After the match, Zhou Yi was surrounded by reporters, a fitting tribute to the Man of the Match.

When asked if the away victory over Real Madrid was somewhat unexpected, Zhou Yi nodded. "It was a bit, yeah. We initially thought a draw would be a good result. But I think winning in the end is still normal, after all, we have the strength to do so. The gap between us and Real Madrid isn't so big that they can win just because they're at home. It's normal to have wins and losses between us. Our recent form has been really good."

It wasn't exactly modest, but no one would accuse him of arrogance for saying so. He was the Man of the Match; he had earned the right to say it.

A reporter asked Zhou Yi to predict Dortmund's performance in the Champions League this season. Zhou Yi shook his head repeatedly. "I'm no soothsayer, how can I predict something like that? I can only say that we will give our all and strive to go further in this competition..."

"Further than last season?" the reporter pressed.

"If possible, why not?" Zhou Yi replied, watertight.

"Sun Pan had dinner with you before the game. Did you discuss Real Madrid, and did he provide you with any information about them?" Chinese reporters were most interested in the interaction between the two Chinese players.

Zhou Yi laughed. "His biggest help to me was buying me dinner. Winning this game is thanks to his generosity, haha!"

※※※

Although Zhou Yi said it was normal for Dortmund to beat Real Madrid away, many people considered the result quite surprising. Everyone thought Mourinho's Real Madrid was very strong, and after two seasons of settling in, this season was when they would finally achieve results. The team had already won the Copa del Rey and the league title, and only a Champions League title was missing. Everyone hoped that Mourinho could repeat his success at Inter Milan at Real Madrid.

Therefore, everyone had high hopes for Real Madrid's performance in the Champions League this season.

In fact, Real Madrid was indeed very strong, but unexpectedly, in the crucial matches in their group, Real Madrid was defeated, losing both home and away to Dortmund!

This result was truly unexpected by many. Firstly, they didn't expect Dortmund to be so strong, and secondly, they didn't expect Real Madrid to fail to put on a convincing performance at home.

It seemed that this group of death was not living up to its name, as the strength of the four teams was not that similar.

After the match, the Madrid media reported that Mourinho was facing a crisis of confidence, saying that Florentino was considering replacing him. Other media reported on the internal conflicts within Real Madrid, saying that there was constant infighting between player factions...

In short, when you win, there are no problems. When you lose, everything is a problem.

Leaving Real Madrid with a mess, the entire Dortmund team returned to Germany with victory and the joy of qualifying from the group in advance.

In another group match held at the same time, Manchester City was held to a 2-2 draw by Ajax at home.

This result meant that Dortmund, with twelve points from four wins, had qualified from the group in advance, because Ajax, in third place, only had four points, and with two group matches remaining, it was impossible for them to surpass Dortmund's points. Dortmund thus qualified from the group of death in advance. The "group of death," which was supposed to be a difficult and unpredictable battle until the last round, had turned into a "heavenly journey" for Dortmund...

Moreover, they had not only qualified from the group in advance, but had also secured the top spot in the group. Because with four wins from four matches, Dortmund had twelve points, while Real Madrid had six points from two wins and two losses. In the last two group matches, even if Dortmund lost both and Real Madrid won both, the two teams would have the same number of points. However, based on the head-to-head record between the two teams, Dortmund completely suppressed Real Madrid, winning both matches against them. Therefore, even if the two teams had the same number of points, Dortmund would still be ranked ahead of Real Madrid.

So this also meant that no matter what happened in the last two rounds, Dortmund would be the top team in the group.

In the next two Champions League group matches, Klopp could completely afford to not take them too seriously, and instead focus his energy on the domestic league, to fully chase after Bayern Munich, who had nine wins and one loss in ten league matches.

Thanks to Bayer Leverkusen, they had handed Bayern Munich their only defeat so far this season.

This had somewhat affected Bayern Munich's pace on their march to the championship.

