After the match, Zhou Yi was also the focus of media reporters. His pre-match remarks had caused quite a bit of controversy, and now that the result of the match was as he had "predicted," everyone naturally wanted to hear what he had to say.

Standing in front of the microphone, Zhou Yi looked very innocent: "I really didn't mean to provoke anyone, nor was I being arrogant or conceited. I was just telling everyone a scientific term, but I didn't expect the media to overinterpret it. I originally thought that a slang term commonly used in the Western world wasn't worth saying much about, but now it seems that I wasn't thoughtful enough. If you want to ask me what I think about this matter, I have only one view—some things have a scientific basis, and this doesn't change with personal emotions. Whether you like it or not, it's there. Murphy's Law isn't a good thing, but it does exist. It's just a psychological phenomenon, don't overinterpret it. This match proves this very well."

A reporter asked, "Does that mean that no matter how hard Real Madrid players try, Real Madrid will definitely lose to Dortmund?"

Zhou Yi quickly shook his head and pointed at the reporter who asked the question, saying, "I didn't say that. If the report is inaccurate, you'll be responsible."

He then pointed to the reporters present and said, "So many fellow journalists are here to witness. I never said anything like that!"

A group of reporters rolled their eyes in their hearts...

It was a Chinese reporter who came out to change the subject: "Does defeating Real Madrid at home mean that Dortmund will win this group?"

Zhou Yi waved his hand: "This is a Group of Death, anything can happen. Not only can we not say that we are the first in the group, but it's too early to say whether we can even qualify from the group. Who knows what will happen next? Manchester City is also a strong team..."

Before he could finish, the Chinese reporter who asked the question looked at him with a mysterious smile and said, "Manchester City just lost 1-3 to Ajax in the away game."

"Uh..." Zhou Yi couldn't continue. "Okay, that's it, goodbye everyone!"

After saying that, he waved his hand and forcibly bid farewell to the reporters.

Watching his departing figure, some of the reporters laughed.

"Hey, do you remember two seasons ago, he vowed that Dortmund would definitely qualify from the Champions League group stage at that time? Why is he so low-key and humble this time?"

"This isn't humility, it's clearly being sly!" someone next to him immediately said. "I feel like he's saying the opposite of what he means throughout the whole thing..."

"Could we be too sensitive?"

"Not sensitive. We need to interpret Zhou Yi's words in more depth. We can't just look at the surface meaning, we have to fully explore his inner thoughts. Who knows what hidden meanings he has?"

"Do you know who I sympathize with the most right now? It's Manchester City! It's one thing for Zhou Yi to say that Real Madrid is doomed, Real Madrid is their opponent in this match. Manchester City was shot even from thousands of miles away, and was jinxed to death by him..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"After the last match between Dortmund and Manchester City, when Zhou Yi was interviewed by us, didn't he say that anything is possible? What exactly did he say at the time..." The speaker raised his head and thought for a moment, then continued. "'Although Ajax is currently ranked last, we will suffer if we underestimate them'. Yes, that's what he said. Look, didn't Manchester City fall on Ajax in this match? The dignified Premier League champion, three consecutive defeats in the Champions League group stage! It's really... embarrassing, tsk tsk."

A group of people also remembered that Zhou Yi had said something like that before. At the time, everyone didn't think too much about it, just treating it as a normal and ordinary platitude.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Yi had really predicted it.

Now that everyone remembers his nickname "Wizard" that once spread all over Germany, they can't help but feel a chill—maybe this nickname doesn't actually need to be in quotation marks?

※※※

The two Champions League group matches that kicked off at the same time that night have ended. Dortmund defeated Real Madrid 2-1 at home, continuing Real Madrid's embarrassing record of not winning in Germany for fourteen years. But this result isn't too surprising. Many people, after knowing this result, will feel that this result is very normal even if they haven't watched the match at all. If Real Madrid wins, they will be surprised instead.

But the result of the other match really scared a lot of people.

Manchester City actually lost to Ajax in the away game even when it was already a do-or-die situation! The team that was generally recognized as the weakest in this group defeated Manchester City 3-1 at home!

In fact, in the first half, Manchester City was able to draw with Ajax in the away game, and the score was 1-1.

But in the second half, Ajax scored two goals in ten minutes, killing the suspense of the match.

