Klopp's substitution was seen by Schalke 04 as a desperate move, a completely irrational adjustment. Bringing on Şahin was fine, but taking off Hummels was certainly questionable.

If the intention was to strengthen control of the midfield, shouldn't the conventional approach be to replace a forward with a midfielder?

Defense is the foundation of everything. Replacing a defender weakens the defense, so what's the point of strengthening the midfield control?

Of course, it's not surprising that Klopp made such an adjustment, as he's the kind of coach who easily goes all-in, a complete gambler. Sometimes he wins, but there's no gambler in the world who always wins.

Klopp winning in the past doesn't mean he can win this time.

In the eyes of Schalke 04's coach Jens Keller, Klopp's adjustment was an opportunity for Schalke 04. Seize the chance to exploit the relative emptiness in their defense, strive to score another goal, and then the outcome of the game would be beyond doubt.

Keller took over as the team's coach before the winter break, replacing the dismissed coach Stevens. Before that, he coached in Schalke 04's U17 team. Schalke 04 Club stated that Keller was not a transitional coach and would continue to coach until the end of the season.

Stevens was dismissed due to poor team performance. When he was dismissed, Schalke 04 had even fallen out of the Champions League zone, with six consecutive games without a win.

The main task for Keller after taking over the team was to get the team back into the Champions League zone and secure qualification for next season's Champions League. For Schalke 04, although participating in the Champions League would affect their performance in the league, Champions League qualification was related to huge financial income, a sum of money that could not be easily given up. In addition, if they could participate in the Champions League every year, it would also be beneficial to the development of the team's strength. Look at Borussia Dortmund today, they are a good example. Borussia Dortmund can participate in the Champions League every year, and they have also won two consecutive league titles in the domestic league, and the team's strength has improved by leaps and bounds.

Keller also knew that the responsibility on his shoulders was heavy. He came to the club last July and signed a two-year U17 coaching contract with Schalke 04. The Schalke U17 team he led had very good results in the youth league. Up to the time he coached Schalke 04's first team, the U17 team he led had won all thirteen games in the Western League, and because the U17 youth team and Schalke 04's first team used similar formations, the handover between Keller and Stevens would not be too difficult.

When coaching the U17, Keller led Schalke 04 U17 to score seventy-seven goals in thirteen games, with very strong attacking firepower, and in the youth league, when facing Borussia Dortmund's youth team in the Revierderby, he led the team to defeat Borussia Dortmund 4:3. What Schalke 04's first team failed to do, he achieved in the youth team, so he can be regarded as a coach with experience in winning the Revierderby.

Now, the Schalke 04 first team he leads is leading Borussia Dortmund by two goals in the Revierderby, which seems to prove that his coaching experience in Schalke 04 U17 youth team is useful.

So he also made adjustments in response to Borussia Dortmund's adjustment.

That is to strengthen the attack, and against the situation where Borussia Dortmund has only three defenders, make Schalke 04's offensive more fierce, strive to score another goal in the shortest time, and then shrink the line and start defending.

A three-goal lead should be enough to defend until the end of the game.

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After receiving the coach's latest instructions, Schalke 04's players continued to launch fierce attacks on Borussia Dortmund's goal after the start of the second half, while using their mad-dog-like pressing in the middle and front of the field to maintain their advantage on the field.

Especially against Zhou Yi, it wasn't just Yang Muge, other Schalke 04 players would also help Yang Muge defend Zhou Yi if they had the opportunity.

When Zhou Yi was defended so that he could hardly turn around, Borussia Dortmund's offense naturally couldn't be organized.

This was a problem in Borussia Dortmund's organization of offense in the first half.

But the situation in the second half was a bit different from the first half.

Because Şahin was on the field.

When Zhou Yi was deeply besieged, he didn't need to search for passing targets and paths everywhere like he did in the first half. Now he only needed to lock onto Şahin. If the opponent surrounded him, he would pass the ball to Şahin.

The difficulty of searching for only one passing target is far less than finding many passing targets.

So in the second half of the game, Schalke 04 players, including Yang Muge, found that it was not as easy for them to stop Borussia Dortmund's offense as it was in the first half.

When the ball was still passed to Zhou Yi, Yang Muge lunged at Zhou Yi. In addition to him, Höger also rushed towards Zhou Yi, intending to sandwich him from left and right.

