Chapter 1 After Zhou Yi's Golden Globe Award

After Zhou Yi's Golden Globe Award, everyone knew that Zhou Yi had basically killed off Bayern Munich.

Although there were still four or five minutes left in the game, and even if the referee Rizzoli added some injury time, it wouldn't exceed eight minutes—overtime, in principle, doesn't have injury time. At least, the fourth official won't stand by the sideline with a sign, telling everyone how much time is to be added. If there is injury time in overtime, it's entirely up to the referee's discretion. He can add it if he wants, and decide how much time to add. If he doesn't want to, he can blow the whistle to end the game precisely at the 120-minute mark.

So, the opportunities for Bayern Munich weren't many. The time might not be too tight, but considering the current morale and state of the two teams, it was hard to say.

After the game restarted, Dortmund retreated completely. They were leading at this point, and as long as they could hold onto their one-goal lead until the end of the game, they would win.

So, there was no need to continue besieging Bayern Munich's goal. If they allowed the opponent to seize an opportunity for a counterattack and steal a goal, it would be a significant loss.

Zhou Yi was also among those retreating to defend.

Although he was virtually out of strength, positioning himself to intercept passes would force Bayern Munich to slightly adjust their route to avoid him.

On the other side, Klopp had already called Großkreutz over from the bench and asked him to warm up.

This meant he was going to substitute Zhou Yi.

Dortmund's players were also well aware that Zhou Yi's stamina was so depleted that he could barely run. So, in effect, Dortmund was playing with ten men.

But none of Dortmund's players complained about Zhou Yi not running. They were thinking of running more themselves, to make up for the gap left by Zhou Yi.

They had always been taken care of by Zhou Yi. Now it was finally their turn to take care of Zhou Yi.

This made Dortmund's players feel good—in front of Zhou Yi, they were finally useful.

Zhou Yi didn't think so much. He was very moved to see everyone running and defending so desperately.

"One for all, and all for one," pretty much described this scene.

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Bayern Munich, having conceded a goal, launched a fierce offensive against Dortmund's goal. Although their own stamina was also running low, what was the point of conserving energy if they didn't fight now?

But facing the united Dortmund, Bayern Munich didn't have many options.

Their players' stamina wasn't much better than Dortmund's, and might even be worse…

In the 119th minute of the match, Dortmund made their final substitution.

The fourth official held up the substitution board, number twenty-three off, number nineteen on.

Twenty-three was Zhou Yi, and nineteen was Großkreutz.

"Zhou Yi is finally being substituted…" He Ping exhaled, having been worried about Zhou Yi being substituted early since the final stage of the ninety-minute match. But now that Zhou Yi was actually being substituted, he didn't feel any sense of loss. He was more relieved. Zhou Yi had completed his mission, and it was normal and irreproachable for him to be substituted for rest.

"Klopp has used his last substitution, replacing Zhou Yi with Großkreutz! If Dortmund can ultimately achieve victory and win the Champions League, then Zhou Yi will be the biggest contributor! Two goals, one assist, an amazing performance!" Marcel Reif gave Zhou Yi's performance very high praise.

The fans in the stands felt the same way. Dortmund fans all stood up and gave Zhou Yi a warm applause and cheers.

Amidst the cheers and applause, Zhou Yi waved to the fans in the stands as he walked towards the sideline.

He wasn't walking fast, which was normal, because he was exhausted.

But Bayern Munich's players weren't happy. Thomas Müller protested to the referee Rizzoli, complaining that Zhou Yi was walking too slowly, with the suspicion of deliberately delaying the game.

For Bayern Munich at this moment, time was their life. They only needed one goal to return to the human realm. And scoring goals takes time.

If Zhou Yi dragged it out like this, there would be very little time left for them.

Müller ran to complain to the referee, while another Bayern Munich player, Mario Gómez, simply went directly to Zhou Yi to cause trouble. He ran up to Zhou Yi and reminded him that what he was doing wasn't very sporting.

"What's un-sporting about it?" Zhou Yi stopped and retorted to Gómez.

Gómez wanted Zhou Yi to get off the field as soon as possible, but he didn't expect Zhou Yi to stop instead. He was stunned for a moment, then angrily said, "You're deliberately wasting time!"

"How am I wasting time?" Zhou Yi spread his hands, determined to make this clear.

Their argument attracted the attention of others, and they all ran over.

Dortmund players naturally wanted to support Zhou Yi. They would never allow their teammate to be bullied.

Bayern Munich had the same idea.

The players from both sides quickly gathered around Zhou Yi and Gómez.

