Chapter 1 The players finished warming up and returned to the locker room. The stands were almost full. The number of fans gathered outside the stadium dwindled. Those with tickets had already entered, while those without were in their usual pubs, drinking with friends and waiting for the live broadcast to begin.

Only a very few remained outside the stadium, still hoping to find a returned ticket or two.

But such lucky ones were rare.

The Ruhr Derby only happened twice a season. How many people would miss such an important game, and who would buy a ticket and then return it?

※※※

Yang Muge sat in his seat. To his right was his youth team friend, Draxler, and to his left was Hao Junmin from the first team, his compatriot and senior.

He had transferred to Schalke 04 from the winter break last season, and was an active national team player for China.

Last season, he had started in four consecutive games. He got a chance to start in the first game of the new season, became a substitute in the second, and wasn't even on the roster for the third. This fourth game, the Ruhr Derby, had nothing to do with him, so he could only sit and watch with Yang Muge.

As one of the only two Chinese players on the team, he naturally knew Yang Muge, and because of Zhou Yi, the two of them had become close.

Zhou Yi and Hao Junmin were teammates on the national team. When he heard that Hao Junmin was going to Schalke 04, he specifically mentioned Yang Muge to him.

What disappointed the Chinese media about this Ruhr Derby was that Hao Junmin was not on the roster for the game. Otherwise, they could have hyped up something like a "Chinese Derby."

In the derby last season when Zhou Yi led Dortmund to visit the Veltins-Arena, Hao Junmin was also not on the roster.

It seemed that the Chinese Derby in the Ruhr area that the Chinese media wanted to see would have to wait.

The three sat in the stands, discussing the upcoming game.

Draxler was still full of confidence in his team. Although the team had a bad start to the season and hadn't won a game yet, he believed that the derby was different. Schalke 04 would usher in their first victory of the season in this game, and then go all the way to get back to where they belonged.

In comparison, Yang Muge was not so optimistic. Since the new season, Schalke 04 had played three league rounds and one Champions League group match, losing all four games, with zero points, ranking seventeenth in the league—second from last, only ahead of Stuttgart due to goal difference.

Head coach Magath was having a hard time...

Hao Junmin basically couldn't speak German, so he couldn't participate deeply in the discussion. He could only rely on Yang Muge's translation to understand what Draxler was saying. He also expressed his opinions to Yang Muge in Chinese—he also thought that the team was in poor condition, but he also felt that the derby was a different kind of game. The two derbies each season had to be talked about separately, and the previous performance could not be used as a reference at all. Maybe this derby would really become a turning point for the team to reverse its league ranking?

Yang Muge disagreed with both of their views. He turned his head and said to the optimistic Draxler in German, "But Dortmund has Zhou Yi, and his condition has been really good this season."

After listening to Yang Muge's words, Draxler was stunned for a moment, and then fell silent.

Zhou Yi, that was really the name he least wanted to hear at this time...

The derby in this stadium last season was still vivid in his mind. Schalke 04 ended up losing to Zhou Yi.

While Draxler was silent, Yang Muge turned his head and said to Hao Junmin in Chinese, "Brother Hao, don't forget that Zhou Yi is the core of Dortmund..."

Hao Junmin also fell silent when he heard this.

Before coming to Schalke 04, Hao Junmin was very confident in himself, because he had just scored a very beautiful small-angle goal in a friendly match against the German national team. It was also because of that goal that Schalke 04 valued him. In China, his agent also told him that he was fully capable of gaining a foothold in Germany.

Before he could even show off, Zhou Yi, who was already playing football in Germany and performing well, appeared.

He thought to himself, if a player like Zhou Yi, who used to be an amateur, could play as a main player in Dortmund, then when he went to Schalke 04, he would definitely be a main player.

But as a result, when he really came to Schalke 04, Magath gave him a blow in the first training session—the intensity of the training was so great that he wanted to vomit, not because he was disgusted, but because he was tired...

People in a state of extreme fatigue will have some stress reactions, leading to vomiting.

If Hao Junmin hadn't held back, he might have vomited directly on the training ground. That would have been a great embarrassment...

Then he heard that the training intensity of Dortmund's head coach Klopp was no less than that of Magath.

And such training, that seemingly thin boy persevered?

Just thinking of this, Hao Junmin felt incredible. In his heart, his evaluation of Zhou Yi was also changing.

Next, the longer he stayed in Germany, the more he realized his naivety.

Playing as a main player in Schalke 04 was no problem?

Fortunately, he didn't tell anyone about this little thought at the beginning, otherwise it would have become a laughing stock now.

Chinese football and German football are like two completely different parallel worlds, with no possibility of intersection at all.

For a while, he even began to wonder if he was not suitable for playing football. Why couldn't he show a decent performance on the field no matter how hard he trained?

At this time, when he looked at Zhou Yi again, his eyes became complicated.

When he first met Zhou Yi on the national team, everyone was observing Zhou Yi, and he was no exception. Whether it was in matches or training, Zhou Yi did show the strength to be selected for the national team. But in Hao Junmin's opinion, Zhou Yi's national team strength was not as good as the media hyped, at least he did not show any "crane standing out from the flock" performance during national team training and matches—at that time, there were indeed a few media in China who used such a description that made the national team players uncomfortable.

