Perhaps it was due to excessive complacency that after the Champions League match, Borussia Dortmund was held to a 0-0 draw away from home by Augsburg, who were third from last in the league.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich thrashed Hoffenheim 7-1 at home.

However, given the huge gap in points between the two teams, this small setback wouldn't affect much.

The two teams were still nine points apart...

It was the Champions League opponent that was drawn next that truly had a huge impact on Borussia Dortmund.

They would face... the defending champion, Barcelona, in the quarter-finals!

This was not good news for Borussia Dortmund. Barcelona could be described as being at their zenith in European football today.

Last season, they defeated Manchester United with absolute dominance in the Champions League final, winning the fourth Champions League trophy in the club's history.

Barcelona had won four Champions League titles since its establishment, three of which were won after the start of the new century. It could be said that the first decade of the twenty-first century was Barcelona's decade. In 2006, the Dream Team II led by Rijkaard defeated the very strong Arsenal in the final to win the Champions League. In 2009, the Dream Team III led by Guardiola easily defeated Manchester United 2-0 in the final, who were aiming to defend their title. That year, they not only lifted the Champions League trophy, but also became the unprecedented six-time champion of European football—they swept all the championships that could be won that year!

Since then, Barcelona had begun to dominate European football, and their dominance had even affected world football.

At the 2008 European Championship, the Spanish national team, based on Barcelona's tiki-taka football tactics, shed the hat of "King of the Qualifiers" and defeated strong enemies in the European Championship to win the European Championship.

In the summer of 2010, the Spanish national team, also based on Barcelona, ​​lifted the Hercules Cup for the first time in history under the leadership of Bosque.

For a time, a "Barcelona whirlwind" swept across world football. Everyone was talking about "tiki-taka" and learning Barcelona's passing and controlling style of play. The media tirelessly introduced how advanced Barcelona's tactics were. In the eyes of enthusiastic Barcelona fans, their football was no longer just football, but sublimated into a beautiful "work of art"!

Against this backdrop, if anyone dared to say that Barcelona's football made them sleepy, then they had no basic aesthetic sense.

However, Barcelona's strength was indeed real, not something their fans had blown up.

They were the team that almost all teams did not want to meet in the Champions League.

As a result, Dortmund met them.

AC Milan fans must be feeling a little smug now—that's what you get for eliminating us!

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The fact that Borussia Dortmund ran into Barcelona was the focus of media reports.

Because with Barcelona's current strength, whoever ran into them was unlucky.

Bayer Leverkusen had just become such an unlucky team in the recently concluded Round of 16. In the first leg, Bayer Leverkusen lost 1-3 to Barcelona at their home stadium.

At least this was still a normal score. With Bayer Leverkusen's strength, it was already very good for them to be able to play like this against Barcelona at home. After all, they had scored a goal, so they wouldn't be whitewashed by Barcelona at home.

As for the fact that Bayer Leverkusen was eliminated in the first leg, it wasn't that important.

Everyone expressed their understanding of this.

However, after the game, the media broke the news that Messi exchanged two jerseys in one game because two Bayer Leverkusen players had an infighting over Messi's jersey. Messi had no choice but to exchange one jersey in the first half and another in the second half.

For Bayer Leverkusen, who had lost the game, this was simply unacceptable news. On the one hand, the team lost at home and almost missed the Champions League quarter-finals. On the other hand, while the fans were sadly depressed in the stands, two Bayer Leverkusen players were fighting for Messi's jersey. They didn't seem to feel any pain or shame for losing the game. In their eyes, Messi's jersey was the most important thing, more important than the team's victory.

Such behavior naturally drew criticism from the media and fans.

Bayer Leverkusen's management also intervened. In the end, the two jerseys were taken back by the club and announced that they would be auctioned online. The proceeds from the auction would be used for charity.

Furthermore, Bayer Leverkusen also issued an internal ban, prohibiting players from exchanging jerseys with Messi in the second leg.

