Chapter 192 National Interests and Club Interests

October 19th, the third game of the Champions League group stage, Borussia Dortmund challenged the Greek team Olympiacos away.

In the end, the strong and in-form Borussia Dortmund defeated Olympiacos 3:1 away. Zhou Yi completed an assist.

Halfway through the group stage, Borussia Dortmund won all three games and ranked first. This made the seeded team Arsenal a little embarrassed...

Arsenal now has six points, three points less than Borussia Dortmund, but they are not without a chance. They still have a game at home against Borussia Dortmund.

As long as they can beat Borussia Dortmund by a large score at home, they still have a chance to get first place in the group.

Back in Germany, Borussia Dortmund welcomed their opponent Cologne at home in the league.

In this game, Zhou Yi was also in excellent form. He sent out two assists, helping Borussia Dortmund beat Cologne 5:0 at home.

Bayern Munich, on the other hand, lost to Hannover 1:2 away in this round of the league, causing an upset.

As a result, Borussia Dortmund is only one point behind Bayern Munich.

At the beginning of the season, everyone thought that it would be easier for Borussia Dortmund to conquer the country than to defend it. It would not be easy to defend the league title, and Bayern Munich would definitely not allow Borussia Dortmund to snatch the league title for two consecutive years.

But now it seems that the predictions of those experts are all wrong...

The league has only started ten rounds, and after the ups and downs at the beginning of the season, Borussia Dortmund began to exert its strength. Gradually catching up with Bayern Munich, eyeing them from behind.

After the league, Borussia Dortmund ushered in the second round of the German Cup, their opponent was a team ranked tenth in the second division league - Dresden.

This time, Klopp fully learned from the experience and lessons of last season. Although he rotated the team, he did not replace all the main players in one go. At least Zhou Yi was still on the field.

Zhou Yi scored a goal in this game, helping Borussia Dortmund eliminate Dresden 2:0, and finally did not repeat the mistakes of last season.

Last season, Borussia Dortmund was unexpectedly eliminated by Offenbach Kickers in this round of the German Cup. This season, they can at least go further than last season.

Back in the league, perhaps because of the continuous midweek games recently, they were a bit tired, or perhaps because they were in too good a state before and needed adjustment.

In short, Borussia Dortmund was tied 1:1 by Stuttgart away in the eleventh round of the league.

Bayern Munich, on the other hand, defeated Nuremberg 4:0 at home.

The gap between the two teams has widened to three points again.

The competition between these two teams in the league will continue, and it is clear that Bayern Munich will not give up so easily. The Bundesliga is their backyard after all, and it will take a lot of effort to make them give up the league title.

In the Champions League, Borussia Dortmund maintained their strong performance. They easily defeated Olympiacos 3:0 at home. After four rounds of group matches, Borussia Dortmund won all four games and accumulated twelve points. Because Marseille, the third-placed team in the group, failed to beat Arsenal away, Borussia Dortmund has qualified for the group ahead of schedule.

Now Borussia Dortmund has twelve points, Arsenal is second with seven points due to a draw with Marseille, and Marseille is only third with four points. With two rounds left in the group stage, there is no way for Marseille to pull Borussia Dortmund down. Their only hope is to squeeze out Arsenal and become the second in the group.

But Arsenal will naturally not give up.

Now Arsenal has seven points, five points less than Borussia Dortmund. As long as they can win all of their last two group matches, and Borussia Dortmund loses all of their next two games, they can replace Borussia Dortmund and become the first in the group.

But honestly, the odds are too small.

First of all, they have to beat Borussia Dortmund at home in the next group match, and then hope that Borussia Dortmund will lose to Marseille at home in the last group match...

Beating Borussia Dortmund at home may not be a difficult task for Arsenal, and Arsenal is confident in this.

But Borussia Dortmund losing to Marseille in the last game... is not something they can control. And Borussia Dortmund is not stupid, they certainly understand the importance of the first place in the group, how could they lose to Marseille in the last round when the situation is so good?

※※※

In the twelfth round of the league, Borussia Dortmund will play against Wolfsburg at home, and Bayern Munich will challenge Augsburg away.