Mancini's team suffered an embarrassing three-game losing streak in the Champions League group stage.

This is something that many people didn't expect before the match. When the draw results were just released, everyone thought that Ajax was the team for all the teams in this group to score points from, and the competition for the two qualifying spots would be between Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Dortmund.

Who would have thought that after half of the group stage was played, Manchester City took the lead in falling behind? Now, after three matches, Dortmund is in first place with nine points from three wins, Real Madrid is in second place with two wins and one loss, and Ajax is surprisingly in third place with one win and two losses, accumulating three points. Manchester City, with three losses, has zero points and is in last place.

There are three group matches left. If Manchester City wants to break out of the Group of Death, then they have to win all three of these last matches, and at the same time hope that none of the teams in front of them can win a single match, otherwise their chances of qualifying will be very, very, very low...

But even so, Manchester City's qualification only exists in theory...

After this match, the Manchester media said, "It turns out that the 'Group of Death' is only for Manchester City..."

"'Group of Death' has become 'Group of Disappointment'. Who knows what Manchester City has experienced!"

※※※

Manchester City was naturally full of disappointment, while Dortmund's situation was very good.

They have accumulated nine points in three matches, haven't lost yet, and have a six-point lead over Ajax, who is in third place. Moreover, they also have the advantage in the head-to-head record. In the next three matches, Dortmund only needs to meet two conditions to ensure a qualifying spot.

The first is to win one of the remaining three matches. Just one win is enough.

The second condition is not to lose to Ajax by a difference of two or more goals.

As long as these two points are met, the qualification is basically guaranteed.

Moreover, the actual situation is much more optimistic than this theoretical situation.

Because the theoretical situation is based on Dortmund only winning one match and then losing two matches, while Ajax wins all three remaining matches.

Let alone the two opponents Manchester City and Dortmund, it is basically impossible for Ajax to beat Real Madrid in the away game, so this theoretical extreme situation is unlikely to occur.

It can already be asserted that there is no suspense that Dortmund will qualify from this Group of Death. The only suspense may be who is first and who is second between them and Real Madrid.

After losing to Dortmund, Real Madrid went from first to second in the group. They will definitely not be willing to play against the first in other groups, nor will they be willing to let Dortmund win against themselves. So in the next Champions League group match, after returning to their home court, Real Madrid will definitely try everything possible to defeat Dortmund.

The contest between these two teams is the biggest highlight of this group.

As for the saying "Group of Death"... everyone now finds that the Champions League D group in 1999 was an unsurpassed and unrepeatable classic. This year's D group is just a 'Group of Death' that looks intimidating, but it is actually a paper tiger. Manchester City's weakness has made this group lose a lot of suspense. A group with such a large point difference can hardly be called a 'Group of Death'.

※※※

After the match against Real Madrid, Dortmund challenged Freiburg away in the ninth round of the league.

In this match, Klopp used a large-scale rotation. Although the entire Dortmund team showed amazing physical fitness in the match against Real Madrid, they are not robots after all and still need to rest. After two consecutive high-intensity fierce confrontations, the players are exhausted both physically and mentally.

So after the match against Real Madrid, Klopp gave all the players who participated in this match a full day off, even though the league match against Freiburg was actually three days later.

Klopp didn't plan to let some of these players participate in that match at all.

Zhou Yi didn't go to the away match against Freiburg, neither did Mark, Lewandowski, Reus, or Sven Bender. None of these people were on the eighteen-man roster.

But even so, Dortmund, who played with their second team, still defeated Freiburg 2-0 away without bloodshed. They are fighting on two fronts in the Champions League and the league, and neither side is delayed. This also shows to some extent that Dortmund has accumulated some experience in dealing with both domestic and European competitions after playing in the Champions League for two consecutive seasons.

For Dortmund, good news never comes alone. In the same round of the league, Bayern Munich unexpectedly lost 1-2 to Leverkusen at home. This was their first league loss of the season.

And this defeat also left their points at twenty-four.

Dortmund followed closely behind with twenty points. The gap between the two teams has now been reduced to four points.

This season's Dortmund, unlike what those analysts thought, they didn't consider giving up the domestic league as the price in exchange for the qualification to sprint in the Champions League with all their strength.