Chapter 1 Leaving Rad克斯堡

After leaving Rad克斯堡, the entire Borussia Dortmund team arrived in picturesque Switzerland to begin their second training camp. This camp focused on tactical and technical training, primarily to give the players a deeper understanding of the team's basic tactics.

Last season was Klopp's first season in charge of Borussia Dortmund. Compared to Doll's performance, leading Dortmund to thirteenth place in the league, Klopp's first season could be considered a success, finishing sixth and just one step away from qualifying for the next season's Europa League.

Borussia Dortmund had already shown some glimpses of Klopp's tactical philosophy last season.

This season, Klopp aimed to deepen and mature these tactics.

In simple terms, the most important aspect of Klopp's tactics is the emphasis on running.

All players are not just standing in their positions but constantly running throughout the game. They apply intense high pressing when defending and frantic, rapid attacks when attacking.

This sounds a bit like the tactics used by Freiburg u19, Zhou Yi's opponent in the German Cup final when he was playing for the u19s.

When Zhou Yi was in Borussia Dortmund's u19 team, he, Götze, and Mark formed a trident that played fast-passing, fast-running football. Therefore, Zhou Yi found it easy to adapt to the rapid attacks in the first team. Moreover, his talent was inherently better suited to this kind of fast-paced football because he needed to receive the ball before observing the situation. He already observed all situations before the ball reached his feet.

His speed in processing the ball was naturally faster than other players.

So, in physical training, Zhou Yi's performance was not particularly outstanding. The most profound impression he left on everyone might be that he was always the most disheveled one after each training session.

But when it came to tactical training, when the whole team began to practice together, Zhou Yi made everyone's eyes light up.

On the first day of training, Großkreutz had just intended to raise his hand on the wing to signal Zhou Yi to pass him the ball. But before he could raise his hand halfway, he saw the ball already flying towards him. He hurriedly lifted his foot to stop the ball, but he was too rushed, and he ended up knocking the ball out of bounds…

Assistant coach Buvac's whistle blew, and the training had to start again. All the previous running positions of the other players were wasted.

"Kevin, don't be distracted during training!" Buvac shouted loudly.

Großkreutz protested aggrievedly, "I wasn't distracted, coach!"

Then he turned his gaze to Zhou Yi's… back.

I just ran to my position, and he passed the ball already… Did he know in advance that I would run to this position and ask him for the ball?

Großkreutz's head was full of question marks.

The training continued. Lucas Barrios, a Paraguayan striker who had just transferred from Colo-Colo in Chile this summer, saw a gap behind two of his defender teammates as he darted forward.

He hesitated a little. The gap was very subtle from his position, and he wasn't sure if his teammates could spot it in time.

But his instinct as a striker still made him quickly move forward. He had just squeezed past the two defender teammates when the ball suddenly appeared on his side!

He reflexively stretched out his foot to intercept the ball and then shot it into the net!

Weidenfeller made a save attempt, but because Barrios shot so quickly and suddenly, his reaction was half a beat too slow.

A burst of cheers erupted from outside the field—after arriving in Switzerland, unlike the completely closed physical training at Rad克斯堡, the training here was semi-closed, meaning it was open to the public at certain times. And for the first training session here, Klopp opened it to the public, so there were not only coach Klopp watching Borussia Dortmund's training but also hardcore Borussia Dortmund fans and reporters who had traveled all the way from Germany.

As the team's latest signing this season, Barrios cost the team 4.2 million euros, and everyone was naturally concerned about his performance and whether his strength was worth the price.

Seeing Barrios score with this beautiful shot, many people were happy and cheered spontaneously.

The people outside the field were cheering, but Barrios, who had scored the goal, didn't have an excited expression on his face. Instead, he was stunned—the whole series of actions were instinctive and hadn't gone through his brain. His brain hadn't yet processed how the ball had arrived so quickly, which made him a little flustered. He had stopped the ball awkwardly. If it weren't for luck, maybe the goal wouldn't have gone in…

He secretly glanced at coach Klopp on the sidelines and was relieved to see him applauding.

