Actually, during halftime, while Klopp was instructing his team to launch an all-out attack in the second half, Mancini was telling his players to resist the urge to swarm forward immediately after the restart. He wanted them to solidify their defense and play on the counter-attack against Dortmund.

His theory was the same as Klopp's—a one-goal lead wasn't safe. Klopp would certainly have his team score early in the second half, turning 1-0 into 2-0. That would be Manchester City's opportunity. Their chances of scoring on a counter-attack against Dortmund were better than going head-to-head in a positional battle, right?

So, as the second half began, everyone associated with Manchester City, including Mancini, was waiting for Dortmund to attack.

But when the second half actually started, things didn't go as they expected.

Dortmund kicked off the second half, and Mancini believed they would use this opportunity to launch a fierce attack on Manchester City's goal. This would be the perfect chance for Manchester City to counter-attack.

Instead, Dortmund's attack ended quickly, and they gave possession back to Manchester City. What were they doing?

They retreated!

※※※

On the sidelines, Dortmund's assistant coach, Željko Buvač, was surprised to see Dortmund not taking full advantage of the kickoff to pressure Manchester City's goal. "Why did the attack end so quickly? It was too hasty! This doesn't align with our plan..."

Klopp stroked his chin and remained silent.

Of course, it didn't align with their plan, because it wasn't the coaching staff's plan at all. He realized that Zhou Yi was "taking matters into his own hands" again.

Normally, a player disregarding the coach's instructions and acting on their own would infuriate the coach. It would be seen as a challenge to the coach's authority.

But Klopp didn't see it that way with Zhou Yi.

This wasn't the first time Zhou Yi had adjusted his tactical arrangements during a match, and each time, the results were better than he had anticipated.

So, what reason did he have to blame him?

There's a famous saying in football: "Victory can cover everything."

If you can win, there's no need to change anything. Victory is everything.

Therefore, if Zhou Yi's on-the-fly adjustments could bring victory to the team, Klopp was happy to see it happen.

Besides, Zhou Yi was a player, and he was closer to the action than Klopp, the head coach. He would get all the information firsthand, make the most direct judgments, and his decisions were often faster and more accurate than the coach's, which was perfectly normal.

Of course, not every decision made by a player on the front lines is correct. In intense matches, players don't have much time to think and analyze the situation. They often have to rely on instinct...

But Zhou Yi was an exception. Klopp trusted his decisions, so he gave him the greatest possible authority.

When a general is in the field, he may disregard the emperor's commands.

※※※

Because Manchester City wanted Dortmund to attack, their formation was relatively deep.

But Dortmund didn't attack, and their formation also remained deep.

This created a strange situation on the field—both sides stayed in their own half, unwilling to press forward easily.

After Dortmund ended their attack and possession returned to Manchester City, the Citizens didn't dare commit too many players to the attack. They were afraid that if they pressed forward, they would give Dortmund a chance to counter-attack.

So, Manchester City committed a pitifully small number of players to the attack and didn't bother to organize properly. After getting into the attacking third, the ball fell to Agüero. The Argentinian saw that there was no support around him and simply decided to go it alone.

His solo effort didn't earn Manchester City a goal. Instead, he easily lost the ball under pressure from Dortmund's players.

But Manchester City didn't need to worry, because most of their players hadn't gone forward at all, so they didn't have to worry about Dortmund exploiting the space behind them after they lost the ball.

After gaining possession, Dortmund quickly launched an attack, getting the ball into Manchester City's half. Facing Manchester City's defense, they didn't seem to have any great ideas. After a series of simple passes, Lewandowski ended the attack with a long shot from outside the box.

Dortmund's performance made Manchester City glad that they hadn't pressed forward en masse. Instead, they had been wary of Dortmund's fierce attack from the beginning. Because they were well-prepared, Dortmund's attacks came to nothing.

If they had pressed forward earlier, their goal might have already been breached...

But as far as the fans were concerned, this period after the start of the second half was truly... well, "ugly."

Neither team was playing high-quality attacking football, and neither showed much patience. Instead of intricate tactical plays, they often chose to end attacks with simple, crude long shots or crosses from the wings.

Who wants to watch that kind of game?

But both teams were playing that way.

The commentators could see it too. He Ping said that both sides were surprisingly conservative and cautious after the start of the second half. The game wasn't exciting enough, which wasn't fair to the Chinese fans who were staying up late to watch...

Marcel Reif thought that Manchester City's performance at home was abnormal. After all, they were the ones trailing, so why weren't they committing more players to the attack?

Mark Lawrenson also thought that Mancini's choices weren't "brave" enough. Tactical arrangements were all well and good, but as the home team, shouldn't they also consider the kind of momentum they should have as the home team?

In fact, this kind of game wasn't just unappealing to the audience, it was also unpleasant for the players themselves.

Especially the Manchester City players, who were playing at home. There were more fans supporting them. Did their defensive performance do justice to the Manchester City fans who were there to support them?

Some Manchester City fans in the stands were already expressing their dissatisfaction with the team's performance with boos—this is our home ground, what are you afraid of!

The TV broadcast showed a close-up of Mancini, standing on the sidelines with a frown.

At the beginning of the second half, Mancini felt that his adjustments were correct and effective, because Dortmund clearly didn't have many good ways to attack when facing Manchester City's dense defense. They could only choose low-skill attacking methods.

But now he felt that things weren't as he had imagined—Dortmund probably didn't lack good ways to attack Manchester City's defense, but simply wasn't planning to attack at all...

Dortmund was more shameless than he had thought, actually planning to hold on to their 1-0 lead!

Logically, under these circumstances, Manchester City should take the initiative to press forward and create some threats for Dortmund, to make them understand that defending to the death wouldn't work.

But Mancini didn't want to do that.

Because he knew that in this kind of situation, it was a contest of who had more patience.

He believed that he should be more patient than his opponent.

But after another six minutes passed, Mancini sighed—he was certain that if he didn't take the initiative to put some pressure on Dortmund, they really would dare to huddle in their own half and finish the game. They didn't care whether the game was entertaining or not. They were the ones in the lead, and they wouldn't care about the boos from the stands, because they were the away team and didn't have the pressure from the stands that the home team had to face.

Would Dortmund feel guilty for playing poorly?

Of course not!

This wasn't a team whose goal was to pursue "beautiful football." Results were more important than anything else.

So, if they could win against Manchester City by playing this way, why wouldn't they?

But Manchester City couldn't accept this result, so in the end, Manchester City had to take the initiative to change the game.

So, with a wave of his hand, Mancini sent Manchester City out to attack.

In fact, the Manchester City players also wanted to attack. They were already fed up with playing so defensively.

Now, seeing the coach's adjustments, they pounced on Dortmund's goal like tigers descending from the mountains.

Seeing that Manchester City had clearly strengthened their attack, increased the number of players involved in the attack, and raised their morale, the Manchester City fans in the stands were overjoyed and cheered loudly for their team.

For a time, with the cheers of their home fans, Manchester City's attack was swift and their morale was soaring. It seemed that they could break through Dortmund's goal at any moment, equalize the score, and then reverse the situation to win. A bright future was just ahead!