Chapter 237 2 The Best Way to Get the Best of Both Worlds

On October 19, in the third match of the Champions League group stage, Dortmund challenged the Greek team Olympiacos away from home.

In the end, Dortmund, who was strong and in excellent form, defeated Olympiacos 3:1 in the away game. Zhou Yi completed an assist.

Halfway through the group stage, Dortmund has won three out of three games and ranks first. This makes the seeded team Arsenal a little embarrassed...

Arsenal now have six points, three points short of Dortmund, but they are not without a chance. They also have a home game against Borussia Dortmund.

As long as they can beat Dortmund at home with a big score, they still have a chance to get first place in the group.

Back in Germany, Dortmund welcomed their rival Cologne at home in the league.

In this game, Zhou Yi was also in excellent form. He sent two assists to help Dortmund defeat Cologne 5-0 at home.

Bayern Munich lost 1:2 away to Hannover in this round of the league, causing an upset.

As a result, Dortmund is only one point behind Bayern Munich.

At the beginning of the season, everyone thought that it was easy for Dortmund to win but difficult to defend. It is not easy to defend the league championship. Bayern Munich will never allow Dortmund to steal the league championship for two consecutive years.

But now it seems that the predictions of those experts are wrong...

The league has only started ten rounds, and Dortmund is starting to exert its strength after the ups and downs at the beginning of the season. Gradually catching up with Bayern Munich, staring at Bayern Munich's back.

After the league, Dortmund ushered in the second round of the German Cup. Their opponent was Dresden, a team ranked tenth in the Bundesliga 2.

This time, Klopp fully learned the lessons from last season. Although he made rotations, he did not replace all the main players in one go. At least Zhou Yi was still on the court.

Zhou Yi scored a goal in this game, helping Dortmund eliminate Dresden 2:0. Finally, they did not repeat the mistakes of last season.

Last season, Dortmund was unexpectedly eliminated by Offenbach Kickers in this round of the German Cup. This season, they can at least go further than last season.

Returning to the league, maybe during the recent period, I feel a little tired from the double matches in a row. Maybe it is because my previous state was too good and I need to adjust.

In short, Dortmund was tied 1:1 away by Stuttgart in the eleventh round of the league.

Bayern Munich defeated Nuremberg 4-0 at home.

The point difference between the two teams has widened to three points.

The competition between these two teams in the league will continue, and it is obvious that Bayern Munich will not give up so easily. After all, the Bundesliga is their back garden, and if they want to give up the league championship, it will take a lot of effort.

In the Champions League, Dortmund maintained their strength and defeated Olympiacos 3-0 at home. After four rounds of the group stage, Dortmund had four games and four wins, accumulating 12 points. Since Marseille, third in the group, failed to defeat Arsenal in an away game, Dortmund equaled the right to qualify for the group in advance.

Dortmund now has 12 points, Arsenal ranks second with seven points due to a draw with Marseille, and Marseille ranks third with only four points. With two rounds left in the group stage, Marseille cannot pull Dortmund down in any case. Their only hope is to squeeze out Arsenal and become second in the group.

But Arsenal will naturally not give up.

Arsenal now have seven points, five points less than Dortmund. As long as they can keep winning the last two group games and Dortmund lose the next two games, they can replace Dortmund as the group leader.

But honestly, the odds are too small.

First they have to defeat Dortmund at home in the next group match, and then hope that Dortmund loses to Marseille at home in the final group match...

Defeating Dortmund at home may not be a difficult thing for Arsenal, and everyone at Arsenal also has this confidence.

But Dortmund's final loss to Marseille... was beyond their control. And Dortmund is not stupid. Of course they understand the importance of being first in the group. How could they lose to Marseille in the last round when the situation is so good?

※※※

In the twelfth round of the league, Dortmund faced Wolfsburg at home, and Bayern Munich challenged Augsburg at home.

Before this game, Dortmund received a fax from the Chinese Football Association.

The contents of the fax surprised Klopp.

