Chapter 30 League Title

While the Champions League elimination was regrettable, Borussia Dortmund fans weren't too heartbroken, as Dortmund's performance in the Champions League this season had already exceeded their expectations. Before the season, they never imagined Dortmund would reach the Champions League quarterfinals.

For these Dortmund supporters, the domestic league remained the priority.

At their peak this season, Dortmund had led their league rivals by as many as ten points.

However, with the start of the Champions League knockout stage, Dortmund clearly suffered from playing on two fronts.

Now, their lead in the league had dwindled to just three points.

And just at that moment, Dortmund were eliminated from the Champions League.

Although Champions League elimination was a setback, for Dortmund at this point, it might have been timely...

The upcoming Matchday 30 in the league was crucial for Dortmund. Actually, their own game wasn't that critical; Dortmund were hosting Freiburg, and as long as they performed normally, an upset from Freiburg was unlikely.

The key was another match: Bayer Leverkusen would be visiting Bayern Munich, a clash between second and fourth place in the league.

For Dortmund, it was the perfect opportunity to profit from the clash of titans.

The Bayern Munich-Bayer Leverkusen match was on the same day as Dortmund's, but it started two hours earlier.

Essentially, Dortmund's match would begin after the Bayern Munich-Bayer Leverkusen game concluded.

So Dortmund's players could know the result of that game before they took the field.

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Despite the tough second leg against Real Madrid, Klopp still fielded his full starting lineup in this match, not allowing for any slip-ups.

As Dortmund's players arrived at Westfalenstadion, the Bayern Munich-Bayer Leverkusen match had already begun and there had been a goal – seven minutes into the game, Leverkusen's midfielder Rolfes scored an own goal, giving Bayern Munich a 1-0 lead.

In the twenty-eighth minute, Bayern Munich's striker Gomez scored, giving Bayern Munich a 2-0 lead over Bayer Leverkusen.

This good news put Dortmund's players at ease during warm-ups, as they chatted and laughed while discussing the other game.

Ultimately, before Dortmund took the field, Bayern Munich thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 5-1 at home.

If Dortmund could defeat Freiburg, they could extend their lead over Bayer Leverkusen to six points.

With only four league games remaining, that point difference was much safer than three.

And Dortmund did not disappoint, seizing the opportunity created by Bayern Munich. They defeated Freiburg 3-0 cleanly at home, with Zhou Yi contributing an assist.

Next, in Matchday 31, Bayer Leverkusen defeated Hoffenheim 2-1 at home. Three hours later, Dortmund's away match against Borussia Mönchengladbach kicked off.

In that game, Zhou Yi provided another assist, helping Dortmund come back from behind to defeat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 away, maintaining their six-point lead over Bayer Leverkusen.

With only three league games left, if Dortmund won their next game, they could practically declare themselves champions.

Because in the Bundesliga, when teams have the same number of points, head-to-head results aren't the first tiebreaker. Instead, goal difference and goals scored are directly compared. Even if Dortmund lost their last two league games and Bayer Leverkusen won all of theirs, tying on points,

the goal difference would still be vastly in Dortmund's favor.

Currently, after Matchday 31, Dortmund had a goal difference of forty-four. And Bayer Leverkusen? Twenty-one. A difference of twenty-three goals!

Making up that difference in the remaining three league games was nearly impossible for Bayer Leverkusen.

And the chances of Dortmund losing their last two games by large margins were too low...

Sure enough, without the constraints of the Champions League, Dortmund could focus all their energy on the league, unleashing tremendous power.

Leaving their rivals with almost no chance.

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At 9:30 PM Beijing time on April 30th, Matchday 32 of the Bundesliga saw Dortmund host Nuremberg. At the same time, Bayer Leverkusen visited Cologne.

These two games would decide the destination of this season's league title.

China Central Television chose to broadcast the Dortmund-Nuremberg game on its free sports channel, while broadcasting the Bayer Leverkusen-Cologne game on its pay-per-view sports channel.

An hour before the game, Zhou Jianliang had already completed his preparations, placing teacups and a kettle on the coffee table. However, he wasn't sitting in front of the television; he was at his computer, browsing various community forums to see what people thought about the game and about Zhou Yi.

Seeing Zhou Yi's fans expressing all sorts of emotions about him online, Zhou Jianliang felt great.

Because they were all praising his son.

Since Zhou Yi had become famous, Zhou Jianliang had gradually developed this habit – simply reading the newspapers no longer satisfied him. Since discovering more posts online that touted his son, he felt like a fish in the sea, indulging in the ocean of "Zhou-praising."

Based on online feedback, basically no one thought Dortmund would stumble at home.

They would definitely win this game; there was no suspense.

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In the locker room, Klopp was telling his players, who were visibly overexcited: "Relax, guys. This is just a normal game; don't overthink it. If you really want to think that much, I suggest you wait until after the game. I promise I won't pour cold water on you then."

Klopp was worried that his players would become complacent once they took the field, their minds wandering and their form disappearing, ultimately losing to Nuremberg in an upset at home.

Many teams experience ups and downs when they are close to winning a championship, let alone Dortmund, such a young team.

They had never won a league title before…

Only the old captain Sebastian Kehl and Dedê had experience winning the Bundesliga – and that was back in the distant 2001-2002 season, nine years ago, long enough for Kehl and Dedê to have forgotten what it felt like to win the title…

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After the game began, Dortmund's players did indeed seem a bit off.

Thirty minutes into the game, Dortmund hadn't scored. In the twenty-eighth minute, Mark received a yellow card for a reckless tackle due to overexcitement.

The good news was that the Bayer Leverkusen-Cologne game also remained scoreless.

At this point, Dortmund just needed a goal. Once they scored, everyone's mentality would return to normal, and the game would get back on track.

But when would that goal come?

In the thirty-second minute, Dortmund controlled the ball outside Nuremberg's penalty area, and it fell to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi passed the ball directly to Mark, then he surged forward, signaling to Mark to pass the ball back to him.

With his back to the attack, Mark shielded the Nuremberg player marking him and then pushed the ball sideways.

Zhou Yi received the ball at the edge of the penalty area. He feigned a shot, fooling Nuremberg's defender Pinola, and used the outside of his left foot to flick the ball outward, dodging past his opponent and entering the penalty area!

"Zhou Yi!! Beautiful dribbling!" Marcel Reif shouted excitedly. A huge cheer erupted from the Südtribüne (South Stand) of Westfalenstadion, because the Nuremberg goal was directly below the South Stand!

After evading Pinola, Zhou Yi dribbled into the penalty area. Facing a swarm of Nuremberg players rushing toward him, he didn't choose to pass the ball to anyone. Instead, he shot himself!

He turned his body and swung his right leg at the ball!

Judging by his movements, Zhou Yi was going to kick the ball towards the far corner. He was quite skilled at scoring in this way. In his goal against Real Madrid, he had used almost the same method, using the inside of his right foot to create an inward-curving arc, bypassing the defenders and the goalkeeper's fingers, and finally curving into the far corner of the goal.

So Nuremberg's goalkeeper Schäfer, seeing Zhou Yi lean back, assumed that Zhou Yi would definitely curl the ball towards the far corner this time as well, and he shifted his weight toward the far post.

But when Zhou Yi's foot struck the ball, it wasn't an inside-of-the-foot curler, but a shot with the instep!

He hammered the ball toward the near post, with tremendous speed!

Nuremberg's goalkeeper Schäfer, at this point, couldn't shift his weight to save at the near post… He could only freeze in place, watching helplessly as the ball flew into the goal he was guarding…

The goal that could bring everyone back on track had finally arrived!