Chapter 137 Victory and Defeat

Of course, Yang Muge wouldn't want Schalke 04 to lose in order to get a chance to play in the first team. Although he wasn't a "Schalke 04 fan for thirty years," he had regarded the team as his home team since he came to Schalke 04's youth training camp.

It was normal for him to want his home team to do well.

It would be too tasteless to hope that the team loses just because he can't play for Schalke 04.

If he can't play, he can choose to go out on loan and take a roundabout route, but it's not worth cursing his own club.

So when the game started, Yang Muge still firmly stood on Schalke 04's side, cheering for his team.

This time, he didn't go to the stadium because it was Borussia Dortmund's home ground, and it wouldn't be easy for him to get tickets.

He watched the game on TV in his rented apartment room.

The figure of his friend Draxler flashed across the TV broadcast screen – Draxler was selected for the matchday squad for this game.

In fact, before this game, during the winter break training camp, Draxler had already been transferred to the first team by Magath for training. Draxler seized the opportunity and performed well in the training camp, thus successfully staying in the first team.

Before this game, he had already played three times for Schalke 04's first team, once as a starter and twice as a substitute.

On the road to the first team, Draxler was ahead of Yang Muge.

Hao Junmin also appeared on the substitute list in this game. Perhaps his outstanding performance in the Asian Cup impressed Magath, and this stubborn old German finally planned to give Hao Junmin some opportunities…

※※※

Borussia Dortmund, playing at home, launched a fierce attack on Schalke 04's goal from the beginning of the game. The cheers of the Borussia Dortmund fans in the South Stand resounded through the clouds.

And it was the returning Zhou Yi who was driving these attacks for Borussia Dortmund.

For Schalke 04, the reason why they were confident of defeating Borussia Dortmund away from home was because Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji, two of Borussia Dortmund's main players, had just finished the Asian Cup and had persevered to the end. It had only been half a week since they returned to the team, and they probably weren't ready, either physically or mentally.

No one could say what level they would be able to perform at in the fierce Revierderby.

Mainly fatigue. After nearly a month of intensive matches, both Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji should be very tired.

But when the game started, everyone quickly discovered that, at least in Zhou Yi's case, that kind of fatigue was not very prominent…

His performance was better than Kagawa Shinji's.

It was obvious that Kagawa Shinji's steps were not as powerful as before. Some balls that he should have been able to catch up to, he ultimately did not. This was definitely due to insufficient muscle strength leading to a decline in explosiveness and endurance.

Zhou Yi's running was as consistent as ever.

Of course, there were many reasons for this. On the one hand, Zhou Yi was a defensive midfielder, and he didn't need to sprint and constantly accelerate suddenly as frequently as Kagawa Shinji. Many of his runs were slow jogs, and there were not many sprints, and even if there were, the distances were relatively short.

Another reason was that Zhou Yi played one less game than Kagawa in the Asian Cup. Because of the red card in the semi-final, Zhou Yi did not participate in the final. He had been resting since he finished the semi-final on January 25th, and it had been almost ten days until today.

His physical fitness was better than everyone imagined, and Zhou Yi's performance naturally exceeded Schalke 04's expectations.

Because they didn't expect Zhou Yi to be in such good physical condition, their control over Zhou Yi's range of movement was naturally not as strict.

Allowing Zhou Yi to move freely within a relatively relaxed range.

This brought great trouble to Schalke 04.

Driven by Zhou Yi's engine, Borussia Dortmund continuously launched fierce attacks on Schalke 04's goal.

Only thirty minutes into the game, Borussia Dortmund already had nine shots, while Schalke 04 only had four.

This was a very rare situation in the Revierderby, which should have been evenly matched.

This data also showed that Schalke 04's defense against Zhou Yi was not in place…

In the thirty-ninth minute, Borussia Dortmund finally broke the deadlock. Zhou Yi launched an attack from the backfield, and after three passes, the ball fell to Götze's feet. The young genius didn't hesitate to shoot, and the ball pierced the goal guarded by Neuer.

"Götze!! Borussia Dortmund took the lead!" Marcel Reif shouted excitedly. "Borussia Dortmund seems to have swept away the decline of the previous few games in this game. They are well-organized in attack. Look at this attack just now, Zhou Yi, Marc Wagner, Kagawa Shinji, and finally passed to Götze's feet, who completed the shot. From back to front, from the center to the wing and then back to the center, the route is very clear! And this is the result of Zhou Yi's return!"

