Which team had the best luck in the Champions League this season?

Zenit Saint Petersburg, of course.

They only won one game in the Champions League group stage, scored a total of five goals, and advanced by luck with six points. On the other hand, Napoli, who were eliminated with twelve points, must be gnashing their teeth…

Zenit Saint Petersburg's appearance in the Champions League knockout stage was an accident.

If it weren't for the weather, Borussia Dortmund wouldn't have had to worry about any problems at all when facing them.

Borussia Dortmund was only so sensitive to weather problems because the blizzard had cut their game against Galatasaray in half, turning one day's game into two. In the past, they didn't really care about this issue.

Leaving aside the weather, Zenit Saint Petersburg had no advantages at all, even at their home stadium—they were the only team in the Round of 16 that didn't win at home.

This shows that they don't have any so-called home advantage.

Zenit Saint Petersburg probably didn't expect to go far in the Champions League; being able to reach the knockout stage was already a surprise for them.

Moreover, Zenit Saint Petersburg is now facing a problem that all Russian teams participating in the Champions League and Europa League cannot avoid—it is currently the winter break of the Russian Premier League. Zenit Saint Petersburg hasn't played an official game for a long time and can only play warm-up games, so the team's condition is difficult to guarantee.

Due to Russia's special climate, the Russian league is different from other European countries; it doesn't span the year. This makes the Russian teams' league schedule different from other European leagues. The Russian league runs from March to November each year, and the period from December to February of the following year is a break.

Although Russian teams are preparing for the new season in February, their condition is definitely not as good as that of other European leagues that are halfway through their season.

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On the day of the match, the weather in Saint Petersburg was still gloomy and cloudy, but there were no signs of snow.

With the weather no longer a problem, the game itself was no longer in doubt.

As soon as the game started, Borussia Dortmund launched a fierce attack on Zenit Saint Petersburg's goal, using their usual fast, simple, and direct attacks, catching Zenit Saint Petersburg off guard.

In the fourth minute, Borussia Dortmund got the ball to the edge of Zenit Saint Petersburg's penalty area. After receiving the ball, Mark backheeled it forward to Yan Min. After receiving Mark's through ball, Yan Min broke through with the ball. Zenit Saint Petersburg's right-back Anyukov rushed up to try to intercept the ball at Yan Min's feet.

But Yan Min used a bicycle kick to trick Anyukov into thinking he was going to go to the bottom line. Unexpectedly, Yan Min suddenly changed direction and went to the center!

Anyukov quickly stretched out his foot to block him. He didn't kick the ball, but he kicked Yan Min's foot.

Yan Min staggered and almost fell to the ground.

But he didn't really fall because he was still outside the penalty area at this time. Falling down would only result in a free kick very close to the penalty area, which wouldn't mean much. If he was in the penalty area, Yan Min might have fallen to the ground…

Yan Min stumbled and brought the ball into the penalty area.

At this time, Zenit Saint Petersburg's center-back Neto saw that Yan Min was unsteady on his feet and planned to take the opportunity to intercept the ball, so he pressed towards Yan Min.

As he pressured Yan Min, Yan Min used the outside of his right foot to flick the ball horizontally while off balance. Then, he was pushed to the ground by Neto.

The referee was stunned for a moment and seemed to want to blow his whistle.

But he didn't do so because he saw Borussia Dortmund's midfielder Zhou Yi rushing up in the direction the ball was rolling. He raised his foot!

Based on the principle of "advantage to the attacking side, encourage attack," the referee did not blow his whistle.

When Zhou Yi rushed up, he was already close to the six-yard box. He pushed the ball as it came!

The ball rolled along the grass into the lower left corner of the goal, and although Zenit Saint Petersburg's goalkeeper Lodygin made a save, Zhou Yi was only eight meters away from the goal when he shot, the distance was too close, and the ball was too fast, so his save couldn't keep up…

"toooooooooooooooooooooooooooor!!!" Marcel Reif shouted in a drawn-out voice. "Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi!! Only four minutes into the game, and Borussia Dortmund has taken the lead! There couldn't be a better start than this! Borussia Dortmund is playing very well on the road!"

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After scoring, Zhou Yi ran to the corner flag area while waving to Yan Min, asking him to come up and celebrate.

