Lin Hai Ting Tao

Chapter 640 A Close Call

The Niedermaier red card was a big blow to Stuttgart's morale. Stuttgart knew this, so after the referee showed Niedermaier the red card, the Stuttgart players surrounded the referee, Atkin, to protest.

But in fact, their protest was unreasonable. Niedermaier's deliberate handball was so obvious that no one could use foolish excuses like "he didn't do it on purpose" or "his arm wasn't outstretched" to defend Niedermaier.

Their protest couldn't save their teammate from the red card, but it was more like venting their frustration and dissatisfaction.

Niedermaier had nothing to say about the red card, so he had to leave the field obediently.

After the Stuttgart players' protests were ineffective, they had to retreat.

Now that they were down a man, they couldn't continue the aggressive offensive they had before. They had to withdraw and shrink their defense to ensure they didn't concede any goals.

In this situation, even though Stuttgart was playing at home, they couldn't even consider whether a draw was the result they wanted.

For Dortmund, this was good news and bad news.

The good news was that their defensive pressure was reduced. The bad news was that after Stuttgart shrank their defense, Dortmund would face a densely packed defense, with fewer opportunities to attack and more difficulty scoring.

For Zhou Yi, he couldn't decide the former, but he could contribute to the latter.

Although Stuttgart had shrunk their defense, it didn't mean that they couldn't be exploited. After all, they were down a man, and a center back at that.

Stuttgart coach Bruno Labbadia would definitely bring on a new center back to ensure the integrity of the defense.

Now there was only one center back on Stuttgart's bench—Rocker. This one-meter-ninety-six center back was outstanding in aerial defense, but after becoming tall, his turning speed slowed down. Speed has never been Rocker's strong suit. Moreover, he was coming on as a substitute in a hurry, so it would be difficult to get into the game at the start, and there would definitely be problems with his cooperation with his teammates. As a center back, if he didn't cooperate well with the teammates around him, some problems would arise.

Zhou Yi believed that if Labbadia brought on Rocker, then they could make a fuss about his turning speed and game state.

In Zhou Yi's mind, he had already begun to design offensive routines aimed at Rocker's characteristics.

Sure enough, Labbadia made a substitution, replacing Maxim, who had scored a goal, with Rocker.

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When Rocker came on the field, Dortmund, under the leadership of Zhou Yi, obviously strengthened their attack on Rocker, with almost all passes directed towards him.

Dortmund was using Rocker, who had just come on the field, as a weak point for a focused attack. How could Stuttgart not see such obvious actions?

So Labbadia also made adjustments, arranging more people to help Rocker, setting up heavy troops around him to prevent Dortmund from taking advantage.

This tit-for-tat approach would definitely work. At that time, Dortmund would find that their strategy of attacking Rocker by force was not feasible.

Then Stuttgart could keep the score at 1:1 until the end of the game.

Reluctantly, Stuttgart could accept a draw with Dortmund at home.

But Dortmund absolutely couldn't accept a draw. If Bayern Munich didn't make mistakes, they couldn't make mistakes either. A draw was a mistake, and the gap would be widened by Bayern Munich. Then, with Bayern Munich's current form, they would likely win to the end in one fell swoop. Even if Dortmund beat Bayern Munich in a direct confrontation, there would still be a one-point gap between the two sides. As long as Bayern Munich continued to win the last two rounds of the league, they could win the championship.

So Dortmund could only keep winning until they met Bayern Munich.

This pressure was great.

Under heavy pressure, Zhou Yi did not lose his cool.

He also saw that Stuttgart had made corresponding adjustments and arrangements for their tactics.

But did they think he simply wanted to exploit Rocker's weaknesses?

Now that Stuttgart had transferred the defensive forces from other places to Rocker's side, wouldn't the other places be relatively empty?

A tactic couldn't be contained so easily. Zhou Yi would of course have follow-up moves and changes.

In fact, although he had been making trouble for Rocker, his eyes were on other places. This was the so-called feint to the east but attack in the west.

When Stuttgart's defensive forces were tilting towards Rocker, a loophole appeared on their right flank.

