Chapter 53 Bundesliga Season Begins, Facing Strong Opponents Again
On August 24th, the new Bundesliga season officially kicked off.
It's unclear whether it was intentionally arranged by the German Football Association or just a coincidence.
The opening match featured two teams that recently faced off in the Telekom Cup final: Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen.
This marked the second encounter between these two teams within a span of 20 days, and unfortunately for Werder Bremen, it was their second away game against Borussia Dortmund.
Consequently, when the fixture was released, both the team and its supporters felt quite frustrated.
"The football association sure knows how to create drama!"
Upon seeing Dortmund's media hyping up the revenge narrative and their players expressing determination on social media to give 120% against Werder Bremen, it made the Werder Bremen team and staff feel quite uneasy.
Facing a fired-up Dortmund team that had been storing up resentment for 20 days, Werder Bremen didn't have much confidence in winning.
"It's just a regular league match; don't overthink it. Just play your game, and remember, winning or losing isn't everything!" Coach Schaaf timely intervened to ease the pressure on the players.
League matches aren't like cup matches where the outcome is decided in one game. Over the course of a year-long season, while the result of each match is important, it's not a matter of life and death.
"That's right, the coach is right. It's just a regular match, so don't put too much pressure on yourselves. Play the game like you do in training!" The team's veteran players also stepped in to comfort the younger players.
With the reassurance from the coach and the senior players, the nervousness of the young players eased somewhat.
At 7:30 PM, after 20 days, Werder Bremen's players once again stepped onto the pitch of the Westfalenstadion.
At the same time, thousands of miles away in China, the Central Television Station was broadcasting this match live.
As one of the first major leagues to obtain broadcasting rights, before CCTV acquired rights for the Premier League and La Liga, the Bundesliga was the most broadcasted league on Chinese TV.
At that time, there were quite a few Chinese players playing in the Bundesliga. However, as the national team's performance declined over the years, the number of players playing abroad decreased.
Last year, when Shao Jiayi announced his return to China to play, there were no longer any Chinese players on the Bundesliga's pitch.
However, against this backdrop, Lin Quan, a Chinese player, emerged, injecting a shot of vitality into the Bundesliga, which had begun to lose viewers domestically, attracting a considerable audience once again.
The opening match between Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen broke the record for Bundesliga season opener viewership on CCTV in nearly three years.
And the commentators were Tao Wei and Duan Xuan.
Many viewers were looking forward to seeing Lin Quan's graceful dribbles and effortless scoring on the field.
However, when the starting lineups for both teams were announced, they were shocked!
"What is Werder Bremen doing? Lin Quan isn't even in the starting lineup?"
"I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but Lin Quan is indeed not on the starting lineup!"
"This is a conspiracy, it must be a conspiracy. It's discrimination and suppression against us Asians by white Westerners!"
For a moment, posts on online forums were being refreshed rapidly, with many expressing their confusion over Werder Bremen's coaching decisions.
It wasn't just the fans who couldn't understand; even Dortmund's head coach Klopp was perplexed.
"Is Schaaf giving up resistance?"
"Or is this old man up to some conspiracy again?"
Klopp, who had been fooled once before, became much more cautious this time.
So, he instructed the team to stabilize the opening, not rush into attack to avoid being caught off guard like last time.
The players of Borussia Dortmund also had lingering fears from conceding two goals in the first five minutes of the previous game. Therefore, after kickoff, they intentionally controlled the pace of the game and didn't rush to launch attacks.
"Is Dortmund changing their tactical approach today? They're playing very cautiously, which isn't like their usual style!"
Seeing Dortmund's players passing the ball around in their own half, CCTV's commentators Tao Wei and Duan Xuan were quite puzzled.
The slow-paced game continued for five or six minutes until Borussia Dortmund confirmed that Werder Bremen didn't intend to engage in an open contest with them today. Only then did they relax and start launching comprehensive attacks!
It turned out that without Lin Quan, Werder Bremen's offensive threat dropped significantly.
In this game, De Bruyne's performance remained outstanding as he delivered several threatening passes in the opponent's half.
However, due to the limited abilities of his teammates, these passes were either not received or wasted after receiving.
In short, Werder Bremen found themselves in a passive position in the offensive aspect, struggling to break through.
On the other hand, Dortmund didn't have this problem.
Reus had seamlessly integrated into the team, and his combination with Lewandowski upfront became smoother as the game progressed.
In the 11th minute, after Reus broke through and passed the ball, Lewandowski received it and then passed it back to him, and the two of them completed a two-on-two play inside Werder Bremen's penalty area.
When Reus received Lewandowski's pass, he had already shaken off the defending player, leaving himself in a one-on-one situation.
Faced with such an excellent opportunity, Reus wouldn't waste it. He took a shot, sending the ball into the top right corner of the goal.
Although Werder Bremen's goalkeeper Mielitz jumped in time and got his fingertips on the ball, he couldn't keep it out.
The score became 1-0, and Borussia Dortmund, playing at home, took the lead just 11 minutes into the game.
After scoring, Reus ran to the corner flag area and kissed the team badge on his shirt.
This action drew cheers and applause from the audience, who gradually fell in love with this new handsome young man and forgot about Shinji Kagawa, who had gone to England.
Schaaf was somewhat dissatisfied with the team conceding a goal. He began shouting instructions to the players on the field, urging them to strengthen their challenges and not be so timid.
Following the coach's instructions, Werder Bremen's players increased their intensity in the subsequent game.
And the result was an increase in fouls from both sides.
In the 21st minute of the game, Kehl, who had been fouled several times in previous games, couldn't bear it anymore. When Ignjovski of Werder Bremen had the ball, he retaliated with a harsh tackle, bringing him down.
After being fouled, Ignjovski let out a scream like a slaughtered pig, rolling on the ground while holding his leg.
Such a big commotion naturally alerted players from both teams. Werder Bremen's players immediately rushed over and surrounded Kehl.
And Dortmund's players also rushed over to protect Kehl, as they saw both sides were about to start a brawl.
The main referee quickly arrived at the scene and showed a yellow card to Kehl, calming down this disturbance.
But it seemed this didn't appease the anger of the players from both sides. In the following game, the intensity of their actions increased.
In the 28th minute, Junuzovic of Werder Bremen tackled Reus and received a yellow card from the main referee.
Two minutes later, Ignjovski collided with Lewandowski outside the penalty area and also received a yellow card.
Following that, Dortmund's Kirch, unwilling to be outdone, showed his studs when tackling Arnautovic and was directly shown a yellow card.
Before the end of the first half, the players from both sides had already received four yellow cards combined. If both sides continued to play like this, the number of yellow cards in this game might double.
(End of this chapter)