Chapter 1 A Last-Minute Goal

When the soccer ball bounced into the goal from underneath Hildebrand's diving body, the game clock ticked to the second minute of injury time, with only two minutes remaining until the final whistle.

Zhou Yi's kick could be described as a last-minute goal. He had completely shattered Schalke 04's hopes of defeating Dortmund at home.

After scoring, Zhou Yi glanced at the goal to confirm the ball had gone in before turning and running toward the corner flag with open arms.

He was so excited that he didn't even look for Reus, who had assisted him, to celebrate with a hug—usually, if he scored, he would find the teammate who provided the assist.

But this time, he didn't, because he was too excited, so excited that he forgot.

As he approached the corner flag, he slid on his knees, a celebration rarely seen from Zhou Yi.

This showed just how thrilled and excited he was.

He certainly had reason to be so thrilled and excited, because this goal not only allowed Dortmund to defeat their Ruhr derby arch-rivals, Schalke 04, but also kept Dortmund in the race for the league title with Bayern Munich.

The other Dortmund players were even more excited than Zhou Yi. They ran toward him, pushed him to the ground, piled on top of him, and formed a dogpile.

On the Dortmund bench and in the coaching area, everyone rushed toward Zhou Yi and joined the frenzy of celebration.

Marcel Reif shouted, "Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi—!!! He once again plays the key man for Dortmund! The goal in the final moments helps Dortmund take the lead—sorry, I can't say Dortmund has already won, because the game isn't over yet, but now there's very little time left, and Dortmund has a very good chance of defeating Schalke 04! They will continue to maintain the pressure on Bayern Munich in the league standings!"

"Zhou Yi! Hey! Great goal! Great goal!!" Duan Xin in the domestic studio was also very excited. "A last-minute goal! A true last-minute goal! Zhou Yi's kick defeats Schalke 04! Unbelievable! Ah! Haha! It's really unbelievable! Dortmund, after trailing by two goals at the start, has now come back with three goals, staging an incredible comeback!"

The Schalke 04 fans in the stands were silent, while only a small number of Dortmund fans were cheering and shouting wildly, venting their emotions.

This time, the Schalke 04 fans didn't even have the strength to interrupt the Dortmund fans. The goal conceded in the final moments seemed to have drained all the energy from their bodies. Many fans sat back in their chairs in disappointment, covering their faces with their hands.

The Schalke 04 players on the field weren't much better off.

Faced with this goal, many of them held their heads in their hands, looking dazed, unable to believe that they had conceded a goal in the final moments. Before Zhou Yi's goal, there was no indication that Dortmund could score...

Yang Muge stood helplessly in the penalty area with his hands on his hips. He hadn't stopped Zhou Yi, and he was to blame for the goal.

If he had thrown all his weight forward and pressed Zhou Yi directly with his body, would it have been better?

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The TV broadcast replayed Zhou Yi's goal. From the replay, if Zhou Yi had made solid contact with the ball, and the ball hadn't flown downward but directly toward the goal, there was a good chance that Hildebrand could have blocked it with his hand, or it might have flown high over the crossbar.

There were three paths, but two of them led to dead ends, and Zhou Yi just happened to choose the only successful path to survival.

Should it be said that he had good technique and a calm mind, making the right choice, or that he had good luck and guessed correctly?

But no matter what, the ball went in, no matter how it went in, as long as it went in. Many goals in soccer games actually have an element of luck involved. Some goals that are etched in the history books also have a large element of luck. So even if Zhou Yi's goal was a lucky one, it doesn't detract from his brilliant performance.

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With two minutes left in the game, Zhou Yi leveled the score. The Dortmund players celebrated wildly until the referee, Gagelmann, intervened, and they ended their celebration and returned to their side of the field.

But by this time, another forty seconds of injury time had passed, leaving Schalke 04 with only a little over a minute to equalize.

After the Schalke 04 players restarted the game, Dortmund retreated completely, even a center forward like Lewandowski retreated into the penalty area, using his height advantage to help defend.

Zhou Yi was at the very front, but he was also defending, and he didn't cross the center line.

In the final moments, the Schalke 04 fans in the stands started making noise again, cheering for the team. The hope of defeating Dortmund at home was unlikely to be realized. When it was clear that they couldn't win the game, a draw was better than a loss. So if they could equalize in the final moments, Schalke 04 wouldn't be unable to accept it.

Moreover, a draw would widen the gap between Dortmund and Bayern Munich, which would make Dortmund very unhappy.

Looking back, if Schalke 04 had realized this when Dortmund equalized, Zhou Yi's goal might not have happened.