Before this game, Borussia Dortmund received a fax from the Chinese Football Association.

Klopp was very surprised by the content of the fax.

Because the Chinese side hoped that Zhou Yi could play for a shorter period of time in the game against Wolfsburg, and it would be even better if he could come on as a substitute.

In the fax, they also explained in detail the reasons for making such a request.

It was because there was a very crucial game for the Chinese national team next - the Chinese team's away game against Iraq.

In the World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the current situation of the group where the Chinese team is located is this - Jordan is first with two wins and one draw with seven points, the Chinese team is second with one win and two draws with five points, Iraq is third with one win, one draw and one loss with four points, and Singapore is fourth with three losses and zero points.

Because the top two teams in each group qualify for the top ten, if the Chinese team wants to qualify from this group, Iraq, which is only one point behind them, must be fought to the death. Not being able to win Iraq at home is enough to make the Chinese team feel nervous. If they lose to Iraq away, the Chinese team will have to fight Jordan in the last round, and also look at the results of the game between Iraq and Singapore.

In order to qualify smoothly, of course, taking down or drawing with Iraq away is the best result.

Therefore, this game is so important.

The Chinese side hoped that Zhou Yi could maintain a relatively good physical condition in this game - after the last game where the Chinese team was tied by Iraq at home, some analysts pointed out that Zhou Yi's physical condition was not at its best. After all, he starts every game in the club, playing in the league and Champions League, and has to travel across the entire Eurasian continent to play games, which is indeed easy to get tired.

Generally, when players return from the club to play for the national team, the club will require them to only play for half the game, and the national team will abide by such an agreement. But this is the first time that the national team has asked the club to let the players play less in the club's games...

Klopp originally intended to refuse, because there was no such precedent. The club is the one who pays the players and has the right to decide whether the players play or not, and for how long. It is not up to the national team to dictate. Moreover, the club is also worried that the national team will overuse the players, causing the players to be injured in the national team's games. According to the current regulations, if the players are injured in the national team's games, the national team will have to compensate the club.

How was Mark Wagner, Borussia Dortmund's main striker, injured? Wasn't he injured while participating in the national team's games?

On the one hand, the club has to pay the players, and on the other hand, if the players are injured in the national team, the club has to pay for their treatment. When the players are unable to play due to injury, the club still has to pay their salaries, not a penny less. The players can easily earn money by lying in bed... Is there anything more unreasonable than this?

But after thinking about it, Klopp still called Zhou Yi aside on the training ground and handed him the fax from the national team.

Zhou Yi quickly scanned it, and Klopp asked, "I want to hear your opinion, Zhou Yi. What do you think?"

Zhou Yi held the fax, thought for a moment and said, "Borussia Dortmund is the one who signed the contract with me, and Borussia Dortmund is the one who gives me the annual salary and bonuses."

Klopp thought that Zhou Yi was firmly on the side of the club's interests, but he didn't expect Zhou Yi to change the subject.

"But as a Chinese player, it is my duty to serve the country. Moreover... the World Cup is very important to Chinese football, and I don't want to have any regrets."

Zhou Yi's words were not very direct, but rather euphemistic, but Klopp nodded: "I understand."

The World Cup is a dream for all professional players, and it is normal for Zhou Yi to have such thoughts. So how can we prevent the interests of the club and the player's own wishes from producing irreconcilable conflicts...

While Klopp was still considering this issue, Zhou Yi continued: "So I thought of a way that would not harm the interests of the club, but also guarantee the interests of the national team. I don't know what you think, coach?"

"Oh? Tell me about it." Klopp didn't expect that Zhou Yi already had a decision.

"It's that I start in the game against Wolfsburg, and then try to secure the victory as soon as possible, so that you can substitute me early."

Klopp stared at Zhou Yi with wide eyes. He didn't expect that Zhou Yi would make such a suggestion.

It must be because he is confident enough in himself to make such a suggestion, right?

"What? Is this idea not good?" Zhou Yi asked when he saw that Klopp's expression was not right.

Coming back to his senses, Klopp shook his head and smiled: "No, this idea is very good!"

He gave a positive answer.

"We'll do it this way!"