After Zhou Yi got the ball, he didn't pass the ball out immediately, but adjusted it. It was during his adjustment that Yang Muge and Höger pressed up. Among them, Yang Muge was close behind him, while Höger was waiting for an opportunity to move.

Zhou Yi, who was surrounded, passed the ball out. He passed it to Şahin, who was supporting him not far away.

Because he himself attracted two Schalke 04 players, there wasn't even a single Schalke 04 player around Şahin.

"Şahin received the ball! This pass is beautiful!" Duan Xin shouted.

Şahin, who received the ball, turned around and brought the ball forward, and then before other Schalke 04 players pressed up, he made a diagonal long pass, sending the ball to the other side of the field, where it fell at the feet of Borussia Dortmund striker Lewandowski, who was at the front.

After Lewandowski got the ball, Götze had also moved forward at high speed, so Lewandowski passed the ball to Götze again, and finally Götze completed a high-quality shot, but the ball was saved by Schalke 04's goalkeeper Hildebrand to the bottom line, and Borussia Dortmund got a corner kick.

After Hildebrand saved the ball to the bottom line, the TV broadcast cut to a close-up of Şahin, who was holding his head in his hands, regretting that Götze's shot didn't go in.

Marcel Reif sighed: "Şahin's long pass just now accurately found Lewandowski. This scene really makes us feel like we have returned to two years ago. At that time, Şahin was also wearing a Borussia Dortmund jersey, frequently sending out such long passes on the field..."

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Borussia Dortmund got a corner kick. In the situation where they were being pressed by Schalke 04, any set piece in the frontcourt that they could get was worth taking seriously, so Borussia Dortmund players who were good at heading the ball crowded into the penalty area, preparing to compete for the header.

But Zhou Yi didn't go up to join in the fun. He didn't have an advantage in height or strength, and his jumping ability wasn't very good either. It was meaningless for him to run into the penalty area, except to add to the chaos. So during corner kicks, if he wasn't the one taking it, he would wait outside the penalty area for the second point of fall.

This corner kick was handed over to Şahin to take. He had just sent out an accurate long pass.

After he placed the ball, he glanced at the situation in the penalty area, which was simply a mess. Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund players were entangled together, you in me, me in you, it was difficult to separate them. And they were still making moves with each other's hands, pulling and hugging... He didn't know who would get the ball if it was kicked to the goal.

The referee Gagelmann obviously also noticed this situation, so he blew his whistle to suspend the game, and then ran into the penalty area and called out Hummels and Höwedes, the two players from both sides who were pulling the most obvious, and gave them verbal warnings, telling them to pay attention and not have too much physical contact.

Both of them obviously thought it was the other's responsibility, so they were very unconvinced, but in front of the referee, it was not good to show it too obviously, so in the end they nodded, indicating that they would pay attention.

But after they returned to their positions, their hands quickly touched each other again. Gagelmann was used to this kind of situation. If he insisted that both sides not have any physical contact, then this corner kick might not be taken until the ninetieth minute, so he could only turn a blind eye to the chaotic situation in the penalty area.

Şahin stood far away in the corner flag area, paying attention to everything that was happening in the penalty area. He found that after the referee suspended the game, the situation still hadn't improved, and the penalty area was still a mess.

At this time, he could of course choose to kick the ball into the goal area, and then throw the responsibility to his teammates who were competing for the header in front of the goal. Let them try their best to fight for a not-very-hopeful opportunity. It wouldn't be wrong to do so, anyway, not every corner kick can score, you have to allow for failure.

But Şahin didn't want to do this, because for Borussia Dortmund now, every set piece in the frontcourt like a corner kick was a very valuable scoring opportunity. Why did coach Klopp repeatedly urge himself on how to play in the second half during the halftime break?

Isn't it because if the team loses this game, they are likely to lose the league title. So the victory in this Revierderby is crucial.

He hoped to be able to help the team seize every opportunity to score.

He was very sorry that Götze's shot just now didn't go in. He knew very well that the opportunity to pass the ball out without any defensive pressure like before might become less and less in the subsequent games.

Seize every opportunity, and never be perfunctory!

Thinking of this, he turned his attention to outside the penalty area. There were far fewer people there. Most of the players from both sides were concentrated in the penalty area, which made the outside of the penalty area seem like the suburbs of a bustling city, desolate and uninhabited.

Zhou Yi was there, looking at Şahin.

The eyes of the two met in the air, and suddenly a tacit understanding appeared in the depths of their hearts at the same time.