Oh, a crane standing out from the flock, Zhou Yi is of course a crane, and we are a bunch of chickens?

Isn't that too mean?

Anyway, everyone felt that Zhou Yi's performance in the national team was far from exceeding everyone's understanding. Hao Junmin also deduced his prospects for joining Schalke 04—since Zhou Yi's ability can play as a main player in Dortmund, then why can't he, who is more experienced and has better footwork skills, get a place in Schalke 04's main lineup?

But after he came to Germany, he could feel the high level of European football at the closest distance, and then look at Zhou Yi's performance in Dortmund, he realized that something was wrong.

Especially the Ruhr Derby last season when Schalke 04 played against Dortmund at home. At that time, Hao Junmin was also watching the game in the stands, but he didn't sit with Yang Muge. He saw Zhou Yi's performance with his own eyes. Then he was surprised to find that Zhou Yi in the Dortmund jersey and Zhou Yi in the Chinese team jersey were completely different, both in terms of performance and temperament.

Some details, Hao Junmin is also a football player, naturally can see.

For example, the speed of passing and running is faster than in the national team.

At first, Hao Junmin wondered if he was wrong.

But after watching the whole game, he found that it was not an illusion, but a fact.

But why did Zhou Yi have such a change, so different in the club and the national team?

Hao Junmin's first reaction was that Zhou Yi was not working hard in the national team, saving his strength for the club's games. This was a bit unpatriotic, and politically incorrect...

But if he was really not working hard, then why was his performance in the national team also very good?

Hao Junmin couldn't figure out this problem.

Later, as he gradually became familiar with Yang Muge, he asked Yang Muge about what kind of person Zhou Yi was in a roundabout way. He accidentally heard Yang Muge say that Zhou Yi was a very helpful person, and that he was very good at considering others and would think very carefully.

Knowing this, Hao Junmin suddenly understood why Zhou Yi's performance in the national team and the club was different.

It's like two cars, the engine is the same, four-liter displacement, turbocharged, and the power is the same, for example, both are four hundred and twenty-two horsepower, the maximum power is three hundred and ten kilowatts, the maximum power speed is five thousand five hundred revolutions, the maximum torque is six hundred Newton meters... From the data performance, it is a very good eight-cylinder engine.

But the first car is matched with a gearbox with a maximum of four gears, and the second is matched with a nine-speed gearbox.

So which car performs better in actual driving?

Hao Junmin is a driver, he of course knows that it is the one with the nine-speed gearbox without a doubt.

Because the first car, with a maximum of four gears, when the speed exceeds one hundred kilometers per hour, the engine speed will be very high, which is a damage to both the engine and the gearbox, and it is not comfortable to drive, and the frustration when shifting gears is very obvious.

And what about the second car? The nine-speed gearbox allows this car to accelerate very smoothly, the power response is active, there is no frustration when shifting up and down, and even when accelerating to overtake at a speed of more than one hundred kilometers per hour, it is very easy, the gearbox and the engine cooperate seamlessly, almost making you feel the existence of shifting gears.

Obviously, the first car's gearbox cannot fully utilize the full power of this excellent engine. The second one can.

Under such circumstances, if you must let the first car use this engine with a four-speed gearbox, you can only reduce the power of the engine to make it able to adapt to the gearbox. For this engine, this is actually a waste of ability, but at least it can match the gearbox, making the car less uncomfortable to drive.

Zhou Yi is to the Chinese team and Dortmund, is the relationship between an excellent engine and two gearboxes. The national team is a four-speed gearbox, and Dortmund is a nine-speed gearbox. If Zhou Yi does not reduce his "output power", then it will be very uncomfortable for him to cooperate with the four-speed Chinese team, he has to become accustomed to the national team, naturally will make his engine look less awesome than the data performance...

When he returns to Dortmund, there is a gearbox that can fully match his ability, he can go all out without any scruples, at this time he looks very awesome, worthy of those dazzling data.

So it's not that Zhou Yi's ability is mediocre, but that the national team is too bad, he doesn't need and can't show off too much, after all, he is a midfielder organizer, if he is extraordinary, causing other teammates can't keep up with his rhythm, then how to organize the attack?

※※※

While Hao Junmin was silent, the atmosphere at the scene suddenly became hot, because the on-site broadcast was broadcasting Schalke 04's starting lineup for this game.

Every name that was announced would cause a mountain-like cheer.

The cheers also interrupted Hao Junmin's thoughts, pulling him out of his melancholy.

Draxler and other fans next to him were cheering loudly for every player.

And after announcing the Schalke 04 players, the on-site broadcast only used a weak "Let us also welcome our opponent Dortmund" to introduce Dortmund's players.

And at this moment, all that was sounding in the Veltins-Arena was boos.

After the boos, the two teams of players came out, and Hao Junmin and Yang Muge saw Zhou Yi among the Dortmund players. Bearing the noisy cheers and boos, his expression was calm.

"The two teams of players are out! Welcome everyone to watch the Ruhr Derby!"