The next few days, everyone at Borussia Dortmund, as well as the German journalists who had traveled with the team, witnessed Zhou Yi's popularity in China.

Originally, the training sessions were open to the public, but in the last two days, they had to be closed off.

The reason was simply that too many Chinese fans came to watch the team train, which completely affected the team's normal training.

These fans kept shouting Zhou Yi's name from the stands.

Their voices even drowned out the coaches' whistles, making it impossible for the players to react to the coaches' instructions in a timely manner.

Therefore, the team had to cancel the open training sessions. At the same time, in order to avoid offending the Chinese fans, they also had Zhou Yi participate in a press conference to explain why the team had to do this.

"... We are taking the game very seriously and hope to have good training before the game..."

Zhou Yi explained.

Within the team, everyone was also shocked by Zhou Yi's popularity in China.

"God, I didn't know Borussia Dortmund had so many fans in China!"

"Hey, it's not Borussia Dortmund, it's Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi is the popular one."

Someone immediately corrected him.

"Oh, right, right, right. What terrifying popularity!"

Zhou Yi knew, however, that it was just good timing. The Top Ten matches had just finished, and the Chinese team had qualified. Chinese fans were in high spirits, and even many non-fans who normally didn't watch soccer were joining in the fun. Naturally, it seemed like there were a lot of people.

Although the value of the World Cup was becoming less and less compared to the Champions League, the World Cup was still the undisputed number one soccer event in the world. At least in China, the World Cup was positioned higher than any other soccer event.

Because of Zhou Yi, Borussia Dortmund's popularity in China, despite losing Götze and Lewandowski, was not affected in any way.

Seeing this scene, Watzke felt more and more that the club's decision to give up Lewandowski and fully retain Zhou Yi was the right one. If Zhou Yi had any accidents, would they still be able to enjoy such treatment when they came to China?

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Borussia Dortmund's trip to China this time included a total of three games.

One in Guangzhou, one in Shanghai, and one in Beijing. After playing all the games, they would leave from Beijing and return to Germany.

In Guangzhou, Borussia Dortmund's opponent was a local professional team in Guangzhou - Guangzhou Hengyuan.

This team was still a team in the China League One three years ago, but now they are the Super League champions.

Since the promotion, Hengyuan has won the Chinese Super League title for two consecutive seasons.

Although the current season of the Chinese Super League has not yet finished, they also have a great chance of winning the championship. If nothing unexpected happens, Guangzhou Hengyuan will create a three-peat in the Chinese Super League.

The coach of this team is world-class coach Lippi. The team has a lot of domestic Chinese stars, many national team players, who come from Guangzhou Hengyuan.

In addition, their Brazilian foreign players are not very famous, but they are all very strong.

As the strongest team in China, the match between Guangzhou Hengyuan and Borussia Dortmund is naturally eye-catching. You should know that Borussia Dortmund has just won the Champions League. Everyone wants to see how big the gap is between the top team in China and the top team in Europe.

At the pre-match press conference, Zhou Yi also talked about the Hengyuan team: "Many of my national team teammates are from Guangzhou Hengyuan. I also know that they are the champions of the Chinese Super League for two consecutive seasons. I have introduced them to my teammates. They are definitely an opponent not to be ignored, and I think we will go all out in the game."

A reporter asked Zhou Yi how he viewed Hengyuan's money-burning approach, and Zhou Yi shrugged: "I think it's very good. Soccer needs money, and it needs a lot of money. I'm not against burning money, as long as it's burned correctly and professionally. In my opinion, the reason why Hengyuan has been able to succeed in the Chinese Super League has a lot to do with their professional and correct burning of money. I admire them very much."

Zhou Yi's answer surprised many people.

Since Hengyuan's rise in Chinese soccer, there has been constant controversy. Some people look down on their money-burning approach, believing that Hengyuan's boss has tarnished pure soccer with money. Even if Hengyuan has already won two Chinese Super League titles, everyone thinks they are nouveau riche, with no championship heritage and certainly not a powerhouse. Some people also think that Hengyuan's boss's investment in soccer is a political investment, a practice that is disgusting.

You should know that when Hengyuan Group acquired the Guangzhou team, its boss said that he would win the Chinese top league title within three years and the AFC Champions League title within five years, which was ridiculed as a joke made by an outsider who did not understand soccer.

As a result, Hengyuan was promoted from China League One to the Chinese Super League in one season.

Even so, it has not been able to change everyone's inherent impression of them.

After Hengyuan was promoted to the Super League, Beijing TV ridiculed Hengyuan's "money-burning" approach in its report on the new season of the Chinese Super League. Some of the words were very harsh.

The TV station made some allusions to Hengyuan's signings: First, the players introduced must go crazy when they encounter Super League powerhouses, and even get angry when they see teams such as Shandong, Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin.

Second, the players introduced must be expensive, whether they can be used or not, the key is the price. After spending so much money, fans must remember who paid the money.

Third, the players introduced must be famous, whether they can play or not, the key is that when this player is brought out, all the fans will exclaim: "Wow, he's here!" What follows must be "Hengyuan is so rich."

Finally, they also pulled out Hengyuan's boss's "bold words" at the beginning and satirized them: "With this, Hengyuan's goal should not be the AFC Champions League, right? Play well, and the Club World Cup is up to you!"

Now Hengyuan has won two Chinese Super League titles, and the momentum in the AFC Champions League this season is also good.

But there are still many controversies about Hengyuan in the folk. Some people say that they are nouveau riche and only know how to spend money. Others criticize Hengyuan for relying on foreign players, and Chinese players are just a foil.

But Zhou Yi gave Hengyuan Club a high evaluation, which of course surprised everyone.

You should know that Borussia Dortmund is not a club that lives by burning money. Bayern Munich has a "German Hengyuan" feel. Logically speaking, Zhou Yi, as a Borussia Dortmund player, should not have a good impression of the "Hengyuan model."

Although the reporters were surprised, no one delved into this issue. After all, the protagonist today is Borussia Dortmund, Zhou Yi, not Guangzhou Hengyuan.

On the Internet, there were soon comments about Zhou Yi praising Guangzhou Hengyuan. In the comments below, everyone had different opinions. Some people thought that Zhou Yi was a smart person and realized that Guangzhou Hengyuan's success was definitely not just about burning money. Others were disappointed by Zhou Yi's statement, and they didn't expect Zhou Yi to be a "money-only" person.

The people who held these two views were actually the people who supported and opposed Hengyuan. They simply quarreled in the comments section below the news, which was very lively.

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Zhou Yi didn't care about what was happening on the Internet. He also didn't care about how his words would be interpreted by reporters and fans. He said what he thought was right, and he didn't expect everyone to agree with his views.

The game is still more important.

At the pre-match press conference, Guangzhou Hengyuan coach Lippi praised Borussia Dortmund's outstanding performance in European soccer. He thought Borussia Dortmund was great, and Klopp had done a great job.

Then he also focused on Zhou Yi, which was the topic that the Chinese media was most interested in.

In the interview, world-class coach "Silver Fox" Lippi had a very high evaluation of Zhou Yi.

"... There is no doubt that he is a world-class player. It is fortunate for Borussia Dortmund to have him. It is also lucky for Chinese soccer to have him. If I were the coach of the Italian national team, I would also very much hope that he could be an Italian, so that I could recruit him into my national team..."

A reporter asked: "What about Sun Pan?"

Lippi smiled and blinked: "Forget about Sun Pan, although he is also very good, but we already have Buffon."

There was a knowing laugh among the reporters.

Italian goalkeepers who live in the same era as Buffon are really a bit "born at the wrong time as Buffon"...