Chapter 758 The First Goal of the Game

The fifteen-minute half-time break passed in heated discussions and praise for Zhou Yi.

Both teams reappeared on the field with the same lineups as in the first half, with no substitutions.

There were no tactical adjustments either.

Neither team switched to a defensive counter-attack strategy in the second half just because the other had played attacking football in the first.

It was still an all-out attack.

An unreserved all-out attack.

Borussia Dortmund’s coach, Klopp, was a very strong-willed coach, so it was not surprising that he would make such an arrangement.

But Heynckes was clearly a seasoned and prudent coach, so why was he acting like a hot-blooded young man?

For Heynckes, he had been entangled with Borussia Dortmund for two seasons in his two seasons coaching Bayern Munich.

During these two seasons, he had tried everything possible to defeat Borussia Dortmund, and had experimented with many tactics.

After so much experimentation, no tactic could be considered effective.

So, before the Champions League final, it was almost impossible to come up with any unexpected tactics to catch them off guard.

Since that was the case, why bother with tactical adjustments?

It was better to simply attack Borussia Dortmund head-on, abandon all the conspiracies and tricks, and see whose attacking firepower was sharper and fiercer.

This approach was also very much to the liking of the Bayern Munich players—we, the mighty Bayern Munich, will face our arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund head-on! Only by winning against them in this way can we convince them!

The first half was lively, with frequent alarms on the defensive lines.

Heynckes turned a blind eye to this and continued to demand that the players strengthen their attack in the second half and constantly put pressure on Borussia Dortmund. He told his players to believe in themselves, that their attacking firepower would definitely not lose to Borussia Dortmund, and would even be stronger!

This greatly boosted the morale and confidence of the entire Bayern Munich team.

So, at the beginning of the second half, Bayern Munich used their powerful attacking firepower to slowly gain the upper hand.

In the fifty-fifth minute, Bayern Munich had a corner kick opportunity.

Robben took the corner kick, and Javi Martinez headed the ball on at the near post, followed by Mandzukic heading it towards the goal at the far post!

But perhaps Martinez's header surprised Mandzukic, as the ball lacked power and was easily caught by Weidenfeller.

Just one minute later, Bayern Munich came back again.

Borussia Dortmund launched an attack, but it was intercepted in front of Bayern Munich's thirty-meter area. The ball fell to the center circle and was received by Robben.

The "Little Flying Man" dribbled forward, and the Borussia Dortmund players were very wary of Robben's speed. They dared not rush in to tackle him, fearing that Robben would pierce through them with a single dribble.

So, despite having five players on the defensive line, no one dared to come up and challenge Robben. They could only retreat and retreat, hoping to compress Robben's sprinting space. When there was no space behind them for Robben to use his speed advantage, the threat of this attack would be minimized.

But Robben was not a fool. It was impossible for him to dribble all the way to the end like this—although he usually did, this was his Champions League final for self-redemption, so he had to make some changes.

So, just as he entered Borussia Dortmund's thirty-meter area, he passed the ball to Ribery, who was supporting him on the wing.

After receiving the ball, Ribery immediately became the focus of Borussia Dortmund's defense.

He did not pass the ball out immediately, but instead dribbled towards the baseline, seemingly trying to break through directly on the wing.

This action naturally attracted the attention of the Borussia Dortmund defenders.

Piszczek guarded the inside line to prevent Ribery from breaking through.

But Ribery, after feinting to go down the baseline, suddenly stopped abruptly and cut inside towards the center!

This action completely attracted Borussia Dortmund's defensive attention, and the Borussia Dortmund defenders rushed towards Ribery.

Piszczek, Subotic, and Hummels all rushed up, blocking Ribery's path!

At this moment, everyone's eyes were on Ribery, completely ignoring everyone else.

But Ribery didn't. After dribbling laterally, he suddenly pushed the ball out with his right foot, not towards the center, but towards the penalty area, behind the Borussia Dortmund defense!

There was still an opening there!

Robben rushed into the penalty area like a red lightning bolt and received the ball!

When Piszczek turned his head and saw Robben receiving the ball, he raised his arm, indicating that the Dutchman was offside.

But the referee Rizzoli ignored him because he could see clearly that Robben was definitely not offside!

"This is a good ball! Bayern Munich's chance!"

Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Weidenfeller decisively abandoned his goal and attacked before Robben had even received the ball.

He knew there was still room for salvage.

Robben was now facing the side of the goal. He could not shoot directly, he would definitely have to adjust. And he could take advantage of his adjustment to force him to the baseline, so that he lost the shooting angle... As long as Robben could not shoot, this defense could be considered successful.