The biggest contributor to this goal was actually Yan Min. His sharp and decisive breakthrough disrupted the opponent's defense, and if he had fallen outside the penalty area, none of this would have happened.

Zhou Yi liked Yan Min's unyielding spirit. He wouldn't give up easily, and that's how he created miracles.

He and Yan Min hugged each other, and the other Borussia Dortmund players rushed up to celebrate the goal with them.

The Zenit Saint Petersburg players were stunned and hadn't recovered—only four minutes into the game, and they hadn't even gotten into the game yet, so how did they concede a goal?

But what made them even more stunned was yet to come…

The Borussia Dortmund players finished celebrating and returned to their own half. Zenit Saint Petersburg kicked off, and the game restarted.

But the Zenit Saint Petersburg players hadn't recovered from the shock of conceding a goal, and they quickly gave up possession. Borussia Dortmund took advantage of the situation to launch an attack.

After Zhou Yi passed the ball to Reus on the right wing, he quickly moved forward and rushed into the penalty area.

After receiving the ball, Reus crossed it, passing the ball to Zhou Yi, who was cutting into the penalty area.

Zhou Yi didn't head the ball towards the goal or anything like that, but instead used his chest to knock the ball out.

He passed it to Mark Wagner!

Facing the ball sent by Zhou Yi, Mark shot directly with his right foot!

The ball flew into the goal again!

"Oh my god!" Marcel Reif exclaimed. "One minute! Just one minute! Borussia Dortmund scores again! Only five minutes into the game, and they are already two goals ahead! When Borussia Dortmund scored the first goal, I said there couldn't be a better start, I was wrong! This is a better start! Zenit Saint Petersburg was the luckiest team in the Champions League group stage, only winning one game and advancing to the knockout stage. But now it seems that their good luck is coming to an end…"

He Ping also praised Zhou Yi's performance: "Five minutes into the game, one goal, one assist! Zhou Yi got into the game very quickly! Since the winter break, Zhou Yi's form has been getting better and better, and it's also been stable… If Borussia Dortmund wants to achieve something this season, Zhou Yi's performance is very important! Of course, I personally hope that Zhou Yi can maintain this good form until this summer's World Cup, ha…"

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Perhaps it was the two-goal lead in five minutes that made Borussia Dortmund feel that their opponent was too weak, and they began to relax somewhat.

On the other hand, Zenit Saint Petersburg finally came back to their senses and began to stabilize their defense and strengthen their attack.

In the fifteenth minute, Zenit Saint Petersburg made their first substitution, replacing the out-of-form Arshavin with defensive midfielder Tymoshchuk. This was to strengthen the midfield defense.

Faced with Zenit Saint Petersburg's frequent attacks, Borussia Dortmund began to play on the counterattack.

After getting the ball, they mostly used long passes and through balls to hit behind Zenit Saint Petersburg's defense.

However, perhaps due to already leading by two goals, the Borussia Dortmund players seemed a little casual when facing opportunities.

In addition, Zenit Saint Petersburg's defenders were quick to turn around.

Many of Borussia Dortmund's long passes were directly obtained by Zenit Saint Petersburg's defenders, and they were unable to threaten Zenit Saint Petersburg's goal.

At the same time, in attack, Zenit Saint Petersburg mainly relied on the two wings, especially the Brazilian forward "Hulk," who was truly a "heavy tank," breaking through very quickly and sharply, and was Zenit Saint Petersburg's main attacking route.

The first half fell into a stalemate, with Borussia Dortmund unable to score again, and Zenit Saint Petersburg also failing to score.

The score remained unchanged until the whistle sounded to end the first half.

In the end, Borussia Dortmund entered the locker room with a two-goal lead.

Although they hadn't scored since the first five minutes, the advantage was still huge, especially as the game went on and less and less time was left for Zenit Saint Petersburg, they would have to increase their attacking efforts, at which point the gaps behind them could be fully exploited by Borussia Dortmund's counterattacks.

Although long-pass counterattacks had a low success rate, they were smooth, simple, and fast, and the gap could be filled by the number of attempts…

Many people believed that Borussia Dortmund's two goals in the first five minutes had laid the foundation for their invincibility.