After confirming that his good friend was in a good state of mind, Zhou Yi could finally focus on preparing for the Champions League semi-final.

In the first leg, Borussia Dortmund would face Real Madrid at home. Before that, Bayern Munich would host Barcelona.

Both were playing at home, and the arrangement of playing the first leg at home and the second leg away wasn't generally considered ideal, as the crucial second leg would be played on the road, making it much harder.

German teams traditionally had an advantage over Spanish teams when playing at home, whether it was Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund. To advance to the final, they needed to play well in the first leg at home and try not to give their opponents a chance to turn the tables when they returned to their home ground.

That was the theoretical expectation, but the reality could be quite different. It wasn't easy to lay the foundation for reaching the final in the first leg.

Even though Borussia Dortmund had defeated Real Madrid twice in the group stage, it didn't necessarily mean that Borussia Dortmund would definitely beat Real Madrid twice in the semi-final.

The Champions League group stage and semi-final were two completely different competitions.

If everyone at Borussia Dortmund still thought that "beating Real Madrid at home is a piece of cake," they might end up losing.

After the game against Mainz, Klopp received questions about the Champions League semi-final. The focus was already on the Champions League.

He appeared very low-key when facing reporters' questions.

"...This is the semi-final. We've been here before last season, so we know very well that no team that can get here can be underestimated. Not to mention that our opponent is Real Madrid, a team with a wealth of Champions League experience. We will do our best, and leave the rest to God..."

Klopp's low profile was interpreted by some media as "humility" or "psychological warfare."

But in fact, Klopp's low profile also stemmed from a concern. After the Götze transfer incident, he could no longer accurately grasp the team's morale. This team could win 6-1 against Greuther Fürth on the road, or struggle to win 2-0 against Mainz at home. Would they be affected when facing Real Madrid?

※※※

On the evening of April 22nd, there were less than two days left before the home game against Real Madrid.

The German domestic media's attention was drawn to Bayern Munich, as they would be hosting Barcelona the next night. Borussia Dortmund would play after them.

This was also a clash of strong teams. Moreover, Pep Guardiola, the successful coach who created Barcelona's Dream Team, would take over Bayern Munich next season, adding some buzz to the confrontation between the two teams.

While everyone was discussing this game, around eleven o'clock in the evening, a message suddenly appeared on Facebook:

"Breaking news! Götze will transfer to Bayern Munich at the end of the season! The source of this news is a current player, and the accuracy of the news is absolutely reliable!"

The person who posted this news was not an unknown person, but Arnd Zeigler, a famous journalist from WDR Sport. He was not the kind of clown who relied on fabricating big news to attract attention, but a respectable journalist with serious professional ethics.

He was responsible for every statement he made, so when he broke this news, it was quickly noticed online.

Ten minutes later, the transfer market forum, which was also very famous in the industry, reposted Zeigler's Facebook message.

At this time, although Zeigler had already deleted his original Facebook post, it was actually useless.

At half past eleven, Sky Sports also reported this explosive news online.

Around twelve o'clock, the official Facebook account of the German *Bild* reported the news.

Klopp, Zorc, and some Borussia Dortmund players' phones were ringing off the hook.

Even though it was already late at night...

Even Zhou Yi was woken up from his sleep by the phone ringing.

"I'm really sorry to bother you at this time, Zhou Yi! But... is Götze really going to Bayern Munich?" The caller was a Chinese reporter.

Zhou Yi, who had been woken up, heard that the other party was calling about this issue... He said coldly, "Sorry, you have the wrong number."

After saying that, he hung up the phone and quickly turned off his phone.

At this moment, he didn't care why the media suddenly knew about this news, because wasn't this normal? It was already quite unusual that this matter had been kept from the media for so long...

He just wanted to sleep now.

But after turning off his phone, Zhou Yi couldn't fall asleep.

He tossed and turned in bed, unable to close his eyes.

In the end, Zhou Yi could only sit up and curse through gritted teeth in the darkness:

"Damn it!"

※※※

The next day, when Klopp saw his players at the Brackel training ground, he realized that the impact of Götze's transfer on the team had probably only just begun...

