Chapter 197 Resilience

Facts have proved that Dortmund's away game against Bayern Munich was indeed one of the key games to determine the league championship.

Because after Dortmund defeated Bayern Munich away from home, in the last game of this league, Leverkusen drew 2:2 with Werder Bremen away from home.

Originally, the difference between the two teams was six points, but now the difference between the two teams has been further widened. When it reaches eight points, it is close to ten points...

Eight points is a difference of three games, which is already a relatively safe point difference.

After Bayern Munich lost to Dortmund, news came out that Bayern Munich's top management was already seriously considering Van Gaal's position.

In the twenty-fifth round of the league, Dortmund hosted Cologne at home. Because three days later is the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals against AC Milan, Klopp made rotations in this game.

Even Zhou Yi did not appear in the starting lineup.

In the end, Dortmund defeated Cologne 1:0 at home.

For today's Dortmund, there is no difference between a small victory by one goal and a complete victory by three goals in the league, as long as three points are obtained.

Zhou Yi came on as a substitute in the last ten minutes of the game and completed the pre-match warm-up against AC Milan.

The next day, the AC Milan team arrived in Dortmund.

During an interview at the airport, AC Milan's number one star Zlatan Ibrahimovic said that AC Milan would have the last laugh.

"We now have ninety minutes to score away goals, so their away goal is no big deal." The Swede curled his lips.

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Before the match against AC Milan. Klopp gave his players the task of arranging this game in the locker room: "Don't think that if we beat them on the road, we will definitely advance to the quarterfinals. In fact, even the probability is not necessarily higher than our opponents. After all, we only beat them by one goal. Don't think Ibrahimovic's words are annoying, it's the truth. Now they have a full ninety minutes to fight for away goals. If we let them score a goal , then our advantage on the road will be in vain."

Klopp's expression was very serious when he said these words, which made people think that he was going to greatly emphasize the importance of defense.

But then he changed the topic and said: "So in this game we scored earlier than them.

As long as we can score more goals than them, no matter how many goals they score in the end, they will be eliminated! "

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Allegri still drew densely on the tactical board. It looks a little messy.

He was explaining to his players endlessly the characteristics of Dortmund's tactics. They must contain their wingers, contain their midfielders, pay attention to their core, and pay attention to their Gotze and Mark... Thanks to Shinji Kagawa. Injured, he no longer has to say "pay attention to Shinji Kagawa".

Although AC Milan ranks first in Serie A this season. But Allegri knows that for a club like AC Milan with Champions League genes, results in the Champions League are equally important.

If you were eliminated in the first round of the knockout round, it would be really humiliating...

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When the game started, AC Milan, who was fighting against the odds, launched a fierce attack on Dortmund's goal.

At the height of their offensive, Dortmund was unable to even make it past halftime.

Marcel Leif was exclaiming whose home stadium it was.

Of course, AC Milan also paid a price for playing like this.

Their full-back Jankulovski received a yellow card in the first twenty-eight minutes.

At the thirty-second minute. Midfielder Flamini also received a late yellow card for a foul on Zhou Yi. In addition to the yellow card he received on Zhou Yi in the last round, even if AC Milan can break into the quarterfinals, he will miss a quarter. The first leg of the final.

At the end of the first half, forward Pato also received a yellow card for making too many moves during the fight...

In the first half, three AC Milan players were booked, including those in the front, middle and back. This can be reflected in the data, but what is not reflected in the data is that the defensive actions of AC Milan players are very large.

But there was nothing they could do.

With Zhou Yi, Dortmund is a team that is very good at controlling football and rhythm. If they want to break Dortmund's rhythm, the most effective way is to foul...

Fouls can frequently interrupt Dortmund's rhythm of possession.

Of course, it will also bring them a very high risk of being carded. After all, this is Dortmund's home court, and the referee will be more or less biased towards the home team.

At this time, in order to advance, AC Milan can't care so much.

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Facing AC Milan's pressing attack, Dortmund struggled to cope, but at least they did not concede a goal.

Zhou Yi frequently used passes to control the situation, but he also became the focus of defense by AC Milan players. He received yellow cards from Flamini and Pato.