Now, after ten rounds of league matches, they had twenty-seven points from nine wins and one loss, while Dortmund had twenty-three points from seven wins, two draws, and one loss.

A gap of four points was not an insurmountable chasm.

Qualifying for the Champions League group stage with two rounds to spare had done Dortmund a great favor. If they had to fight with the other three opponents in the group of death until the last round, they might have had to give up some matches, and the mentality of the entire team would have changed. They would definitely have been more concerned about qualifying for the Champions League than the outcome of a single match in the league.

※※※

On the afternoon of November 10th, Dortmund faced Augsburg away.

In this match, Klopp rotated the squad, replacing some of the key players who had fought to the death against Real Madrid in midweek, but Zhou Yi was not rotated.

He still went to the away game and helped the team beat Augsburg 3-1.

He was substituted by Klopp in the sixty-sixth minute, and completed an assist in the match.

The following days were originally going to be a severe test for Zhou Yi.

Because he would have to travel back and forth over ten thousand kilometers in a week.

After playing the match against Augsburg, he and Yang Muge would depart from Germany the next day and rush back to China to participate in the World Cup qualifier Asian Top Ten match between China and Qatar on November 14th.

After playing this match, he would have to set off immediately to fly back to Germany to participate in Dortmund's Bundesliga match against Greuther Fürth on November 17th.

Three matches of a high level of play in one week, traversing three locations covering more than ten thousand kilometers, would be a severe test for any player's physiology.

But now, Zhou Yi didn't have to go through such trouble, and Klopp didn't have to worry about him losing this key player that he absolutely couldn't afford to lose.

Because previously, the Chinese team had already informed the Dortmund club that the Chinese national team would not be calling up Zhou Yi to participate in the World Cup qualifier against Qatar at home.

The same notification was also sent to Schalke 04, Atlético Madrid, and Cesena.

They were all told that they would not be calling up the Chinese internationals in their teams to participate in the match against Qatar.

This certainly relieved these clubs, but at the same time, they were also somewhat puzzled—why was the Chinese team being so understanding this time?

They were all involved in football, and they had previously been in contact with the Chinese team and the Chinese Football Association, so they naturally knew how important World Cup qualification was to this country.

The clubs had already mentally prepared themselves for the loss of key players, but they couldn't help but complain about this stupid schedule—after all, at this time, no national team matches were arranged anywhere in the world except in Asia, and the European leagues did not have to make way for national team matches, but were proceeding as normal. Club teams had not considered being affected by national team matches at this time at all.

But Asia, arranged such a World Cup qualifier on a date that was not an international A-level match day, how could any European club accept this?

These people were all key players in their respective teams, and who would want their starting lineup to be injured for no reason? Moreover, it wasn't just one match that was affected. Such continuous long-distance travel in such a short period of time would have a great impact on the players' physical condition and form. After all, they still had to deal with jet lag.

In fact, the European clubs didn't quite understand the meaning of the Chinese team calling these players back, without even any preparation time, to play such a match. The players hadn't even recovered from the jet lag before going on the field, so how well could they perform? They would have completed their mission if they didn't get injured...

But now, the Chinese team announced that they would not be calling up Zhou Yi, Sun Pan, Yang Muge, and Guo Nu, these four overseas players, to participate in the World Cup qualifiers.

This worry no longer existed, but the clubs began to wonder why the Chinese team wasn't calling people up—they couldn't understand calling up players, and now that they weren't calling up players, they still couldn't understand...

※※※

He Ying was the only player who was called back to participate in the national team match. He even returned to China a week early to prepare for the match.

Because at Barcelona, he still couldn't get into the team. Since he couldn't get into the team, what was the point of staying there? He simply applied to return to China early to prepare for the national team match. Barcelona was quite understanding, or rather, they didn't value He Ying very much at all, and they agreed as soon as he applied.

He Ying couldn't get into the team at Barcelona now, but he had a good attitude. He no longer felt anxious or resentful about it.

At Barcelona, he focused on training and saved his form for the national team matches.

As for the future? He would decide in January.