But there are no "ifs" in soccer. Schalke 04 wouldn't easily accept a draw unless they were forced into a desperate situation.

Schalke 04 pressed forward with all their might, and even Yang Muge went to the edge of the penalty area to join the attack.

But facing the united Dortmund team, Schalke 04 failed to break through Dortmund's goal again until Gagelmann blew the final whistle.

"The game is over!" Marcel Reif shouted excitedly as Gagelmann blew the final whistle. "Dortmund, after trailing by two goals away from home, finally scored three consecutive goals, staging an incredible comeback with a score of 3:2, and securing a crucial three points! These three points may be related to the final league title! Schalke 04 failed to stop Dortmund's progress, and Bayern Munich will continue to have a headache..."

"Zhou Yi! He dominated this game!" A close-up of Zhou Yi appeared on the TV broadcast, and Duan Xin said happily. "Two goals and one assist, he is the chief architect of Dortmund's comeback! Zhou Yi's performance in this game is world-class, and we can even say that Zhou Yi is already one of the top midfielders on the planet! It's unimaginable what Dortmund would be like without him!"

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After the game, Zhou Yi and Yang Muge walked up to each other: "I won again, Lao Yang."

"Don't say that in front of me!" Yang Muge was depressed. He thought he had been successful in defending Zhou Yi throughout the game, but those three times he didn't mark him closely resulted in goals. He felt that he was the culprit for the team's loss.

Zhou Yi smiled: "Keep it up, and try to get a Champions League spot next season!"

Zhou Yi patted Yang Muge on the shoulder and left. He didn't exchange jerseys with Yang Muge. He knew that the rivalry between the two teams in the Ruhr derby was very deep, especially among the fans. If he exchanged jerseys with a Schalke 04 player, it would definitely upset the Dortmund fans, and if Yang Muge exchanged jerseys with a Dortmund player, it would definitely upset the Schalke 04 fans.

Zhou Yi wasn't worried about himself, but he was worried that his actions would make things difficult for Yang Muge. So he didn't exchange jerseys with Yang Muge.

Anyway, he didn't really care for a Schalke 04 jersey...

※※※

After the game, Zhou Yi was selected as the best player of the match. When interviewed by reporters, Zhou Yi still had a smile on his face: "I am very happy that we were able to win this game in the end. The process was difficult. Schalke 04 played very well at home, and their two goals in the first half made it difficult for us. But we persevered and achieved victory. I think the most important significance of this game may not be winning the Ruhr derby again, but that we continue to put pressure on Bayern Munich."

A reporter asked if winning the Ruhr derby made the entire Dortmund team confident of winning the league title.

Zhou Yi replied: "It's too early to talk about who will win the league title, but at least we still have hope to compete for this title, instead of dropping out early. I think we should wait until the champion is really decided before talking about who will get the champion. If we make predictions now and the results are different in the end, who will be responsible?"

He spread out his hands.

※※※

Dortmund's victory in the Ruhr derby was the biggest news in German football the next day.

Bayern Munich fans were probably more saddened and disappointed than Schalke 04 fans.

Now their team was still two points behind Dortmund, and this feeling of leading the pack in a marathon wasn't good.

Four days later, Bayern Munich lost 0:2 to Arsenal at home in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16. This was somewhat surprising, but they had defeated Arsenal 3:1 away from home in the first leg. With the aggregate score tied, Bayern Munich had three away goals, one more than Arsenal's two, and they relied on this one extra away goal to eliminate Arsenal.

And Schalke 04, after losing the Ruhr derby, may have expended too much energy in that game, or perhaps their confidence and fighting spirit were hit by Dortmund's comeback. In the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 in midweek, they actually lost 2:3 to Galatasaray at home, and were eliminated with an aggregate score of 3:4, failing to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.

Yang Muge's first Champions League journey of his career ended just like that.

This was really a pity, but Yang Muge had a good attitude when interviewed: "After all, it's my first time. I've gained experience, broadened my horizons, and learned what the Champions League is like. I'm already very satisfied. Of course, I also hope to participate in the Champions League again next season. Next, we have to work hard for this goal."

Yang Muge was right. In fact, being eliminated from the Champions League may not be a bad thing for Schalke 04.

Schalke 04's performance this season has been unstable, and a large part of the reason is that playing on two fronts, the domestic league and the Champions League, has made Schalke 04 players uncomfortable, and also led to the dismissal of coach Stevens.

Now that they have been eliminated from the Champions League, Schalke 04 can finally put all their energy into the domestic league.

After losing to Dortmund, Schalke 04's ranking in the league fell to ninth, a very serious and worrying situation.