Although the media supporting Manchester United used very harsh words, with a hint of schadenfreude in their tone, they weren't entirely wrong. After Manchester City's narrow 2-3 defeat to Real Madrid away from home, the Manchester City side was indeed very optimistic.

At that time, it wasn't just the team, but the fans and the media who also felt optimistic.

They believed that after accumulating enough experience in the Champions League last season, Manchester City had nothing to fear this season, even if they were placed in the group of death. They were, after all, the reigning Premier League champions, and the Premier League was the top league in Europe. Therefore, the value of the Premier League title was obviously higher than the Bundesliga, Serie A, and La Liga. Manchester City's squad was full of superstars, and their strength was not weak. Qualifying from the group of death was not a problem for them. The only thing they were considering was whether to qualify as the first or second team in the group. As for who they would qualify with, that was not important at all.

This blind optimism infected and influenced the team.

But in reality, Manchester City's strength was still far from sufficient, and the Champions League was indeed completely different from the Premier League.

Premier League teams with a "continental" style of play might be considered technically skilled in the Premier League, but when they arrived in the Champions League, they would find that their technique was still very rough. Faced with faster-paced and higher-intensity matches, those technical flaws would often be magnified. For example, a slightly large first touch might not be a problem in the Premier League, because there were plenty of players with even worse touches. But in the Champions League, a slightly large first touch could mean surrendering possession.

If they lacked Champions League experience, they would inevitably find it difficult to adapt.

Borussia Dortmund, participating in the Champions League for the first time in seven years, still had a period of adjustment, let alone Manchester City.

Borussia Dortmund didn't care about Manchester City, nor did they care whether Manchester City qualified or not.

When they took off from Manchester Airport and left the city, they had already put the game behind them.

The next time they met Manchester City would be in the final round of the Champions League group stage, with Borussia Dortmund hosting Manchester City. By then, who knew what the situation would be? Maybe the result of the game would be meaningless by then?

※※※

Back in Germany, Zhou Yi was scheduled to receive treatment from the team's medical staff the next day.

According to Dr. Markus Braun's recommendation, it was best not to play in the weekend's away game against Hannover 96 to avoid aggravating the injury. It wasn't a major problem to begin with, but if he insisted on playing, it could become a very serious issue. So it was better to be cautious.

And with Zhou Yi not participating in this game, and no club matches, he would then return to China to participate in the Chinese national team's World Cup qualifier against Australia at home.

That match was the most crucial, and it was only twelve days away. If Zhou Yi was injured in the game against Hannover, he could basically say goodbye to the Top Ten qualifiers. At that time, the Chinese Football Association and Borussia Dortmund would definitely engage in a war of words. The relationship between the two sides was already quite good, and it wasn't worth offending anyone for a match that wasn't that important.

At the same time, to ensure that Zhou Yi's injury would not affect the national team's matches, Borussia Dortmund also arranged for him to have an exclusive doctor, who would only take care of him for these two days.

Barefoot, Zhou Yi sat cross-legged on the massage bed, looking up slightly at Kotana, who was putting on gloves next to him: "So you're my exclusive physician?"

Kotana didn't answer his question.

Zhou Yi looked around. There were only two of them in the room, and the door to the treatment room was closed.

It seemed quite private.

So he lowered his voice and asked, "Will anyone find out about us?"

This time, Kotana finally turned to glare at Zhou Yi: "What nonsense are you talking about? What's the matter? What matter is there between us?"

"Cohabitation..." Kotana's series of questions surprised Zhou Yi. He didn't expect her reaction to be so intense...

Kotana said angrily, "Make yourself clear, who is cohabiting with you?"

"Living together is also called cohabitation..." Zhou Yi felt quite aggrieved. "I thought the club knew that you and I were living together, so they asked you to take care of me?"

"..." Kotana originally wanted to deny it outright, but seeing Zhou Yi so certain, she herself began to suspect whether people really knew about her and Zhou Yi living together... After all, secrets don't stay secret forever, how could no one know about this after a long time?

But then she thought again, if they really knew, why would it only be reflected in this arrangement of a doctor for treatment? If this matter was really exposed, with the media's behavior, how could they not publicize it everywhere, making it known to everyone?

So after thinking it over carefully, she felt that she was overthinking things.

So she snorted: "You're thinking too much. Sit still."

Zhou Yi obediently changed his posture, leaning against the massage bed, then patted his chest and breathed a long sigh of relief: "That's good, that's good..."

"What? Are you so afraid of people knowing, do you think it's shameful?" Kotana leaned in and pinched Zhou Yi's left ankle.

Zhou Yi hissed.

"Does it hurt a lot?" Kotana glanced at him.

"No, it's just that your movement was a bit sudden..." Zhou Yi quickly shook his head, "I'm afraid that if people find out about this, it will cause you trouble... You know what the media is like."

"What's so bad about it? We haven't done anything, why should we be afraid of others talking?" Kotana shrugged.

"Right, right, right, if you're upright, you have nothing to fear, if you haven't done anything wrong, you don't need to worry about reporters knocking on your door..." Zhou Yi quickly nodded in agreement. "Speaking of which, are you still going to live at your house all the time?"

"Actually, I'm moving back next week," Kotana said while giving Zhou Yi treatment.

"That's great!" Zhou Yi was very happy.

Kotana looked up, looking at Zhou Yi suspiciously: "What are you so happy about?"

Zhou Yi said very seriously: "You don't have to live at home all the time, which means that Mark's injury should be fine, and he can participate in the game at any time, right?"