Then he turned his gaze to his teammate. Before he had made his run, he remembered that the Chinese youngster Zhou Yi had the ball.

Did he pass it?

He had originally felt quite pleased with himself for discovering that hidden gap, but now it seemed that someone had spotted the gap even earlier than him…

※※※

Barrios only saw Klopp applauding on the sidelines and assumed that Klopp was happy with his performance.

But what he didn't know was that he was overthinking things…

While Klopp was applauding, his eyes were fixed on Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi passed the ball very decisively, passing it out immediately after receiving it, without looking up or hesitating.

This was consistent with what Klopp had observed in the youth team matches.

Over these past months, Zhou Yi's ability in this aspect had not regressed but had become even stronger.

This made Klopp feel gratified.

※※※

After the six-on-eight attacking training ended, the team had a short break.

The players went to the sidelines to drink water and rest, while assistant coach Buvac came from the field to Klopp's side.

Klopp asked Buvac, "How is it?"

Buvac nodded. "There's a reason why that kid could become the core of the u19 team as soon as he joined. His thinking is super clear, and he understands the team's tactics very well. But there's one thing I don't understand… How can he pass the ball to the right place immediately after receiving it? Doesn't he need to observe and confirm?"

Klopp shrugged. "Didn't you notice him shaking his head left and right during training? He's not not observing, he's just observed everything before receiving the ball."

With Klopp's explanation, Buvac did recall that Zhou Yi was indeed constantly shaking his head during training.

"So… this kid might be playing in our first team soon…" Buvac said with emotion. The young geniuses of today are emerging one after another. Borussia Dortmund just produced a Götze, and now another Zhou Yi has appeared.

"That's not necessarily the case." Klopp's reply surprised Buvac.

Klopp, facing the surprised Buvac, said, "This kid's strengths are very prominent, but his weaknesses are also very prominent."

"Are you talking about his stamina? But after the previous grueling training, his stamina has improved significantly, enough to cope with the first team's matches…" Buvac said.

"No. It's not enough." Klopp shook his head. "Because he also has to defend."

Buvac was stunned for a moment, then he realized and sighed, feeling sorry for Zhou Yi. If Zhou Yi had received regular and professional training in Borussia Dortmund's youth team since he was eight or nine years old like Götze, he would probably already be a key player in the first team…

※※※

On the players' side, Großkreutz, with his head full of question marks, grabbed Zhou Yi: "Hey, kid, you made me get criticized by the coach!"

Zhou Yi was confused. "What happened?"

"In that last play, I just ran to my position, and your ball arrived. I didn't react at all and stopped it too far. As a result, the coach said I was distracted. How was I distracted?"

Zhou Yi suddenly understood and looked at Großkreutz with a smile.

"I noticed that you don't look up to find people before you pass the ball. How do you know I'll be in that place, and then you pass the ball over?" Großkreutz asked the question in his heart.

Zhou Yi asked Großkreutz, "If there's a very obvious gap in front of you, wouldn't you run into it?"

"Of course I'll run…" Großkreutz didn't finish speaking before he seemed to understand.

"Then that's it." Zhou Yi spread out his hands. "Since you're going to run over, wouldn't it be better to pass the ball a little earlier, so you can receive the ball just as you run into the space, than to pass the ball after you've run into the space?"

Zhou Yi and Großkreutz's conversation also attracted the attention of other players. Everyone had seen Zhou Yi's performance in the attacking training just now. The speed would increase when the ball reached his feet, because he rarely hesitated after receiving the ball, looking around and observing. As soon as he received the ball, he would immediately pass it out. Not all of them were through balls, and some were seemingly ordinary sideways passes and back passes, but in short, the passing speed was very fast, with almost no time for stopping and thinking. He was unlike others, who had to observe and think after receiving the ball before passing it out.