This loophole was keenly noticed by Zhou Yi.

So when the football fell to his feet again, he made a feint to pass the ball straight to the center, but when his right foot landed, he flicked his ankle and pushed the football to the right.

There, Reus cut into the gap, received Zhou Yi's pass, and then unleashed a shot!

The football was hit towards the far corner with the outside of his foot. Stuttgart goalkeeper Sven Ulreich made a save and touched the football, but he couldn't stop the football from flying towards the goal. He just pushed the football down, and the football continued to窜 after landing, and finally flew into the goal from the far post!

"Reus!! Beautiful—! In the seventy-fifth minute, he took the lead again for Dortmund!! 2:1!" Marcel Reif shouted.

The hearts of many Dortmund fans could finally drop for the time being.

The Stuttgart players suffered a double blow. They had just been sent off a man not long ago, and now they had conceded another goal. It was simply a true depiction of when it rains, it pours...

This goal was really demoralizing. Losing a man in the first place had already made them feel uneasy, and now they were behind. How could they play this game?

Labbadia made a decision immediately. Since they were already behind, there was no point in shrinking the defense. They might as well push out and attack. There were fifteen minutes left until the end of the ninety-minute game, and this time was enough for Stuttgart to score a goal and equalize the score.

What if they conceded a goal instead of scoring? Labbadia didn't care. Anyway, maintaining the current score until the end of the game was also a loss. Pushing out and conceding a goal was still a loss, with no change at all. Why not push out and take a gamble?

So after the game restarted, Stuttgart let go instead.

They frantically and recklessly launched an attack on Dortmund's goal.

Dortmund was a little unprepared for this swift offensive from Stuttgart.

For a while, they, who were leading, were beaten very embarrassingly by Stuttgart.

Klopp had to replace Şahin to strengthen the control and defense of the midfield.

But in the eighty-second minute, Dortmund almost fell into an even more unfavorable situation.

At that time, Stuttgart's attack was very swift. When they reached the front of Dortmund's penalty area, Gentner dribbled the ball inside. Şahin made a tackle and then tripped Gentner to the ground, stopping the latter's breakthrough.

But this action aroused the dissatisfaction of the Stuttgart players, who believed that Şahin had committed a foul, and a very bad foul.

However, referee Atkin did not make any表示, he did not even call Şahin for a foul, but let the game continue.

But in the replay of the TV broadcast, everyone could clearly see that the football was not poked out by Şahin, but that Gentner had taken the ball away before Şahin, and as a result, Şahin couldn't stop his feet and directly tripped Gentner...

"Ouch, this ball is really a foul..." Duan Xin said. "Şahin escaped a disaster, and Dortmund also escaped a disaster. This ball can be carded directly, and may even be a red card... If they are down a man, Dortmund's advantage will be gone, and it is entirely possible that Stuttgart will equalize the score again..."

Marcel Reif also said directly that Şahin was lucky: "This foul is a very bad foul. It is a pity that Atkin did not see it. But I think this controversial penalty will definitely cause a war of words between the two sides after the game. Stuttgart coach Labbadia will definitely have something to say, thinking that Dortmund's victory is questionable... But no matter what, Dortmund is lucky. I don't know if this penalty will affect this season's title race..."

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During the game, there were still Stuttgart players protesting to referee Atkin, pointing to the place where Şahin had fouled earlier, indicating that the foul had been ignored.

But it was too late to say anything now. The referee could not overturn his previous penalty after so long. So even if the Stuttgart players protested and were dissatisfied, it was useless, just adding some gimmicks to the media.

Moreover, the Stuttgart players were also affected by this penalty. In the following games, their minds were not on the game, but on competing with the referee. In addition, Dortmund players also became the target of Stuttgart players' venting, and were repeatedly knocked to the ground.

Sometimes Zhou Yi had to give up possession of the ball in order to protect himself.

But fortunately, there was not much time left.

When Atkin blew the whistle to end the game, the score was fixed at 1:2, with the home team Stuttgart 1 and the visiting team Dortmund 2.

Although there were some twists and turns, Dortmund finally won three points, which was the most important thing.