In the crowd, Zhou Yi continued to question Mario Gómez: "You want me to run off the field. I'm telling you, I can't run anymore. I'm doing well to walk off the field. If you think I'm walking too slowly, get a stretcher to carry me off!"

After saying that, he stood still.

Gómez was also angry. He simply reached out to push Zhou Yi off the field. Zhou Yi stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

This angered Dortmund's players, and they swarmed over, separating Zhou Yi and Gómez. Hummels stood between them, pushing Gómez back with his hand: "What do you want?"

Hummels's actions were seen by Bayern Munich players, and they were naturally furious—bullying people!

So the players from both sides clashed.

The Bayern Munich players, who were behind in the score, were anxious and naturally wanted to vent their anger on Zhou Yi.

But Zhou Yi was surrounded by Dortmund's players, and they couldn't get to Zhou Yi, so they could only find trouble with other Dortmund players, such as Hummels, Şahin, Schmelzer…

Dortmund's players were not to be outdone, protecting Zhou Yi while loudly protesting: "Why are you pushing? Can't you afford to lose!"

In fact, the conflict was more beneficial to Dortmund's players, and they were mostly aware of this. The game time was passing second by second in the conflict, leaving even less time for Bayern Munich.

Of course, they hoped that the conflict would continue.

Heynckes, on the other hand, was stomping his feet anxiously on the sidelines—he knew very well who would benefit more from this situation!

He didn't know if Zhou Yi was deliberately delaying the game, but it was clear that Gómez going up to argue with him had played right into his hands… How could someone as cunning as Zhou Yi not seize every opportunity he could?

If Gómez hadn't gone up, Zhou Yi would have eventually walked off the field, albeit slowly, or like Müller, he could have complained to the referee and let the referee pressure Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi couldn't possibly be unreasonable in front of the referee, could he?

But Gómez had rushed up himself, giving the other side such an opportunity…

Now, it was all wasted in this unnecessary conflict when there was already so little time left.

Utterly foolish!

But at this time, he certainly couldn't criticize his own players. He stood on the sidelines, pressuring the referee, indicating that Zhou Yi was deliberately delaying the game, which was very unsportsmanlike.

Klopp, of course, had to stand up for his players at this time. He roared at the fourth official: "Such an obvious foul! Gómez should be given a red card!"

That was just blatant nonsense… Gómez's action might not even meet the standard for a yellow card, let alone a red card.

But anyway, they were on opposite sides, so there was no need to care what the enemy thought, as long as they vented their emotions.

Klopp's actions naturally caused dissatisfaction from Bayern Munich's side.

Bayern Munich's sporting director, Matthias Sammer, immediately rushed up, trying to argue with Klopp across the fourth official: "What nonsense are you talking about! It's clearly you who are delaying the game first!"

Klopp retorted without backing down: "I'm surprised you can say such nonsense, considering you used to play for Dortmund, Mr. Sammer."

During his playing career, Sammer had spent five years at Dortmund. Dortmund's only Champions League title in history was won when Sammer was there. At that time, Sammer was also a major contributor.

Due to injuries, he retired at Dortmund and became Dortmund's head coach, leading the team to win the league title again in 2002 and reaching the UEFA Cup final, but they lost 2:3 to Feyenoord.

Sammer's time coaching Dortmund was the last glory for Dortmund. After that, Dortmund incurred huge debts, and the team's performance plummeted until Klopp arrived and things turned around.

Sammer had always been a respected and beloved legend by Dortmund fans.

But after he became Bayern Munich's sporting director, many Dortmund fans didn't have such a good impression of him.

Sammer's work in his new role was also very dutiful. When he took office, it was at the most critical moment when Dortmund and Bayern Munich were fighting fiercely over "who is the boss of German football today," and the animosity between the two sides was very strong.

This season, in the most crucial moment of the league title race, Dortmund and Bayern Munich faced each other directly. During the match, Gustavo committed a malicious foul on Zhou Yi, and Sven Bender stood up for Zhou Yi, shoving Gustavo. Sammer rushed out, clamoring and accusing Sven Bender.

His "protecting his master" image was very distinct.

After that match, many Dortmund fans expressed disappointment with Sammer's performance online.

Of course, Sammer himself certainly didn't care what Dortmund people thought of him. The past was like smoke. He was now a Bayern Munich employee, and of course, he had to prioritize Bayern Munich's interests.

This season, with the situation looking great, the league title was snatched away by Dortmund's late surge. Now, seeing the Champions League title also about to fly into Dortmund's hands, it was normal for Sammer to be anxious and angry.

At this moment, he naturally didn't care about the honor of being a contributor to Dortmund's Champions League victory…