Chapter 118 Jubilation

As Zhou Yi shot the football into the goal, the commentary box erupted.

He Ping was hoarsely repeating Zhou Yi's name.

And Marcel Reif was not much better: "tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor!!!! tor! tor! tor!! Zhou--Yi-----!!!!"

The Spanish TV commentator was also excited: "goooooooooooooooooL!!! gooooooooooooL!!! goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooL!!!"

The British commentator launched into an endless mode: "Zhou Yi! It's Zhou Yi! The one hundred and sixteenth minute of the match! Zhou Yi once again kills Bayern Munich!! Just think back to that showdown between Dortmund and Bayern Munich in the league, it was also Zhou Yi's goal in the final moments that snatched the league title from Bayern Munich! And now, he will once again snatch the Champions League title from Bayern Munich! Truly worthy of being the 'Bayern Munich Killer'!"

At this time, everyone was too late to say how beautiful the goal was, but focused on highlighting the importance of the goal. A goal that killed the opponent, even a lucky push into an empty net, was worth being treated like this.

Just when everyone thought they were going to go to a penalty shootout, Zhou Yi's goal shocked everyone!

A penalty shootout was certainly exciting, but a sudden death was even more exciting!

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After scoring, Zhou Yi fell to the ground. He struggled to his feet and ran towards the corner flag. Lewandowski behind him originally wanted to hug him, but slipped and didn't stop Zhou Yi.

However, Zhou Yi was still stopped by other Dortmund teammates—Reus rushed up from the side and directly knocked Zhou Yi to the ground, then piled on top of him.

More Dortmund players arrived and formed a human pyramid.

They cheered and jumped, then piled on top of Zhou Yi.

Everyone was excited, not only the players on the field, but also Klopp and his staff in front of the coach's bench.

The Dortmund coach was originally squatting on the ground, one hand on the ground, the other hand pinching his chin, nervously staring at the field.

When Zhou Yi shot the football into the goal, he jumped up, raised his arms and rushed out, then jumped excitedly in the air, waving his fists.

After landing, he put his hands on his hips and laughed at the sky.

This shot was taken by the photojournalists and became a symbolic shot to report on the game after the match.

Klopp in the lens smiled very happily, and that hearty smile could not be faked.

Some media commented after the game: "...Klopp's smile was as if he had the whole world under his feet..."

That was so appropriate.

This kind of smile not only appeared on Klopp's face, but also on the faces of almost all Dortmund fans.

They laughed heartily, and at this time, they were the happiest people in the world.

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The TV screen was replaying Zhou Yi's goal just now, and the commentators, after the excitement, had time to talk to everyone about the goal.

"...It's already amazing to be able to score a sudden death goal in such an important Champions League final, but what's even more amazing is that this sudden death goal is so beautiful!" Marcel Reif gave Zhou Yi's goal a very high evaluation. "This goal alone has the strength to compete for the annual Puskas Award!"

The Puskas Award is an award established by FIFA specifically to reward the most exciting goal of the past year. The selection criteria only look at whether the goal is exciting and beautiful, and has nothing to do with the importance of the goal or the popularity of the goal scorer.

So this selection is a great test of the excitement of the goal itself.

Marcel Reif said this to highlight Zhou Yi's brilliant goal.

The German commentators were already praising at a high level, but He Ping was even more unscrupulous when praising Zhou Yi: "This is not only the best goal of the Champions League this season, but I think it can also compete for the best goal in Champions League history!"

Prior to this, UEFA's best goal in Champions League history came from the 2002 Champions League final, Real Madrid against Leverkusen, in which Real Madrid's left-back Roberto Carlos made a cross from the side that wasn't very good, and the football was passed high into the penalty area.

Zidane swung his foot and shot on the spot. It was a very difficult volley. Zidane's foot was almost raised to his chest. With such a difficult volley, Zidane still hit it very accurately, and the football went into the goal.

This goal helped Real Madrid lead Leverkusen 2:1, and the final score of that game was also 2:1.

In this way, this goal of "flying from the sky" became a classic and was eventually selected as the best goal in Champions League history.