Everyone knew that Robben was very selfish. When he got the ball in front of the goal, he almost never wanted to pass it out. He would definitely end this attack with a shot. If he scored, he would cheer, and if he didn't, he would sigh.

In fact, Weidenfeller's defensive strategy was almost successful.

After receiving the ball, Robben really had no way to shoot directly. Weidenfeller had already forced his way to his side. If he forced a shot now, there was a high probability that he would hit Weidenfeller's body for the third time, and then waste another excellent one-on-one opportunity.

So Robben didn't shoot, but instead dribbled the ball diagonally towards the baseline. Weidenfeller followed closely, continuing to block his shooting angle.

Seeing Robben choose to dribble the ball towards the baseline, Marcel Reif called out in disappointment: "No shot!"

He Ping also felt that Robben's choice was questionable: "Too much dribbling!"

Seeing that the ball was about to be dribbled out of the baseline by Robben, Weidenfeller was confident of victory!

Then Robben took a stride forward, and before the ball went out of the baseline, he turned halfway and kicked the ball towards the goal with his left foot!

Not a shot, but... a cross!

At this moment, Robben, who had been cutting inside and shooting on the right, seemed to have become the flying left winger he was at Chelsea!

Weidenfeller saw that Robben was actually crossing, and quickly stretched out his leg to block it.

But he failed. The ball brushed past him and rolled towards the empty space in front of the goal!

Sven Bender, who had returned to the goal, watched the ball fly over, braked hard in the process of retreating, and then stretched out his foot to kick the ball out.

But the backward-moving body prevented him from touching the ball...

He could only watch helplessly as the ball swept past his feet and flew straight to the far post of the goal!

There, was Bayern Munich's center forward, Mandzukic, who had rushed up!

To be honest, the Croatian center forward's position was not very good. He was too close to the ball, and there was almost no space or distance to shoot with force.

But Mandzukic knew that he didn't need to exert force at this time, he just needed to be able to hit the ball!

He stepped aside, and then swept his left foot horizontally!

He hit the ball!

The ball was swept out in a parabola and then flew into Borussia Dortmund's goal...

Borussia Dortmund, who had had the advantage in the first half, had been scored on first by Bayern Munich!

Seeing this scene, many people had this sentence in their minds: Wasting opportunities will indeed be punished!

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"Ah—ah! Ah..." He Ping was in a complicated mood and didn't know what to say. He didn't want Bayern Munich to take the lead...

"Mario Mandzukic!!!" Marcel Reif didn't have so many thoughts. Seeing the ball fly into the goal, he jumped up from the commentary box and shouted with his arms raised. "Bayern Munich takes the lead! In the fifty-sixth minute, the deadlock on the field is broken!"

The entire Wembley Stadium was filled with the cheers of Bayern Munich fans.

After scoring, Mandzukic ran to the advertising board behind the goal, put his hands behind his ears, and made a listening celebration.

Because the two teams had switched sides in the second half, Bayern Munich was attacking towards the stands where their fans were located. Behind Borussia Dortmund's goal was the stand where Bayern Munich fans gathered, and he could directly hear the cheers of the Bayern fans here.

Running to the advertising board, he excitedly pulled up the Bayern Munich team emblem on his chest and slapped his chest hard.

The other excited Bayern Munich players followed and rushed up to celebrate the goal with him and the Bayern Munich fans in the stands.

The TV broadcast began to replay Mandzukic's goal just now.

Although the goal was scored by Mandzukic, the most important contributor to this goal was indeed Robben. It was he who dribbled the ball in the center circle to launch the attack, and it was he who敏捷地前插跑到了多特蒙德后防线身后接到了球, it was also he who attracted the goalkeeper Weidenfeller out and then made an accurate cross, sending the ball to Mandzukic's feet, giving him the opportunity to score an empty goal.

Robben, who would never pass the ball and always had to shoot, sent out such a high-quality assist.

It was amazing.

At this time, many people remembered that when Robben first became famous at Chelsea, he was a left winger!

Creating chances on the left wing was originally his job.

But later at Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, since he had mastered the unique skill of breaking through on the right and then cutting inside, dribbling laterally and shooting, everyone could no longer see his performance on the left wing. They only knew that he was a scorer who used his left foot to cut inside and shoot on the right.

But in this final, he suddenly came to the left wing and returned to his old profession, willingly making wedding clothes for his teammates.

One could not help but sigh...

The losses in the two Champions League finals and one World Cup final had left him with endless pain and a demon in his heart.

And today, he launched a challenge to his inner demon, he was going to defeat it!