Chapter 1 Zhou Yi Annoys Real Madrid

Regardless of Zhou Yi’s motives for saying those words, he certainly annoyed the supporters of Real Madrid. A host on a Madrid television station talked about Zhou Yi's words on the show, saying that Zhou Yi was simply too rude. Zhou Yi was subjected to a very fierce criticism on the show.

However, Zhou Yi could not watch this Spanish TV show, so he could not hear the opponent's criticism at all. This kind of criticism has no meaning other than satisfying the critic.

So what is meaningful?

Of course, it is most meaningful to defeat Zhou Yi's Dortmund in the next game and use practical actions to break superstitions and curses.

When the Real Madrid players arrived in Dortmund, the media interviewed them at the airport, wanting them to talk about their views on Zhou Yi's words, or simply their views on Zhou Yi.

Most of the Real Madrid players refused to answer these questions. They chose to avoid talking about it, but you could still feel their emotions, which must have been very upset.

Ramos was the only Real Madrid player who answered this question head-on in the interview. He said: "Everyone has the right to express their opinions, but we will respect every opponent. Real Madrid only has one goal in every game, and that is victory."

Simply translated, it means "Zhou Yi, you don't respect us enough, and we will definitely slap you in the face with victory!"

What about Zhou Yi?

He did not accept any more interviews before the game, perhaps because he was afraid that his words would be misinterpreted by the media, or perhaps because he felt that he had achieved his goal of angering his opponents.

In short, he remained silent before the game, disappointing those reporters who wanted to stir up trouble on both sides and feared that the world would not be in chaos.

Before the game, in addition to promoting the concept of the "curse," the German media also believed that this was a game of revenge for Dortmund.

Because two seasons ago, in the 2010-2011 season, Dortmund returned to the Champions League for the first season. They reached the quarter-finals in one go, but met Real Madrid led by Mourinho in the quarter-finals. In the first leg, they lost 1:4 at the Bernabéu, basically losing hope of advancing. That season, Dortmund's Champions League journey stopped in the quarter-finals.

Of course, this debt must be recovered from Real Madrid.

However, Dortmund did not think so when interviewed, or rather, they tried not to promote topics such as revenge.

Klopp said: "This is just an ordinary group stage match, not a knockout match."

The implication is that even if Dortmund wins against Real Madrid, it may not prevent Real Madrid from qualifying, so such a game does not count as qualified revenge.

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In fact, putting aside Real Madrid's "curse" in Germany, Real Madrid has the advantage in this game, no matter how you look at it.

In terms of the number of stars and the overall strength of the team, Real Madrid is better than Dortmund. A very common but very intuitive concept to judge the strength of the two teams is the transfer value. The total value of Real Madrid's team is much higher than that of Dortmund.

In addition, judging from recent games, Real Madrid is also better prepared than Dortmund. Both teams' last game was at home, but Dortmund played a difficult Ruhr derby, and Schalke 04 put a lot of pressure on Dortmund. What about Real Madrid? The 2-0 victory over Celta at home can be said to have been achieved without any effort. Mourinho didn't even send out all the main players, and during the game, he replaced the main players in advance in order to prepare for this game.

Real Madrid is playing away, but that is their only disadvantage, and they have more advantages.

While every Real Madrid fan is worried about the so-called curse, their hearts are also full of expectations for this team—perhaps the day to break the curse is today?

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At 2:45 a.m. Beijing time on October 25, 2012, the Champions League group match between Dortmund and Real Madrid officially began at Dortmund's home stadium.

With a whistle from the referee, Kassai, Benzema kicked the football to Cristiano Ronaldo, and the Portuguese turned around and kicked the football back to Özil.

The shouts in the Westfalenstadion resounded through the sky.

Özil and Khedira, the two German players in Real Madrid, are very familiar with the atmosphere of this stadium, because they have both played for Bundesliga teams and come here at least once a year.

After getting the ball, Özil did not pass the football out immediately, but waited for a while to observe the situation. He had to wait for his teammates to spread out their formation before he could have the angle and space to pass the ball.

But this time, just as he raised his head to observe, he saw Mark Wagner rushing towards him, and he was very close!

This startled him.

Mark Wagner started in this game in place of Götze, who was injured in the last league game. Götze was found to need two weeks of rest after the game, and his position was naturally replaced by Mark. And Mark also used his two goals in the last game to prove that his condition and body were fine.