In terms of importance, both were winning goals in the final, and Zhou Yi's goal was closer to the end of the game, with a sudden death meaning in it.

In terms of viewing, Zhou Yi's goal was no less beautiful than Zidane's. Both goals were beautiful, but beautiful in different ways.

In terms of difficulty, Zidane's high-leg volley was extremely difficult, but Zhou Yi's two consecutive flicks, one of which was a back-to-the-back flick, and finally unloading the ball downward, were also extremely difficult.

So He Ping's saying that Zhou Yi's goal can be compared with Zidane's "flying from the sky" is not really him praising his country's players unscrupulously.

To say that Zhou Yi's goal is inferior to Zidane's, it may mainly be due to the fame and status of the players.

Before "flying from the sky," Zidane had already scored twice in the World Cup final, helping France win the大力神杯 (Dali Shen Bei, World Cup) for the first time in history, and won the World Footballer of the Year and the European Golden Globe Award as the world's top player.

Although Zhou Yi has performed very well in the Bundesliga and the Champions League, he still has a considerable distance from Zidane in terms of personal honors. In terms of football status, he is not as good as Zidane was back then.

But after watching Zhou Yi's performance in the league and the Champions League this season, would anyone doubt his future? I am afraid many people are thinking—this kid will become a master like Zidane sooner or later!

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With his back to Javi Martínez, Zhou Yi flicked the football behind him with his left ankle.

Then he turned around and chased the football, and at the same time flicked the football over Boateng's head with his left foot again.

Then he chased the football again, and facing Neuer, who was rushing over like a fierce tiger descending the mountain, he calmly unloaded the ball,甩开了 (shuai kai le, shook off) Neuer and Lahm.

Finally, he successfully hit an empty goal.

This goal was replayed on TV no less than five times, showing it from different angles.

The viewers in front of the TV were stunned and exclaimed again and again.

At the last moment of the game, using such calm and precise footwork to handle the football in the大禁区 (da jin qu, penalty area) was really like a work of art.

In the face of this goal, the game itself seemed not so important.

Dortmund's players finally ended their celebration and returned to their own half, surrounding Zhou Yi.

The crazy commentary on the commentary box finally stopped a little. He Ping saw someone in the commentary box in front of him turn around and give him a thumbs up.

Then someone patted him on the shoulder again. He looked back and it was a commentator from behind, with a big beard and a smile on his face, giving him a thumbs up and saying "厲害 (li hai, awesome)" with his mouth.

At this moment, a surge of emotion suddenly came to He Ping's mind, making his nose tingle.

He was a commentator from China, and this was not the first time he had commentated on a game live. He had commentated on the World Cup, Champions League, and La Liga live.

He was also a battle-tested "veteran," what hadn't he experienced?

But today he experienced his "first time" since entering the industry.

For the first time, he received approving glances and thumbs-up praise from his counterparts in other countries in the commentary box.

Of course, he knew that these praises were not for him. He had not shown the qualities that would convince the other party in his commentary work.

The reason why these commentators treated him like this was simply because Zhou Yi's outstanding performance moved them. They couldn't directly send their respect to Zhou Yi, so they transferred this respect to him.

He was able to enjoy such treatment simply because he, like Zhou Yi, came from China.

At this moment, He Ping's understanding of "China" was extremely profound.

Everyone always hears such a sentence: "When you are abroad, you should pay attention to your words and deeds, and don't lose face for us Chinese people." This sentence has become a routine "cliché" without any practical significance. Many people listen to it and then forget about it, and don't even think about it.

But now, He Ping can fully understand why every Chinese person who goes abroad represents his country, and how their words and deeds affect the specific concept of "Chinese people" in foreigners' minds.

Zhou Yi "winning glory for the country" abroad is definitely not a simple, empty, and unfeeling slogan, but a real and solid way to win glory for "China."

He Ping was extremely proud.

But he did not let his emotional fluctuations affect the commentary, and he continued his commentary work.

Playing well is Zhou Yi's job, and commentating well on a game is also the job of him, the commentator.

If there was anything he could do, it was to continue to do his job well.