This incident was regarded by the media as Bayer Leverkusen club's "utter shame."

However, after the second leg ended, everyone realized that this was the real "utter shame"!

Bayer Leverkusen faced Barcelona away from home and was defeated 1-7 by Barcelona. Messi scored five goals alone! This shocked everyone. Even if Bayer Leverkusen was in bad shape, they shouldn't have lost so miserably away from home, right? It could only be said that Barcelona was too terrifying.

After the game, Messi made headlines on almost all sports media around the world.

UEFA officially confirmed that Messi was the first player to score five goals in a single game since the Champions League was reformed in 1992. He was the eleventh player in the overall history of the Champions League to score five goals in a single game, and also the first player to score five goals in thirty-three years.

The media exclaimed, "Scoring three goals in a game can be called a 'hat-trick', and scoring four goals in a game is called a 'grand slam', so what should we call scoring five goals in a game?"

In addition, Messi's forty-nine Champions League goals also tied with Real Madrid legend Di Stéfano's Champions League goal tally.

Some reporters also said that Messi's performance made him afraid to write because he didn't know how to write. He complained: "Reporting on Messi is the most distressing job in the world because no matter how you write it, it feels empty and full of clichés." "...I don't know how to praise Messi anymore because I've used up all the words I can think of to praise him!"

But who could ignore such a player who scored five goals in a single game, so even if they didn't know how to write, the reporters had to bite the bullet and go ahead.

After Messi scored five goals, even the players expressed their admiration for Messi.

For example, "Alien" Ronaldo even cursed: "He plays damn well!"

Rooney said that Messi's performance was like joking.

More players said that Messi was the player with the highest version in the video game...

The whole world seemed to be prostrate at Messi's feet, touching his toes with their foreheads to express the feelings of these mortals when they saw the gods.

The German media also felt that it was too unfortunate for Borussia Dortmund to draw Barcelona.

Originally, they had hoped that Borussia Dortmund would be able to break through last season's results and go further to reach the Champions League semi-finals.

Now it seemed that Borussia Dortmund's Champions League journey this season was coming to an end.

Although it was a pity, what could they do when they encountered Barcelona?

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After the Champions League opponent was announced, Zhou Yi accepted interviews with reporters and was asked questions about Barcelona.

"Barcelona is very strong." Zhou Yi told the truth right away. "I don't think I need to repeat how strong they are, right? But since we've drawn together, we must have the determination to fight them. There's nothing to say."

"Some people say that your playing style is similar to Xavi's."

"Xavi is a very remarkable player, and I'm honored to be similar to him." Zhou Yi didn't emphasize that he was himself and Xavi was Xavi, nor did he feel that there was anything shameful about being similar to Xavi.

"Does this mean that your playing style is similar to Barcelona's football style, and will you consider playing for Barcelona in the future?" The question was asked by a reporter from Barcelona. His German had some Catalan accent. Zhou Yi had heard He Ying read Catalan with a textbook, so he was a little familiar with it.

He shook his head: "I won't answer this question when I'm about to play against Barcelona."

He knew what the Catalan reporter wanted to get—if he showed respect for Barcelona as he had in his previous answers, then the reporter would probably write that he wanted to join Barcelona. Doing so before the Champions League quarter-finals would cause him a lot of trouble.

This would also shake Borussia Dortmund's morale. No matter how he explained it, he couldn't stop some people from thinking, "Maybe Zhou Yi really wants to go to Barcelona. After all, who can refuse the call of a team like Barcelona?"

This would definitely affect the team's preparation for the Champions League quarter-finals.

But the Catalan reporter didn't want to let go of this opportunity easily, so he asked: "Then can we talk about it after the quarter-finals?"

Zhou Yi saw that this reporter was trying so hard and tirelessly to drag him into the water, so he decided to take the initiative to end this boring hypothetical situation. He smiled and said to the Catalan reporter: "I have rejected Barcelona once, so I think I can reject Barcelona again."