Because the Chinese side hopes to allow Zhou Yi to play less time in the game against Wolfsburg. It would be better if he can come on as a substitute.

In the fax, they also explained in detail the reasons for making such a request.

It's because there is a very crucial game for the Chinese national team next - the Chinese team challenges the Iraqi team away from home.

In the World Cup Asian qualifiers, the current group of the Chinese team is in this situation - Jordan ranks first with seven points with two wins and a draw, the Chinese team ranks second with five points with one win, two draws, and Iraq has one win, one draw and one loss. Ranked third with four points, Singapore ranked fourth with zero points from three games.

Because the top two in each group qualify for the top ten, if the Chinese team wants to qualify from this group, it must fight against Iraq, which is only one point behind them. The failure to win against Iraq at home is enough to make the Chinese team nervous. If they lose to Iraq again on the road, the Chinese team will have to compete with Jordan in the final round, and the results of the matches between Iraq and Singapore will also depend on the Chinese team.

In order to qualify smoothly, of course winning away from home or drawing with Iraq would be the best result.

That's why this game is so important.

China hopes that Zhou Yi can maintain a relatively good physical condition in this game - the last time the Chinese team was tied by Iraq at home, some analysts pointed out that Zhou Yi's physical condition was not optimal. After all, he was playing in the club. Starting every game, competing in two fronts in the league and the Champions League, and having to play across the entire Eurasian continent, it is indeed easy to get tired.

Generally speaking, when players return from their clubs to play with the national team, they will be required by the club to play only half-time, and the national team will also abide by this agreement. This is the first time that the national team has asked the club for players to play less club games...

Klopp originally planned to refuse because there was no such precedent. The club is the one who pays wages to the players. It has the right to decide whether the players play or not and for how long. It is not the national team’s turn to dictate. And the club, in turn, is worried that the national team will overuse players, causing players to be injured in national team games. Current regulations require that if a player is injured in a national team game, the national team must compensate the club.

How did Mark Wagner, Dortmund's main striker, get injured? Didn’t he get injured while participating in the national team competition?

On the one hand, the club has to pay the players wages. On the other hand, if the players are injured in the national team, the club has to spend money to treat them. When the players are unable to play due to injury, the club has to pay wages, and no penny can be lost. , players can easily make money while lying in hospital beds... Is there anything more unreasonable than this?

But Klopp thought for a moment and called Zhou Yi aside alone at the training ground, and then handed Zhou Yi the fax from the national team.

Zhou Yi quickly scanned it, and Klopp asked: "I want to hear your opinion, Zhou Yi. What do you think?"

Zhou Yi took the fax, thought for a while and said: "The one who signed the contract with me is the Dortmund Club, and the one who gave me the annual salary and bonus is also the Dortmund Club."

Klopp thought that Zhou Yi was unswervingly standing on the side of the club's interests, but he didn't expect that Zhou Yi would change the subject.

"But as a Chinese player, it is my duty to play for the country. Besides... the World Cup is very important to Chinese football, and I don't want to have any regrets."

Zhou Yi's words were not very direct and somewhat tactful, but Klopp nodded: "I understand."

The World Cup is a dream for all professional players, and it is normal for Zhou Yi to have such thoughts. So how can we prevent irreconcilable conflicts between the club's interests and the players' own wishes...

While Klopp was still thinking about this issue, Zhou Yi continued: "So I thought of a way to ensure the interests of the national team without harming the club's interests. I wonder, coach, what do you think?"

"Eh? Tell me." Klopp didn't expect that Zhou Yi had already made a decision.

"I started the game against Wolfsburg and then tried to seal the victory early so that you could replace me early."

Klopp looked at Zhou Yi with wide eyes. He did not expect that Zhou Yi would make such a suggestion.

Do you really have enough confidence in yourself to make such a suggestion?

"What? Isn't this idea good?" Zhou Yi asked when he saw that Klopp's expression was wrong.

Klopp came back to his senses, shook his head and smiled: "No, this is a good idea!"

He answered in the affirmative.

"That's what we'll do!" (To be continued.)