Chapter 1 Casablanca Raja Becomes Dortmund's Opponent

Casablanca Raja becoming Borussia Dortmund's opponent in the final surprised and frustrated Chinese fans. On the one hand, they still wanted to see Zhou Yi and Ronaldinho compete in the final, as both were midfield masters. On the other hand, Guangzhou Evergrande would have been better off facing Raja in the third-place match than the powerful Atletico Mineiro... In this case, it would be difficult for Evergrande to get third place.

The final was on the evening of December 21st, or the early morning of the 22nd, Beijing time.

The third-place match started first.

Guangzhou Evergrande versus Atletico Mineiro.

Guangzhou Evergrande still sent out their full squad for this match. They played very hard and were evenly matched with Atletico Mineiro.

Especially in the first half, both sides delivered a brilliant forty-five minutes.

Atletico Mineiro took the lead at the very beginning of the match, and then Guangzhou Evergrande rallied, chasing two goals in a row, turning the deficit into a lead.

Before the end of the first half, Ronaldinho scored a direct free kick, breaking through Evergrande's goal and tying the score.

In the second half, Ronaldinho was sent off with a red card for a retaliatory move, but Atletico Mineiro, with one less player, still scored in stoppage time, killing Evergrande.

Guangzhou Evergrande lost regrettably and failed to match the best result an Asian team has ever achieved in the Club World Cup.

Chinese fans who watched the game couldn't sleep yet, as they still had to wait for the Club World Cup final to start later.

All Chinese fans were of course unconditionally on Dortmund's side because Dortmund had two Chinese players.

However, Klopp did not send out Dortmund's full squad for this match. Judging from the starting lineup announced before the match, Klopp adjusted three starters compared to the previous match.

Yan Min did not start in this match and sat on the bench.

Zhou Yi, as always, started, he was the guarantee of the team's victory, and no one would easily rotate him.

Klopp's adjustment caused dissatisfaction among the local media before the game, who believed that Dortmund looked down on Casablanca Raja. This was the Club World Cup final, and they were playing rotation in the final!

Did they think Dortmund could beat us without their full squad?!

"...If their final opponent was Atletico Mineiro, would they dare to do this?" one Casablanca media outlet questioned angrily.

Casablanca Raja fans booed when Dortmund players appeared, venting their dissatisfaction.

The Moroccan commentator also thought Dortmund's approach was bad: "...We fought our way from the qualifiers for a fair final showdown!"

Casablanca Raja's coach took this opportunity to boost the team's morale: "If they look down on us, let them regret it!"

So the Casablanca Raja players who played in the match were in high spirits. They were determined to make trouble for Dortmund in the game and embarrass them.

Dortmund would face eleven lions wearing Casablanca Raja jerseys in the final!

As a result, the hosts, who were ambitious and wanted to defeat Dortmund in the final and make Dortmund pay for their pride and arrogance, fell into passivity at the beginning of the match.

After the start of the game, the stadium was full of cheers for Raja, but it was Dortmund who threatened the goal first.

In the fourth minute, Zhou Yi made a sudden cold shot outside the penalty area, causing Raja's goalkeeper Askri to parry the ball, but fortunately, he reacted quickly and immediately hugged the ball in his arms...

Raja, who was in high spirits, was not affected by Dortmund's attack. They immediately responded with a color. A minute later, Mutouali passed straight on the right, and Yahr shot from the right side of the penalty area, twelve meters away from the goal. The ball went slightly wide of the post.

Although there was no goal, Raja's attack won cheers and applause from the home fans in the stands.

For a time, Raja's players had an illusion—as if the goal was right in front of them, and it might appear at any time.

I have to say, their illusion made sense, but they got the target wrong...

After Raja's attack, it was Dortmund's turn to attack. They kept attacking until they reached Raja's goal and won a corner kick.

Reus took a corner kick from the right, and Papastathopoulos headed the ball in the penalty area. Mark cleverly inserted himself offside, stopped the ball with his left foot in front of the goal, and shot with his right foot!

The ball went into the net.

"1:0! Dortmund took the lead! This start is really great!" He Ping shouted loudly.

Now it was not a match between Dortmund and a Chinese team, and he could fully support Dortmund without any scruples.

Moreover, the penalty that Raja won at the last moment in the semi-final to advance to the final was too controversial. According to slow-motion replays from multiple angles after the match, the Raja player who fell in the Atletico Mineiro penalty area was diving.

This made He Ping quite critical of Raja's ability to advance to the final, and emotionally he was more inclined to Dortmund.

Mark's goal silenced all the home fans in the Marrakesh stadium for a second or two.

They really didn't expect that Raja, who was in high spirits, would fall behind by a goal in less than ten minutes...