Kotana tilted her head and thought about it. It seemed that was really the case. So she nodded: "Yes."

"So yeah."

"So you're happy just because of this?" Kotana asked.

"Of course. Mark is my good friend!"

Kotana lowered her head, her hands working non-stop: "Yes, very, very good friend, Mark said so too."

"Hiss—" Zhou Yi shouted, "It hurts, it hurts..."

"It's supposed to hurt."

"Heroine, please have mercy!"

"Have mercy? Do you still want to participate in the national team's matches?"

As soon as the national team was mentioned, Zhou Yi immediately stopped shouting and gritted his teeth and endured it.

Kotana just said it casually, but she didn't expect it to be so effective, which instead spurred her curiosity.

So she asked, "Is it important to you to serve the country?"

"To me, yes."

"Why?"

"Do you even need to ask why?" Zhou Yi was very strange. "I'm a Chinese, just like Mark is a German, so it's very normal and natural for him to play for the German team, right?"

"That's what they say, but the German team is strong, and being able to play for the German team is a very glorious thing. But as far as I know, the strength of Chinese football is not strong, and its image in public opinion doesn't seem to be very good, right?"

"Oh, you also know about Chinese football?" Zhou Yi was even more surprised.

"At the recently concluded London Olympics, didn't you win a gold medal? German media also reported on it at the time, saying that this was a historic breakthrough for Chinese football, and briefly introduced the current situation of Chinese football," Kotana said calmly.

"Yes, yes, Chinese football's image isn't very good, there are a lot of scandals, and a lot of corrupt officials from the Football Association were arrested a few years ago... But after all, it's our own country's football, no matter what, it represents China. Since I'm a football player, then of course I want to be a national team player. This has nothing to do with the team's strength. You see, there are also many lower-level teams in Europe, even amateur teams, that haven't had any decent results for a hundred years or decades, but that doesn't stop them from having so many supporters..."

"Your example is not quite right. Although those teams are not famous, they don't have those scandals you mentioned, so their fans can support them," Kotana shook her head.

"Right. There are indeed a lot of scandals. But let me give another inappropriate example. If a child makes a mistake and hurts their parents' hearts, would a normal person's reaction be to scold them and hope they die? Impossible, right? Shouldn't a normal person's reaction be to scold them, beat them, and still hope that they can correct their mistakes and get on the right path? No real parent would think about giving up on their child. I think many Chinese fans, including me, probably always have such expectations for our own country's football, hoping that it can get better, that it can get on the right track. I used to be just an ordinary fan, a student at school, and there was nothing I could do for Chinese football. But now I'm a player, I can wear the national team's jersey and fight for my country, so I hope to do my best to change the future of Chinese football and push it onto the right track. I have the opportunity and the ability, so I have a responsibility."

In his narration, Zhou Yi thought of those things related to Chinese football from his childhood.

When he was three years old, China had its own professional football league, and his hometown also had a professional football team. At that time, his father was a crazy fan, taking his only three-year-old self to watch the games live, for which he was scolded by his mother, who said it was too noisy and bad for the child.

But the following year, at the critical moment of his hometown team's relegation battle, his father still lied to his mother and secretly took him to watch that crucial game, and the tickets were bought by his father staying up all night, taking his cotton coat and small stool to wait in line. That year he was four years old, and he witnessed his hometown team defeating their opponent at a critical moment and successfully staying in the top division. At that time, the churning crowd in the entire stadium, the deafening cheers, and the tears on his father's face were all forever imprinted in his heart.

Chinese football, football's enlightenment of him was so profound that he would probably never forget it in his life.

Later, when he was ten years old, his father persuaded his mother and took him to the stands of the Shenyang Wulihe Stadium on October 7, 2001. At that time, he was wearing a slightly larger Chinese national team jersey, a red cloth strip with the words "Victory" written on it tied to his forehead, and a scarf printed with the five-star red flag wrapped around his neck, and he witnessed the most glorious moment in the history of Chinese football with his father.

He was a Chinese, he was a Chinese football player, and since he fell in love with football, "Chinese football" had been inseparable from him, whether as a fan or a player.

Zhou Yi spoke deeply, and Kotana listened with fascination, even forgetting the movements of her hands. It was really the first time she had seen such a serious Zhou Yi—she had seen serious Zhou Yi before, but those "serious" were more or less a performance compared to this "serious." In other words, he was using those "serious" to cover up something, maybe his true thoughts deep in his heart.

But this time, Kotana could clearly feel that Zhou Yi didn't hide anything, nakedly showing his heart to her. His seriousness was sincere.

But this seriousness and sincerity made her feel incredible.

She really didn't know much about Chinese football. The only thing she knew came from German media reports during the Olympics, and if it weren't for the fact that the Chinese Olympic team had Zhou Yi and Yang Muge, two players playing in Germany, the German media would probably be reluctant to mention it.

All her knowledge of Chinese football came from media reports, so she could only know some labels, very superficial impressions.

So she really couldn't understand why Chinese football could suddenly make a twenty-one-year-old boy so profound, like a weathered old man.

However, Zhou Yi didn't continue to be so profound all the time. After he finished speaking, he noticed that Kotana seemed to be in a daze, so he smiled and said, "Maybe China might even meet Germany in Brazil?"

"Be assigned to the same group?"

"Maybe it's the knockout stage."

"Then your road will come to an end." Kotana snorted. Zhou Yi's imagination was big enough.

"Not necessarily, we'll see then, football is round!"

Kotana patted Zhou Yi's foot: "Okay!"

The treatment ended, and the chat also came to an end.