Chapter 1 In Everyone's Eyes

Amidst everyone's curious gazes, Zhou Yi followed his Borussia Dortmund teammates out of the player tunnel and onto the Westfalenstadion's pitch.

After a summer of rest, he had finally returned to this stadium. The frenzy of the London Olympics still seemed like yesterday, but now he had to switch modes, from the national team to the club team.

The tactical styles of the two teams were different, the level of his teammates was different, and even the tasks he performed in the team were different. In the national team, he was the captain, responsible not only for leading the team in tactics but also for more of the captain's duties. In Dortmund, his role was relatively simple: the commander on the field, but not the captain. At the very least, he didn't have to do things like tossing a coin to choose sides.

Before the players entered the field, the stadium DJ, Norbert Dickel, introduced the players in the starting lineup. When he called out Zhou Yi's name, the home fans responded with the loudest cheers, which said a lot about Zhou Yi's position in the hearts of Dortmund fans.

After Shinji Kagawa left the team, rumors about Zhou Yi's transfer were rampant, but Zhou Yi took the initiative to say that he wanted to stay, which earned him a high reputation among Dortmund fans.

"Zhou Yi! Starting in this game is somewhat unexpected. Let's see how he performs in this game!" said Marcel Reif, the commentator for German television, when Zhou Yi's close-up appeared on the TV screen.

The reporters in the press box also focused their attention on him, wanting to see his performance in the game as well.

Dortmund's opponent in this game was Werder Bremen. Last season, Werder Bremen ranked ninth in the league. This summer, their main striker, Claudio Pizarro, transferred to Bayern Munich, Markus Rosenberg went to West Bromwich Albion, Marko Marin transferred to Chelsea, Naldo went to Wolfsburg, and goalkeeper Tim Wiese went to Hoffenheim. These transfers had a great impact on Werder Bremen.

For example, striker Pizarro, as the team's main striker last season, contributed twenty-five goals to the team with Rosenberg. Now that these two main strikers are gone, only Petersen, on loan from Bayern Munich, has the strength to take on the starting position in Werder Bremen's front line.

Midfield general Marin was not in good form last season. They had originally hoped that he would regain his form this season, but he was poached by Chelsea. Goalkeeper Wiese, who performed well last season, also transferred to Hoffenheim as a free agent. So the current lineup is actually worse than last season. Werder Bremen's performance last season was a failure, let alone this season.

Before the season, the German media believed that Werder Bremen's main goal this season was not to compete for Champions League qualification or Europa League qualification, but to avoid relegation...

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At the start of the game, Dortmund took the initiative by virtue of their home advantage, which did not surprise anyone. After all, even without Zhou Yi, the gap in strength between Dortmund and Werder Bremen was very large, and Werder Bremen basically had no strength to challenge Dortmund away from home.

Everyone was mainly watching Zhou Yi.

From the position on the field, Zhou Yi was still in the defensive midfielder position, and he and Gundogan were almost on the same line.

However, Dortmund was not playing with two defensive midfielders in this game, but with three defensive midfielders - Zhou Yi, Gundogan, and the old captain Kehl, who replaced the injured Sven Bender in the starting lineup.

On the two wings were Götze and Reus.

Robert Lewandowski was at the forefront as a single arrow.

The number of midfielders was the same as last season, five, but there was no attacking midfielder.

Did Dortmund no longer need an attacking midfielder?

It's not impossible not to have an attacking midfielder. In fact, there are fewer and fewer attacking midfielders who organize attacks now... More and more attacking midfielders are like shadow strikers, responsible for scoring goals, while the task of organizing attacks is handed over to the defensive midfielders or central midfielders who are positioned further back.

Soon everyone could see how Zhou Yi was moving.

In the absence of Shinji Kagawa, the space in front of him was relatively empty, with no one blocking him, so when Dortmund attacked, he would move forward, taking the position of an attacking midfielder.

Before Shinji Kagawa came to Dortmund, Zhou Yi played in almost the same position in the season he became famous.

It's just that it's slightly different now than it was then. Zhou Yi's position is not fixed in the front and back. He changes his position at any time according to the situation on the field. Compared to the season when he debuted at Dortmund, he plays more flexibly, but the principle remains the same. This kind of play is not unfamiliar to Zhou Yi.

"...So that's how it is. When Shinji Kagawa came, he occupied Zhou Yi's position. After he left, the position that originally belonged to Zhou Yi returned to Zhou Yi's feet, so his adaptation time must be shorter than most people think..." Marcel Reif analyzed.

This was something that many people hadn't thought of before. Everyone was thinking about the departure of one person and the arrival of a new person, the lineup has changed, and it needs to be re-adapted. But they didn't expect that Klopp would go back to the old way...

In fact, this was not just Klopp's idea. He did it after asking Zhou Yi.

When Zhou Yi confirmed that he would not be able to participate in the training camp due to the Olympics, Klopp called Zhou Yi in London, and the two chatted on the phone for about forty minutes. Finally, this plan was decided.

Zhou Yi told Klopp not to worry about the problem that he could not cooperate with the team because he was absent from the pre-season training camp. Of course, he couldn't say that it was because he had a virtual system that could be used to train with Dortmund players in the virtual system. He just proposed an idea, saying that whether he was playing as a defensive midfielder or an attacking midfielder, what he did was the same: linking the past and the future, and organizing the attack.