This also made the other players who cooperated with him and received his passes feel a little uncomfortable.

They actually had questions in their hearts as well. After listening to Zhou Yi and Großkreutz's conversation, Kuba, the team's midfielder, asked, "But Zhou Yi, how can you guarantee that your way of passing the ball out in advance won't result in a long pass?"

Zhou Yi didn't know how to explain it, so he had to say, "Didn't it not go long? Kevin didn't expect it, so he stopped it too far."

He couldn't possibly tell everyone, "Because I've been training with you in the virtual system for a long time and understand each of your running styles and speeds, so I know how to pass the ball best."

In fact, when he first started practicing with these teammates in the virtual system, there were often cases of poor coordination.

At that time, he didn't understand or know his new teammates at all, and he didn't know how to cooperate with them.

It was only through constant training and practice that he gradually found the feeling and accumulated experience.

Zhou Yi seemed to be integrating into the team quickly, but that was only because he had already taken the "everything is difficult at the beginning" step in the virtual system.

Kuba wasn't very satisfied with Zhou Yi's answer, and he pressed, "But what if? What if it goes long?"

"Of course, there's a possibility of a passing error, but I think this risk is worth taking. Even if he doesn't receive the ball, and the situation from the training just now occurs, it's better to have an error on the wing than to have an error in the middle, right?" Zhou Yi replied.

Kuba was speechless, because Zhou Yi was right.

Whether a risk should be taken depends not only on whether the opportunity is good but also on the location of the risk. If it's in front of your own penalty area, then you should never think about taking a risk but should choose the safest way to handle the ball. But if it's on the wing, the risk is completely insignificant in the face of huge benefits.

Nuri Sahin, the team's central midfielder, also raised his doubts: "Zhou Yi, that last ball to Barrios, if I remember correctly, you were facing away from him when he made his run, right?"

When Sahin said this, everyone remembered that Zhou Yi had his back to the goal when he received the ball before assisting Barrios. But as soon as he received the ball, he turned around and made a through pass, sending the ball into the gap between the two center backs, creating a shooting opportunity for Barrios.

"Yes," Zhou Yi nodded.

"Then how did you know there was a gap there?" Sahin was very curious.

"Uh, I saw it."

"Do you have eyes in the back of your head?" Großkreutz thought Zhou Yi was bragging.

"I saw it before I received the ball," Zhou Yi said. "So I passed the ball out immediately. If I had delayed a little longer, that gap might have been gone."

This made Sahin nod in agreement. In fact, Subotić and Hummels were already closing the door when Zhou Yi passed the ball.

Indeed, it would have been unnecessary to pass the ball there if it had been any later.

Zhou Yi's answer left Sahin with no more questions.

And Weidenfeller asked Götze, "Mario, was Zhou Yi playing like this when he was in the youth team?"

Götze nodded. "Yes, he's always been like this, passing the ball after receiving it."

"Never made a mistake?" Weidenfeller widened his eyes, somewhat surprised.

"Of course he has," Götze said. "Sometimes he makes passing errors too."

Weidenfeller breathed a sigh of relief. "You scared me. I thought he had zero errors."

"No way, Uncle Roman. Then he wouldn't be a person, but a robot." Götze quickly comforted Weidenfeller's frightened heart.

"But even so, Zhou Yi is still very impressive," Weidenfeller said with emotion. "He's only eighteen years old…"

Götze pointed to himself and said, "Uncle Roman, I'm a year younger than him."

Weidenfeller quickly smiled and patted Götze on the head. "You're also amazing, Mario! Our Borussia Dortmund youth academy has produced a lot of excellent young people in recent years! Coach Klopp is also a coach who likes to give young people opportunities. I think we have a chance this time!"

Götze turned his head to look at Zhou Yi, who was surrounded by his teammates. He was answering various questions they had for him. The players seemed to still be curious about this teammate who had been with them for half a month. It was as if they were getting to know him all over again.