"Oh no... Raja is behind. This is the first time they have been behind in this Club World Cup..." The Moroccan commentator was very disappointed.

There was nothing to be disappointed about, because it was normal to concede a goal to the European champions, wasn't it?

However, it seemed that the hard-won entry into the Club World Cup final gave Raja some unrealistic fantasies, believing that they could beat Dortmund and win the championship, just like they defeated Atletico Mineiro and entered the final.

In fact, there was no problem with this idea, mainly if the opponent underestimated them, it was not impossible, after all, football is round.

And they all thought Dortmund must have underestimated them.

But the problem was that they misjudged Dortmund...

Rotating three starters was not called "underestimation."

If they had also put Zhou Yi on the bench, then there would have been a little possibility of "underestimation"...

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The first time they had fallen behind in this Club World Cup, Raja was a little at a loss.

Dortmund took the opportunity to launch a more violent offensive against Raja's goal.

Traveling and fighting continuously in a short period of time did consume a lot of Dortmund's physical energy. How to solve this problem?

Klopp believed that the team should try to conserve energy as much as possible in this unimportant game. How to conserve energy? Of course, by winning the game as quickly as possible.

Raja's ability to eliminate Atletico Mineiro helped Klopp.

If their final opponent was Atletico Mineiro, he might not have dared to do this. But now... well, to put it bluntly, Klopp didn't really take Raja seriously.

Of course, Dortmund also had the qualifications not to take their opponents seriously.

In the sixteenth minute, nine minutes after Dortmund's goal, they scored again.

Grosskreutz initiated an attack on the wing. He passed the ball to Zhou Yi, Zhou Yi passed it straight, Kuba passed it back, and Grosskreutz, who had inserted himself into the penalty area, shot low from twenty meters in front of the goal. The ball slipped under Raja's goalkeeper Askri and into the goal.

"2:0! Dortmund took a two-goal lead in sixteen minutes! Although Raja was ambitious before the game and had a lot of expectations for the final, in the face of the huge gap in strength, no matter how much ambition is meaningless..." He Ping ruthlessly criticized Raja, fully expressing his emotional inclination.

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Dortmund, who was already two goals ahead, did not stop their bombardment, because Klopp had warned them before the game that they must defeat their opponents as quickly as possible in this game. One aspect was to learn from the lesson of Atletico Mineiro's elimination in the semi-final—if Atletico Mineiro could quickly establish a lead, how could they have given Atletico Mineiro the opportunity to dive and cheat for a penalty at the last moment?

On the other hand, doing so was also out of consideration for saving energy. The sooner the game entered garbage time, the more rest time their players would be able to get.

In the twenty-second minute, Dortmund came back, and this time it was Zhou Yi who sent a straight pass on the left flank. Grosskreutz broke into the penalty area and received the ball, but instead of passing the ball in front of the goal, he made a backward pass and passed the ball back.

The ball rolled towards Zhou Yi, who had inserted himself into the penalty area.

Zhou Yi shot the ball with a rub, and the ball drew an arc, bypassing goalkeeper Askri's palm and flying into the goal from the near corner.

"Zhou Yi! Beautiful goal!!" He Ping shouted excitedly. "He is the first Chinese player to score a goal in the Club World Cup final!!"

"Dortmund is already three goals ahead in the opening twenty-two minutes, and the suspense of this game has been lost!" Marcel Reif also commented on the game.

Three goals ahead, the sound in the Marrakesh stadium was much smaller than at the beginning of the game. Many Raja fans sat in the stands with numb expressions. Whether they were willing to admit it or not, it was almost impossible for Raja to win the Club World Cup.

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Dortmund, who was three goals ahead, still didn't mean to slow down. Since they wanted to end the game early, they had to ensure that the other side would not have room for a counterattack.

Beat the dog in the water and cut off its breath completely.

Leading by one goal and leading by two goals were not safe, and leading by three goals was not very safe. If they could score more goals, they should not relax.

Under this guiding ideology, Dortmund, led by Zhou Yi, continued to maintain a very high pace of play.

And in the fortieth minute, they harvested their fourth goal of the game.

Kuba passed the ball in front of the penalty area in the middle, and Schieber pushed a shot from fourteen meters away from the goal on the right side. The ball brushed the inside of the post and rolled into the goal.

4:0!

"Although the first half of the game is not over yet, I think it can be said that this game is over..." He Ping said, his tone was not as excited as the first three goals, because he was also frightened by Dortmund's performance. He didn't expect Dortmund to be so merciless. In Raja's home stadium, in front of so many host fans, they stabbed Raja four times, and each knife was fatal. This scene was too bloody, too violent, and too terrifying...