Allegri had obviously washed away his experience and lessons from the failure in the first game. He surrounded Zhou Yi in all directions.

Of course, he also knew that it was impossible to make Zhou Yi completely useless, so he chose to limit Zhou Yi's role in certain parts, such as offense...

His pressing force forced Zhou Yi to pass back or cross the ball more, instead of passing the ball forward. As a result, Dortmund was unable to launch a threatening attack. This allows AC Milan's defense to gain temporary safety, so that AC Milan can concentrate on attacking and strive to score before Dortmund scores and reverse the situation.

Allegri stood on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets, staring at the court very intently, closely watching the development of the game.

He believes that as long as AC Milan can score first, it will change the trend of the entire game and pave the way for the final reversal and victory...

But until the end of the first half, he did not see the goal appear. Although Dortmund seemed to be having a hard time coping, they did not concede a goal. Their defensive tenacity was greater than Allegri imagined...

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In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. AC Milan still turned away and attacked Dortmund. Dortmund was compressed into its own half and rarely could attack into AC Milan's half.

This scene really made the fans of AC Milan excited. If this were at their home stadium, the cheers would have been heard in the sky.

But unfortunately this was Dortmund's home court, so the only thing that filled the stadium was... boos.

Amid the boos, AC Milan charged towards Dortmund's goal desperately.

Their offense did not threaten the goal guarded by Weidenfeller every time.

Some attacks will be intercepted midway.

At this time, Dortmund's players will choose to kick the football forward with their big feet, keeping Dortmund's goal away from danger for the time being.

But there are always exceptions to everything.

For example, this time, when Subotic was about to kick the football out, he caught a glimpse of Zhou Yi's gesture to ask for the ball.

He took a look at the situation around Zhou Yi. Because Zhou Yi had withdrawn to the wing, there were no AC Milan players around him for the time being. This was an opportunity to get the ball...

So he passed the football.

But just when he passed the football, he saw AC Milan midfielder Boateng rushing towards Zhou Yi!

But when I observed it, he was still far away!

This kid is like a black panther lying in ambush in the grass. He has been carefully hiding his body, then waiting for the opportunity, then leaps up and pounces on his prey!

Obviously, Zhou Yi is his prey!

The key was that Zhou Yi, who had his back turned to him, couldn't see him at all. It was impossible to know that a murderous black panther was pouncing on him behind him.

Subotic wanted to remind Zhou Yi, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the football was already in front of Zhou Yi, and he was definitely too late.

So he quickly set up a defensive posture and prepared to face AC Milan's counterattack.

But at this moment, he saw Zhou Yi swinging his foot towards the football and knocking the football sideways to Sven Bender. At the same time, he quickly turned around, as if there were eyes in the back of his head, bypassing Boateng!

And when he turned around, Boateng was still in a daze - he didn't expect that such a sudden attack would miss him!

Seeing this scene, Subotic shouted excitedly in his heart: Well done, Zhou Yi!

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"Zhou Yi! Beautiful turn! He avoided Boateng's press!"

Sven Bender did not stop the ball, but passed the football passed by Zhou Yi diagonally to the front. The target was Zhou Yi who had turned around and rushed forward!

Zhou Yi used a wall-hitting one-two to bypass Boateng.

Seeing Zhou Yi shake off the defensive player, the other Dortmund players naturally knew what they should do.

Gotze, Grosskreutz, Mark and Lewandowski quickly started moving. Some ran forward, while others moved closer to Zhou Yi, ready to meet him.

Dortmund's offensive system suddenly came into operation after being silent for half the game. It was not jerky at all and was smooth and smooth.

The core component of this system is naturally Zhou Yi who holds the ball.

After receiving the ball, he raised his foot again and made a long pass without even raising his head to observe.

The football flew directly to Gotze's feet on the other side.

When he just finished passing the ball, Flamini rushed in front of him - AC Milan's players were indeed very fast in defense. If Zhou Yi stopped the ball to observe, or took one more step, Flamini would be Stop him right...

But it was as if he knew this in advance and avoided this risk perfectly!

After passing the ball, Zhou Yi did not stay where he was and accelerated forward.

Dortmund's counterattack continues! (To be continued.)