And the Dortmund team was already used to cooperating with him, so there was actually no change, and the team and him could adapt quickly.

After weighing it, Klopp decided to adopt the current style of play.

When Zhou Yi finished the Olympics and returned to the team, Klopp arranged for Zhou Yi to join the team and play an internal teaching match with the youth team. The result was naturally a surprise to him.

The reason for the surprise was that Zhou Yi really didn't have an adaptation period, and he didn't look unfamiliar. The team and him were also very compatible. Except for Zhou Yi's general state due to some fatigue, it was really impossible to tell that he was a player who had not participated in the pre-season training camp...

Zhou Yi's performance strengthened Klopp's confidence. At the same time, he also asked Zhou Yi to concentrate on physical recovery training and physical reserve training in the next twenty days to lay a good foundation for the upcoming new season.

Because there was enough time for physical training, Zhou Yi's physical fitness was not as bad as the outside world thought.

This is reflected on the field, that is, Zhou Yi's personal impression looks no different from the past...

The football was constantly passed to Zhou Yi's feet from different directions. After Zhou Yi's processing, it was passed to different directions. He kept running on the field, from one place to another, and participated in the team's attack throughout the whole process.

Appearing wherever he was needed.

After his combing, Dortmund's attack progressed very smoothly.

In the eleventh minute, he orchestrated an attack in the midfield. After three passes, he passed the ball to Reus. After receiving the ball, Reus shot from the edge of the penalty area, and the ball flew into Werder Bremen's goal.

Dortmund took a 1-0 lead!

Reus also completed his first league goal after returning to Dortmund.

Reus was very excited after scoring the goal. He ran to the south stand and waved his fists at the fans in the south stand.

The fans in the south stand responded with the most enthusiastic cheers.

"Reus! Beautiful!" Marcel Reif shouted excitedly. "He scored in just eleven minutes! And this is his first league goal for Dortmund! There's really no better start than this!"

Zhou Yi, who assisted Reus, ran to celebrate the goal with his teammates, and then Götze pulled Zhou Yi in front of Reus and said with a smile, "Hey, Marco, this is the 'Zhou Yi Welcome Ceremony' I told you about!"

"Thank you, Zhou Yi!" Reus hugged him and shouted.

"Hey, what are you guys saying behind my back?" Zhou Yi asked strangely.

"No, no, we're praising you." Götze waved his hands repeatedly.

When the pre-season training camp had just started, Reus was a little uneasy about returning to Dortmund. After all, he had left the team when he was very young, and when he returned, Dortmund had already won the Bundesliga title for two consecutive seasons. As a traveler who had been away from home for many years, it was inevitable that he would be a little nervous when he returned to his hometown. He didn't know if he could satisfy the Dortmund fans in the south stand.

As his good friend, Götze comforted him. In order to reassure him, he also said a term that Reus was very unfamiliar with, called "Zhou Yi's Welcome Ceremony."

That is to say, those players who have just joined the team, or who have recovered from injuries and need to build confidence, will be taken care of by Zhou Yi in the game. Generally, this kind of care will be reflected in Zhou Yi's meticulous nanny assists.

Shinji Kagawa was assisted by Zhou Yi to score a goal in his first game after recovering from injury.

And what's even more magical is that even if Zhou Yi can't play, he can use mysterious Eastern witchcraft to help his teammates score goals.

For example, when Barrios transferred to Dortmund and didn't score for several consecutive rounds, and was criticized and pressured, it was Zhou Yi's prediction that allowed Barrios to break the goal drought and become unstoppable... In the end, that season, Barrios became the Bundesliga's top scorer, and Zhou Yi made a great contribution...

Reus felt very magical. He had heard of Zhou Yi's nickname of "Wizard", and he also roughly knew what it was all about, but he thought that it should all be gimmicks created by reporters to attract attention. But listening to Götze saying it seriously, could it be true?

Götze saw that Reus didn't quite believe it, so he told him to wait and verify it himself.

Sure enough, in this first league game, Reus was assisted by Zhou Yi to score a goal...

At that time, Zhou Yi's pass was indeed very comfortable. Reus almost didn't need any extra adjustments. The ball happened to be at his most skilled right foot, and he could shoot directly without switching to the other side. This is a detail that he wouldn't think too much about when shooting, but after recalling it after scoring the goal, especially after thinking about what Götze said, Reus had to believe that this was really "Zhou Yi's Welcome Ceremony"...

It seemed that he had considered everything for the receiving player when passing the ball, so that the receiving player could minimize the connecting action after receiving the ball, and win more time and space for the receiving player.

Reus had never fought alongside Zhou Yi before. He had only faced him a few times as an opponent, but being an opponent and being a teammate were completely different experiences. At least, as an opponent, he couldn't understand the mysteries hidden in Zhou Yi's seemingly ordinary passes...

While thanking Zhou Yi, his eyes towards Zhou Yi were full of... adoration for some unknown mysterious existence.

As expected of the "Wizard"!

The simple Reus could never have imagined that Zhou Yi had already trained with him many times in the virtual space, and he knew his characteristics like the back of his hand. It was like they had been playing football together since they were kids, so it was not surprising at all that he could send such a pass...