Chapter 225 Falling Short of Success
In the 66th minute, Thomas Muller took a ridiculously high long-range shot from outside the penalty area, once again wasting Bayern Munich's offensive opportunity. The score on the field was still o:o, as if it was stuck with glue. The same thing happened, motionless.
After this outrageous long shot, Muller was replaced by Guardiola.
Gotze goes into battle.
This is Bayern Munich's first substitution adjustment in this game, and it also means that Bayern Munich is about to start working hard.
There are very few, or almost no, teams this season that can withstand Bayern Munich for more than 60 minutes without conceding a goal.
Mainz did it.
But they are also under tremendous pressure, and this pressure will only increase.
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With a two-goal lead and an overall dominance of the situation, Dortmund's head coach Klopp began to take time to care about his competitors.
The coaches were all beaming when they mentioned that Bayern Munich had not yet broken the deadlock.
Of course Klopp is also happy, but he still has to warn his teammates with a straight face not to get into shape too early. There are still more than 20 minutes of the game. Bayern Munich will never be willing to be tied by Mainz in the away game.
"Didn't Guardiola replace Gotze? This is the evidence. Bayern Munich needs to be stronger."
Based on Klopp's understanding of Gotze, he knows what Gotze does after he comes on the field.
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As soon as Gotze came on the field, he took the ball and made a beautiful pass. Facing the defense of the Mainz players, he used his feet to push the football under the opponent's crotch, and then took advantage of the opponent's stunned effort to bypass it. Go over and complete the breakthrough.
"Oh! Beautiful crotch pass! It seems that Gotze is in good condition in this game! This is the first time he touches the ball in the third minute after coming off the bench! There is almost no time to adapt, and Gotze blends in This is definitely good news for Guardiola and Bayern Munich who are in deep trouble!"
After Gotze came on, Bayern Munich's advantage did become more obvious.
This advantage is not reflected by the ball possession rate. Bayern Munich's ball possession rate is already very high, but by the threat it creates to the goal.
After Gotze broke through the opponent, he sent a pass. After receiving his pass in the penalty area, Ribery shot from close range!
The ball was blocked by Karius with his feet as he fell to the ground.
Although there is still no goal, this is a very positive sign.
Guardiola then made further adjustments. He replaced Robben with "Swiss Messi" Shaqiri and continued to strengthen breakthroughs and crosses from the right.
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On Dortmund's side, when Bayern Munich made their second substitution, Dortmund's full-back Piszczek stole the ball in the frontcourt and took it 25 meters away from the goal and shot a curved ball with his right foot. Football High Over the crossbar.
Dortmund still suppressed Hannover 96, leaving the opponent no chance at all.
Although Dortmund did not score any more goals, not many people believed that Hannover 96 could come back.
Even many Dortmund fans in front of the TV are now starting to pay attention to Bayern Munich's games.
They continue to cheer for Tuchel and Mainz, hoping that they can complete the task of blocking Bayern Munich and help Dortmund.
In the 80th minute, Bayern Munich launched an attack, causing chaos in front of Mainz's goal. Alaba took a shot during the chaos, but it missed.
"Alaba's shot missed... It's already the 80th minute, and there are only ten minutes left for Bayern Munich. Mainz is now fully defensive and has no counterattack at all. In fact, Bayern Munich only needs one goal, but It’s just this goal, but I don’t know when it will come…”
Just after finishing speaking, Guardiola made another substitution. This was Bayern Munich's last substitution in this game.
He replaced Mandzukic with Lewandowski.
Just after Lewandowski came on the field, he pulled to the wing to get the ball, and then passed the ball to Shaqiri who came up to meet him.
Shaqiri received the ball and made a pass from the right. The football flew to the goal. "Little Pig" Schweinsteiger suddenly broke out from the diagonal, jumped up and headed the ball from a very close distance!
This time, Mainz goalkeeper Karius, who was a master of reflexes and performed well, could no longer react effectively. He could only watch the football fly into the goal he was guarding!
"Schweinsteiger! Schweinsteiger! Schweinsteiger——!" the commentator shouted excitedly. "In the 82nd minute, Bastian Schweinsteiger broke the deadlock for Bayern Munich! They led 1:0!"
When Bastian Schweinsteiger scored, Guardiola, who had been squatting nervously on the ground, jumped up from the ground, then opened his arms and hugged his fellow coaching staff who rushed up.
After waiting for this goal for eighty-two minutes, the boulder that has been weighing on everyone's hearts can finally be lifted...
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"Ah! Damn it!" When Klopp heard the news about Bayern Munich's goal, he still couldn't control his emotions. He slapped his thigh hard, and then leaned back in his chair and stopped talking.
