a center forward because he believed that Mark could perfectly fill the gap left by Lewandowski.

Even when Mark scored an own goal in the league, Klopp never wavered in his trust in him. Aubameyang had scored a hat-trick, and Mkhitaryan had also scored twice, but the starting center forward in every game was him, Mark Wagner, and not anyone else.

Mark's goal was to repay Klopp's trust in him.

Any player hopes to meet a coach who trusts him so much.

Compared to others, although Mark had suffered a serious injury, he was still very lucky...

While Mark and Klopp were hugging, the other Dortmund players also rushed up and surrounded them, and the Dortmund bench and the front of the coach's seat were filled with cheering crowds.

In front of Chelsea's goal, Sun Pan could only vent his anger on the turf. He grabbed a piece of turf and threw it into the goal with force.

"Damn it!"

He was angry because he had made a very good save, denying Reus's powerful shot, but he didn't expect to indirectly assist Mark Wagner—the ball he pushed away was hit right by Mark, looking like he had passed the ball to Mark.

He managed to save a world-class shot, but he couldn't stop that kid from picking up the scraps... Sun Pan felt bitter.

During halftime, he secretly vowed to show Mourinho with his actions that he would definitely not let Dortmund score.

As a result, just two minutes into the second half, his vow was shattered.

For some reason, Sun Pan, in his anger, suddenly thought of what Zhou Yi had said to him in the first half.

"If luck is conserved, you're using up all your luck..."

Could it really be that he used up all his luck?

※※※

Regardless of the reason for the goal, the two sides were now back on the same starting line, with the score at 1:1.

Mark's goal prevented the game from becoming a boring show of Chelsea parking the bus in the final moments, and also added more changes to the game.

It was still hard to say who would win.

After his anger, Mourinho rushed to the sidelines and pulled Lampard over, giving him instructions to go on the field and tell his teammates not to panic because of the goal, as they still had nearly forty-five minutes left and had a chance to take the lead again, as long as they didn't mess things up.

Yes, it was important not to mess things up.

Imagine Dortmund, who conceded a goal seven minutes into the first half. If they had panicked, how could Chelsea still be leading by one goal? They might have been leading by two or three goals.

But Dortmund didn't panic. Encouraged by Zhou Yi's near-perfect volley, they became more and more courageous. Then, in one go, they equalized the score just two minutes into the second half.

In a sense, Dortmund was actually a role model for Chelsea.

If Chelsea could be as calm as Dortmund in the face of danger, then Mourinho was confident that the team could win the game.

At this time, his most important job as head coach was to reassure the players, give them strength and confidence.

After doing all this, he returned to his seat, took a sip of water, and looked serious.