He saw Zhou Yi yawn while warming up, which was rare for Zhou Yi.

Not only Zhou Yi, but other players also seemed listless during training.

In fact, including him, many people probably didn't sleep well that night.

Many Borussia Dortmund fans, when they woke up, probably had a feeling that "the end of the world" was coming.

One of their favorite players, the pride of the Südtribüne (South Stand), the most representative genius player from Borussia Dortmund's youth academy, the core of German football for the next ten years... Mario Götze was revealed to be transferring to Bayern Munich next season?!

At breakfast, no one knew how many people broke their cups, and no one knew how many people were dumbfounded, completely forgetting to eat.

They could only hope that this was just hearsay, a "news" fabricated by the media to attract attention before the semi-final.

There were quite a few people with this mentality. After all, Borussia Dortmund's momentum had been so good recently. They had won the league title for two consecutive seasons, reached the Champions League semi-final for two consecutive seasons, and the youth storm represented by Zhou Yi, Reus, Götze, and Lewandowski was getting stronger and stronger.

Under such circumstances, how could Götze go to Bayern Munich? What reason did he have to go to Bayern Munich?

This was probably a gimmick hyped up by pro-Munich media, or, to be more conspiratorial, a despicable means by Bayern Munich to influence Borussia Dortmund's morale.

Götze's contract with Borussia Dortmund had a release clause, which was no secret. Given Götze's current performance, 37 million euros wasn't an astronomical figure.

Bayern Munich could, of course, directly offer 37 million euros, bypass Borussia Dortmund, and directly negotiate terms with Götze. But Borussia Dortmund fans firmly believed that Götze would not hesitate to reject Bayern Munich when facing them.

Because Borussia Dortmund's pride had no reason to go to their arch-rivals, Bayern Munich.

But on the morning of the 23rd, an official statement from Borussia Dortmund shattered all the fantasies of those Borussia Dortmund fans who were clinging to hope.

Borussia Dortmund issued a statement on its official website, admitting that Götze had informed the club a few days ago that he would activate the buyout clause. But at the same time, they also said that they had not yet received a transfer request from Bayern Munich.

As soon as this news came out, it completely ignited the emotions of Borussia Dortmund fans.

A large number of Borussia Dortmund fans flooded into Borussia Dortmund's official website. They left messages below this statement, expressing their disappointment with Götze and their anger at Bayern Munich.

Due to the large number of fans flooding into the website to leave messages in a short period of time, Borussia Dortmund's official website once crashed.

Subsequently, at noon, Bayern Munich also issued an official statement, admitting that they had reached an agreement with Götze. At the same time, they explained why they had not yet submitted an application to Borussia Dortmund to activate the buyout clause. Considering that the Champions League semi-final between the two teams was imminent, in order not to interfere with each other's preparations, they decided to submit the application to Borussia Dortmund after the first leg of the semi-final.

Both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich issued official statements, and Götze's transfer to Bayern Munich was a foregone conclusion, without any doubt.

All hope was dashed.

Borussia Dortmund fans felt like they had fallen into hell, while Bayern Munich fans were overjoyed. They never expected that when they woke up, the club would give them a big gift—they had actually poached Borussia Dortmund's most proud genius player, Götze!

For two consecutive seasons, Bayern Munich had been suppressed by Borussia Dortmund in the domestic league. Borussia Dortmund's youth storm made Bayern Munich fans a little envious. It wasn't that no one had fantasized about poaching people from Borussia Dortmund, but it was just a fantasy, a pipe dream.

Now, Hoeness had actually helped them turn their pipe dream into reality!

Of course, it would be even better if Zhou Yi was poached...

It might not be that Bayern Munich didn't want to poach him, but Zhou Yi's contract with Borussia Dortmund was different from Götze's. He also had a release clause, and the amount of the release clause was even less than Götze's 37 million euros—it was 30 million euros—but this clause was not only valid before a certain date, but only valid when there was only one year left on the contract, so even if Bayern Munich wanted to use the release clause to forcibly poach Zhou Yi, it was impossible at all. There was still a long time before the last year of the contract...