He Ping also shared Marcel Reif's view. Although the goal was scored by Götze, the initiator of this attack was Zhou Yi, and not only this attack, but also those attacks that failed to score were closely related to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi's return meant that everyone in Borussia Dortmund clearly knew what they should do on the pitch.

Borussia Dortmund's players obviously knew this too, so after Götze scored, although he ran to Kagawa Shinji to hug and celebrate, he didn't forget to hook his hand back, signaling Zhou Yi to come up quickly and celebrate together.

Zhou Yi and Marc ran up together, and the four hugged each other.

This was Borussia Dortmund's attacking quartet.

Three players who were not very tall and not very strong, but formed the most犀利 (xī lì, sharpest/most incisive) attacking combination in the Bundesliga.

So far, Borussia Dortmund has scored forty-three goals in twenty games, the most goals in the entire Bundesliga. This shows the power of this quartet.

※※※

After Borussia Dortmund took the lead, Schalke 04 became slightly impatient. They received two yellow cards in the forty-first and forty-fourth minutes, forwards Huntelaar and Schmitz.

Both were caused by excessive movements in defense.

This was clearly a sign of psychological imbalance.

Fortunately, there was not much time left in the first half, otherwise, if Schalke 04's players continued to develop their emotions like this, they would collapse sooner or later.

And now, they can use the halftime break to make some adjustments and let the players calm their minds.

It can be said that the referee's whistle to end the first half saved Schalke 04.

But in fact, it only allowed Schalke 04 to struggle for a while longer…

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. In the sixty-sixth minute, Großkreutz scored another goal for Borussia Dortmund, changing the score to 2:0.

At Borussia Dortmund's home ground, they were two goals ahead of Schalke 04, and there was actually no suspense in this game.

Although Schalke 04 wanted to pull Borussia Dortmund down from the top spot in the league, the gap in form and strength between the two teams this season was still very obvious.

Borussia Dortmund had found the right path, while Schalke 04 was still looking for their own path…

Yang Muge, who saw this goal on TV, shook his head. Schalke 04's midfield control over Zhou Yi was too loose. Perhaps they also wanted to tighten up, but they couldn't.

Watching his team lose to Zhou Yi again, Yang Muge was not in a good mood.

※※※

After taking a two-goal lead, Klopp began to make substitutions.

Kagawa Shinji was replaced by Kuba in the seventieth minute.

Zhou Yi was replaced by Lewandowski in the seventy-seventh minute.

Seeing Klopp replace Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji, Magath quickly made substitutions.

Hao Junmin came on as a substitute in the eightieth minute, replacing midfielder Jurado, finally no longer playing as a full-back…

Hao Junmin still performed very hard and actively after coming on, but at this time the entire Schalke 04 had lost their fighting spirit.

Logically speaking, after Zhou Yi was taken off, Borussia Dortmund's midfield control would decline, which should have been Schalke 04's opportunity. Magath's substitution was precisely based on this consideration.

But the entire Schalke 04 team's performance was not active enough.

Schalke 04 has indeed played too badly this season. It seems that participating in the Champions League may not be a good thing for them. Entering the Champions League stage before they are ready will only make people lose their way.

In order to prepare for the Champions League this summer, Schalke 04 introduced the best scorer in Champions League history from Real Madrid, and also introduced Huntelaar, a Dutch center forward.

And the result?

Their performance in the Champions League was acceptable, but they collapsed completely in the league.

Which is more worthy of fighting for, the Champions League or the league?

Different teams and different coaches have different choices, but one thing must be clear - unless Schalke 04 wins the Champions League this season, it will be too difficult for them to participate in the Champions League next season…

In the eighty-eighth minute, Draxler was substituted on, replacing Dutch center forward Huntelaar.

But there was not much time left for the youngster.

In the ninety-third minute of the game, the referee Weiner blew the whistle to end the game.

The normal Revierderby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 has a very loud name, but this game was somewhat unworthy of its name.

Compared with the Revierderby in the first half of the league, Borussia Dortmund won too easily - this may be the easiest Revierderby in recent years…

After the game, Zhou Yi went to the pitch to celebrate the victory with his teammates and thank the fans.

The TV broadcast fixed the close-up shot firmly on him, using such camera language to tell the audience in front of the TV - this person is Borussia Dortmund's well-deserved and indispensable core, he is the biggest contributor to Borussia Dortmund's easy victory over their arch-rival in this game!