After scoring, Yan Min was very excited. He sprinted towards the corner flag area to celebrate, which happened to be where the Hamburg fans were gathered.
The Hamburg fans, extremely disappointed with their team, booed loudly. The boos were directed at both their own players and Yan Min.
Yan Min put his finger to his lips, signaling the Hamburg fans to be quiet.
Of course, he couldn't silence them, so he was met with even more boos.
But Yan Min didn't care and wasn't intimidated. He turned around, jumped on Schmelzer's back, and hugged his teammates.
The Borussia Dortmund players celebrated wantonly in front of the Hamburg fans.
The Hamburg fans were itching to get at them but were powerless to do anything.
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After the game restarted, Hamburg, already down by two goals, finally decided to go all out. After all, they were already two goals behind, and if they didn't fight, they would lose anyway. It was better to take a chance and maybe create a miracle.
So, Hamburg launched a frantic counterattack.
They did create some chances and even scored a goal. In the seventy-sixth minute, Hamburg won a corner kick on the left. Çalhanoğlu took the kick, and Djourou headed the ball in at the far post!
A huge cheer erupted in the Imtech Arena.
But the cheer was cut short by the referee's whistle. He indicated that during the header at the far post, Lasogga, who was trying to get in position in the center, had committed a foul, so the goal was disallowed!
The decision angered the Hamburg players.
But no matter how much they protested, the referee didn't change his ruling.
They could only reluctantly return to the game.
Faced with Hamburg's counterattack, Borussia Dortmund launched their own counterattacks.
Klopp didn't substitute Zhou Yi, which was the first time in the last three league games that he hadn't replaced him around the seventieth minute.
This was also because the situation was too critical, and he didn't dare to replace Zhou Yi rashly.
Zhou Yi on the field was the team's pillar of strength. Whether from a technical and tactical level or a psychological level, he could reassure the other Borussia Dortmund players. Facing Hamburg's frantic counterattack, they wouldn't lose their composure.
You know, a two-goal lead may seem like a lot, but if the opponent goes all-in and has a little bit of luck, it's not impossible to score two goals in three minutes and tie the score...
Although he couldn't substitute Zhou Yi early, Klopp could replace players in other positions, giving them a chance to rest and better protect their lead.
He replaced Marco Wagner with Großkreutz.
How important it is to have such a versatile player in the team...
By replacing Marco and keeping Aubameyang, Klopp wasn't purely strengthening the defense. He also retained the means for a counterattack. In a counterattack, the speedy Aubameyang was certainly more crucial than Marco.
It wasn't until the eighty-fifth minute that Klopp prepared to substitute Zhou Yi.
In the eighty-seventh minute, the game stopped, and Klopp replaced Zhou Yi with Hofmann.
Shortly after Zhou Yi left the field, in the ninetieth minute, Reus, after being dispossessed, got up and tackled Rincón from behind.
The action earned him a yellow card and gave Hamburg a free kick in the attacking third.
It was a free kick thirty-five meters from the goal. The two-goal lead and the little time left in the game made Borussia Dortmund very perfunctory when setting up the wall. They didn't even build a proper wall.
Çalhanoğlu stepped up to take the free kick. Facing the sparsely arranged Borussia Dortmund wall, he shot directly!
The football drew a beautiful arc in the air and went straight into the upper left corner of the goal!
Facing such a world-class goal, Weidenfeller was powerless. Although he made a save attempt, he didn't touch the ball at all.
The ball flew into the goal!
"Ooh ooh ooh ooh!!!" Marcel Reif exclaimed. "Oh my god! A direct free kick from thirty-five meters! Çalhanoğlu! What a screamer! I believe this goal is very likely to be the best goal of this round of the league! It's so wonderful! The only pity is... why didn't this goal come sooner? Of course, with such a wonderful goal, even if they lose the game, it will be enough for people to talk about it for a long time..."
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Klopp, on the sidelines, was startled when he saw Çalhanoğlu's goal.
He quickly raised his wrist to check his watch and found that it was already the ninety-first minute of the game...
There were four minutes of injury time in this game, leaving three minutes.
Not safe.
He was anxious and yelled loudly from the sidelines, demanding that the players cheer up and not be careless again.
It would be too unlucky if they were killed at the last moment.
Thinking of this, he glanced back at the bench.