Özil really didn't expect Mark to pounce so fiercely, he quickly turned around and passed the football back to Khedira, who was not far behind him.

But Khedira's situation was no better than his. Just as the football landed at Khedira's feet, Lewandowski had already leaned up, almost not leaving him any space to handle the ball!

Facing such a situation, Khedira naturally did not dare to let the football stay at his feet for too long. He is a defensive midfielder. If he loses possession of the ball, the opponent may directly face the defense line, which is very dangerous!

So he passed the football horizontally to his defensive midfield partner, Alonso.

Alonso's stop was slightly too big, and a yellow figure rushed up like lightning and poked the ball away from his feet!

At that moment, Alonso didn't even see who it was, and the football was gone.

But fortunately, the football that was poked away rolled a little far and landed directly at the feet of Ramos, the Real Madrid defender behind.

"Reus! Oh! What a pity!" Marcel Reif exclaimed. When Reus poked the football away from Alonso's feet just now, he originally thought it would be an attack for Dortmund, but he didn't expect Ramos to get the football…

Ramos didn't dare to delay, and kicked the football directly to the front court. It's better not to let the football stay in his own half for too long. Even if he loses the ball, it's better to lose it in the front court than in front of his own goal.

"The game has just begun, and Dortmund has shown a aggressive momentum. After all, this is their home stadium, and they certainly want to declare the existence of the host to the 'guests'," said the commentator from the Spanish TV station. "Using aggressive pressing in the frontcourt can indeed bring some trouble to Real Madrid, but this style of play is also quite energy-consuming. Dortmund has been pressing like this from the first minute of the game. How long can their physical strength last? What if they run out of energy in the second half? Will they collapse directly?"

The Spanish commentator is naturally inclined towards Real Madrid. Although it was a dangerous situation in front of Real Madrid's penalty area this time, he can still see the factors that are beneficial to Real Madrid.

But the Real Madrid coach Mourinho on the sidelines is not as relaxed and confident as this commentator. When the TV camera sweeps over him, you can see him frowning, standing on the sidelines, waving his arms and shouting.

If you can hear clearly what he is shouting in the extremely noisy Westfalenstadion, you will find that he is asking Real Madrid players to speed up the passing and control of the ball, and not to control the ball too much in the backcourt.

As an experienced and highly skilled coach, he cannot fail to see how Klopp has arranged things, nor can he fail to see the intention behind this arrangement.

Obviously, Dortmund hopes to disrupt Real Madrid's rhythm by using high pressing at home and put Real Madrid in a panic.

Mourinho's frown shows that Klopp's arrangement is effective. Any team and any player is afraid of high pressing, those close entanglements and aggressive tackles.

Even someone like Zhou Yi is somewhat helpless when he meets Yang Muge.

Real Madrid players are also afraid, even more afraid.

Klopp must have carefully studied Real Madrid before coming up with this strategy. Of course, he cannot be unaware of the problems with this tactic, which is that it requires a lot of physical energy. But since he still chose to play like this, he must have his reasons.

Maybe he believes that his team can establish an advantage before their physical energy is exhausted, or maybe he believes that Dortmund players have enough physical energy to support a full-court sprint.

In any case, even if this style of play will bring trouble to Dortmund, it will only appear after Dortmund players have problems with their physical energy, in the second half of the game. But now, in the first half of the game, it is Real Madrid that is in trouble…

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The long kick from Ramos was contested by Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese jumped high, fully demonstrating his excellent jumping, hang time, and heading ability, and headed the football to his teammate Benzema.

But as soon as Benzema received the ball, Sven Bender and Kehl pressed up.

Under their combined attack, Benzema quickly lost the ball. This time, the football was no longer lucky enough to fall at the feet of a Real Madrid player, but was firmly controlled by Kehl, who then passed the football to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi turned around and passed the football forward.

Although Real Madrid kicked off, Dortmund only took half a minute to regain possession of the ball.

What they are showing at their home stadium is not just momentum, but also excellent tactics and execution.

On the other hand, looking at Real Madrid, from the kick-off, everyone seemed a little flustered when they got the ball, which eventually led to the loss of possession.

Perhaps, that "curse" has already begun to take effect without them realizing it…