Although the game is not over yet, he knows that once Bayern Munich scores a goal, Mainz will lose the game. The Bayern Munich players who have restored their confidence will never let any accidents happen in the game.
Then, he got up from his seat, walked to the sidelines, shouted the names of his players, and reminded them not to relax too much.
Then he turned around and asked assistant coach Buvac to call Grosskreutz back who was warming up. He was going to make a substitution.
The winner between Dortmund and Bayern Munich has not yet been decided, and there is still a long journey ahead. He has to protect his ace.
Soon, Klopp made substitution adjustments and replaced Zhou Yi with Grosskreutz. Mkhitaryan returned to his accustomed center, and Grosskreutz took his place on the wing.
It wasn't until after Zhou Yi came off the field that Hannover 96 created the team's first good opportunity in the second half in the 86th minute - after Bittencourt and Schmidbach cooperated, they inserted into the right side of the penalty area and returned. Passing the ball to the center, Stindl hit the goal with his right foot 11 meters in front of the goal, but he was not strong enough and was easily confiscated by Dortmund goalkeeper Weidenfeller.
When Zhou Yi was on the court, Dortmund firmly suppressed Hannover 96 in all aspects. Even such a chance was not given to the opponent. After Zhou Yi came off the field, Dortmund's control dropped slightly, and Hannover 96 had some breathing room.
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Almost at the same time that Hannover 96 created an opportunity, Bayern Munich also launched a murderous attempt at the Opel Arena in Mainz.
Lahm passed the ball directly from the backcourt, and Ribery succeeded in countering offside in the frontcourt. After receiving Lahm's pass, he created a chance for a single goal.
Seeing this, Mainz goalkeeper Karius could only abandon the goal and attack to block Ribery's shooting angle.
Ribery passed the ball to Götze after Balikarius drew him to the edge of the penalty area, instead of shooting directly himself.
Gotze met Ribery's pass in the middle and faced a huge empty goal. This was the best opportunity.
Gotze knows that as long as this ball is scored, the victory will be sealed, and Bayern Munich can continue to lead Dortmund in the standings and suppress Zhouyi!
Without hesitation, he picked up the football and swept it toward the empty goal!
"Götze——!!! 2:o! Bayern Munich sealed the victory! They won this game!!"
After scoring the goal, Gotze did not run towards Ribery who assisted him. Instead, he ran towards the corner flag area and roared at the Mainz fans, venting all his emotions.
Before this goal, in the past month and a half, including the Champions League and Bundesliga, he had not scored in seven consecutive games, which was in sharp contrast to his previous four consecutive games.
So it can be said that he was also under tremendous pressure. Although most of the credit for this goal belongs to Ribery, he is the one who scored the goal after all, which can help him regain his confidence and relieve a lot of pressure.
His teammates were also excited to come up and celebrate the goal and victory with him.
Although they encountered stubborn resistance from Mainz in the away game, they finally defeated their opponent, took all three points, and continued to lead Dortmund by four points in the league standings.
The TV broadcast showed a close-up shot of Mainz's head coach Tuchel. In the shot, the young coach was shaking his head slightly, looking very helpless.
Upon seeing this, the commentator said: "Actually, Mainz's performance is already very good. Tuchel has really studied Bayern Munich's tactics thoroughly. But unfortunately, the strength gap between the two teams is still too big. Mainz Although Ci created a series of opportunities, he failed to seize any of them. Bayern Munich relied on its strong strength to survive the three unforeseen blows, gradually strengthened, and finally won the game... But this season, Main With such strength, FC can rank fifth in the Bundesliga and still have the opportunity to enter the Champions League next season. Whether it is Tuchel or Mainz's players, their performance has been very, very good. This is Mainz's performance in the history of the Bundesliga. The best season, the defeat with Bayern Munich does not detract from this result..."
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When the news of Gotze's goal reached the Dortmund coaching staff, Klopp was not as excited as when Bayern Munich scored the first goal. He just shook his head and sighed.
Assistant coach Buvac also lamented: "The strength gap between the two sides is still too big. Although Tuchel has made the most correct tactical arrangements, the gap in player strength still allows them to only go so far. …”
"Be yourself, be yourself..." Klopp muttered and repeated this sentence while shaking his head.
Mainz failed to help Dortmund stop Bayern Munich, but this should not be surprising. Before this game, Dortmund probably wouldn't have thought that Mainz could cause such big trouble to Bayern Munich, right?
So in the final analysis, you still have to be yourself, and you can only be yourself.
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