Zhou Yi was sitting there, having been substituted and unable to play again.
He still reserved him for the Champions League until the very end.
If Zhou Yi hadn't been substituted early, he believed that Borussia Dortmund wouldn't have given Hamburg even this free kick opportunity.
Now he could only let his players defend desperately...
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Pulling a goal back and narrowing the gap to one goal, Hamburg suddenly saw hope.
Although they might not be able to win the game, every point was very important on the road to relegation.
Even a draw would be fine.
So, in the last few minutes, Hamburg launched a fierce attack on Borussia Dortmund's goal, hoping to tie the score.
Borussia Dortmund, on the other hand, retreated across the board, defending in the penalty area.
The Imtech Arena was also a sea of voices, with Hamburg fans cheering for their team frantically.
Borussia Dortmund fans had their hearts in their throats, afraid of being killed at the last moment.
Fortunately, Borussia Dortmund's players were also awakened by Çalhanoğlu's world-class goal, adjusted their mentality, and responded positively.
Although it was impossible to threaten Hamburg in attack, it was still possible to defend with all their might and get through these few minutes.
Finally, in the ninety-fourth minute and eighteen seconds of the game, a Borussia Dortmund player kicked the ball towards Hamburg's backfield, and the referee blew the whistle to end the game.
"The game is over! Hamburg suffered their eighth consecutive defeat at home! Skarbalnik's team had a chance to change this result. They played really well in the first half. But unfortunately, Borussia Dortmund made positive adjustments in the second half and brought the game back into the rhythm they were familiar with... The two teams can be said to have each played a good half... Borussia Dortmund finally won this league game before the Champions League game. Now they can prepare for the Champions League without any distractions... But the team's laxity at the last moment should still sound the alarm for themselves..." Marcel Reif commented. "Borussia Dortmund was able to win this game with a strong element of luck..."
After the game, Borussia Dortmund's players celebrated their victory with particular excitement, which seemed to confirm Marcel Reif's statement.
Borussia Dortmund's ability to win this game was inseparable from good luck.
If Zhou Yi's world-class shot hadn't hit Rincón's foot, it would have been hard to say whether it would have gone in...
But that's how football is. No matter how the process goes, you still have to look at the result in the end.
Winning is winning, and three points are in hand.
It won't be considered a loss or deducted points just because it wasn't a beautiful win or a win based on luck.
After this game, Borussia Dortmund is only one point behind Bayern Munich for the time being, because Bayern Munich hasn't played this round of the league yet.
Although it's only a temporary score, it has given many Borussia Dortmund supporters hope and a vision for the future. Maybe this difference in points is the not-too-distant future.
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After a hard-fought victory over Hamburg, Borussia Dortmund returned to their training base, where they would train until two days before the Champions League game, before setting off for Saint Petersburg.
After the game against Hamburg, everyone was most concerned about this game. They were also concerned about the weather in Saint Petersburg.
It had been cloudy for the past few days. The good news was that the weather forecast didn't show any signs of snow, especially heavy snow.
This relieved many Borussia Dortmund fans.
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A day later, Bayern Munich defeated Hannover 96 4-0 on the road, demonstrating their strong dominance.
Hannover 96 was completely unable to compete with Bayern Munich.
Commentator Marcel Reif repeatedly praised Bayern Munich's performance while commentating on the game and expressed concern about whether Borussia Dortmund could "snatch the league title from Bayern Munich's clutches."
Before the game against Hannover 96, Bayern Munich had just finished the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 match.
This game saw Borussia Dortmund challenge Arsenal away.
Faced with the Premier League giants, Bayern Munich won 2-0 on the road. Faced with an Arsenal team that was one man short, Bayern Munich's possession rate reached an astonishing 73 percent, very much in the style of Guardiola.
They also had fifteen shots, six of which were on target. There were also nine corners.
It can be seen from the statistics that Bayern Munich's advantage was very obvious.
The outstanding performance of this Bayern Munich team has already led Bayern Munich fans to look forward to Guardiola leading Bayern Munich to the next level this season and winning the treble that they failed to win last season.
The current Bayern Munich has been dubbed the "Cosmic Team" by the media, and they have taken over the mantle of Barcelona.
Compared with such a "high-rich-handsome" Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund is simply a "loser"...