Chapter 94: Here is Werder!
Schalke's fans were incredibly passionate. Even before the players of Werder Bremen had stepped off the bus, the roads were blocked, making it impossible for them to proceed.
Usually, such treatment was reserved for Schalke's arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund during the Ruhr derby.
"Hey, little devils from Bremen, you're doomed!"
"This is the Weserstadion, you bunch of trash, tuck your tails and run back home!"
"Haha, they're all scared stiff, they'll be crying for their mommies for milk after the game!"
The miners' fans taunted their opponents with foul language, a behavior typical of them. They were descendants of miners, proud of their grassroots and rough culture.
The team bus was besieged by the opposition fans, but the players of Werder Bremen didn't rush to get off. They waited for the police to arrive and clear the way. Before the police arrived, they wouldn't easily step out to avoid any accidents caused by the attacks of the opponent's fanatic fans.
Seeing their opponents unwilling to disembark, Schalke's fans chuckled smugly. They gestured obscenely at Werder Bremen's bus while chanting their team's anthem, queuing up to enter the stadium.
The players of Werder Bremen were getting irritated by their opponents' behavior!
Although they had their own northern derby matches, even games against their arch-rivals Hamburg didn't escalate to this extent.
The taunts and insults from the opposing fans filled the players of Werder Bremen with rage. They were itching to rush onto the field and tear Schalke apart, crushing them underfoot.
This match was originally just an ordinary league game, but due to the close points tally between the two teams and the humiliation and provocation of Werder Bremen's bus by Schalke's fans, the match was fraught with tension.
In the dressing room, after setting up the tactical approach, Shauf remained silent, allowing the players to feel the atmosphere of the Weserstadion.
The away team's dressing room had poor sound insulation, and they could clearly hear the deafening cheers from the stadium.
"Do you have any thoughts?" Shauf asked as the players quieted down, lifting his head to scan each of them with his gaze.
"I feel like my blood is boiling all over, and I want to take away a victory from here more than ever. I swear, there's nothing more satisfying than celebrating in front of fifty thousand Schalke fans!" one player exclaimed.
"I want to humiliate Schalke 04 here and kick them while they're down!" another chimed in.
"Yeah, we're going to crush them and show them who the real trash is!"
Shauf nodded in satisfaction. "Good, maintain this spirit. Remember what you just said, and on the field, give it your all!"
"Give it our all!"
The players shouted in unison through gritted teeth, then stacked their hands together.
"Werder Bremen!"
"Charge!"
After shouting their rallying cry, the players of Werder Bremen left the dressing room, brimming with passion, and walked into the players' entrance tunnel, ready to take the field.
The player tunnel at the Weserstadion was different from typical stadiums. To reflect the club's mining heritage, it was designed like a mine shaft.
As they walked through the tunnel-like player entrance, they were greeted by the sight of a magnificent stadium with a roof overhead.
Despite being called miners, Schalke was far from poor. Their home ground was much more luxurious than Werder Bremen's.
As Lin Quan stepped onto the field, he took a glance at the magnificent stadium.
The Weserstadion was packed to capacity, with the entire stadium resembling a sea of sky-blue.
On one side of the stadium, a huge white and blue emblem, composed of the team's colors, was unfurled by the fans.
Schalke's fans began to cheer, their voices rising higher and higher, so noisy that one couldn't help but want to cover their ears.
The attendance rate was terrifying. Not only was every seat occupied, but standing tickets were probably sold out as well.
Tickets for Bundesliga matches were relatively cheap compared to other top leagues, usually costing less than 30 euros per game, with some season tickets even dropping below 10 euros.
With the average income of Germans and the relatively cheap ticket prices, the Bundesliga had the highest attendance rate among the top leagues, with every match played in packed stadiums.
Germans really loved their football!
Of course, because of the high demand, these low-priced tickets were hard to come by. Ordinary fans often had to buy tickets from scalpers at inflated prices.
And scalpers were not known for their generosity!
Schalke only allocated 2,000 tickets for away fans, leaving over 5,000 Werder Bremen fans who traveled with the team without tickets.
Lin Quan searched for a while before finding a small group of green-clad fans surrounded by sky-blue in a corner of the southeast stand.
Their seats were not only bad, but they were also surrounded by Schalke fans. If it weren't for the police keeping the opposing fans separated, Lin Quan suspected that Schalke's fans would have rushed to provoke or even fight them.
Werder Bremen took note of this grudge. When Schalke visited the Weserstadion, they would also only allocate 2,000 tickets to the miners' fans, leaving them with no tickets to watch the game.
Chelsea scout George Evans also failed to secure a ticket and had to pay a high price to snatch a less desirable ticket from a scalper.
He paid 320 euros for the ticket, which made him wince!
It was more than ten times the retail price!
"Schalke's fans are too fanatical, aren't they? It's just a league game, why so serious?" George grumbled as he struggled to find his seat in the crowded stands, straightening his disheveled suit.
Even before he could sit down, the stadium erupted into a deafening cheer, buzzing in his ears!
The miners' fans at the Weserstadion were incredibly passionate, once creating a noise level of 129 decibels.
Under such terrifying noise, any player's performance would be affected.
And now, they were in an extremely frenzied state, cheering for every Schalke player who took the field.
But when Lin Quan and his teammates stepped onto the Weserstadion's field, they were greeted with the boos of over fifty thousand home fans.
Well, that was to be expected. If not for the difficulty in coordinating foul language, the opposition fans were probably hurling insults and curses at them right now.
Schalke 04's fans couldn't welcome them, but their players might.
Before the game started, Schalke 04's right-back from Japan, Atsuto Uchida, came over to greet Lin Quan politely, hoping to exchange jerseys after the game.
Lin Quan was puzzled by Uchida's enthusiastic attitude. He didn't even know him, so why was he being so nice?
Could it be true, as rumored, that Japanese people were very admiring and would kneel to those stronger than themselves?
He didn't know anyone in Schalke, as there was a player from China before, but he had already transferred out. And the former captain of the national team, Raul, was no longer with Schalke. So, faced with Uchida's request, Lin Quan shouldn't have refused.
But the disgusting scenes from Schalke's fans before the match made him feel annoyed, so he declined Uchida's request and didn't want to exchange jerseys with him.
Although rejected, Uchida still bowed politely to him, and Lin Quan couldn't help but think that perhaps Uchida didn't know his strength and didn't want to exchange jerseys with an unknown player.
If that was the case, then he would prove his worth on the field.
As long as he could stop Lin Quan from scoring, he believed he could impress him and earn the right to exchange jerseys after the game.
Uchida's bowing gesture towards Lin Quan caught the attention of players from both teams.
"What's going on?" De Bruyne nudged Lin Quan with his elbow, curious.
"He asked to exchange jerseys with me, but I refused," Lin Quan replied.
"Why did he bow to you then?" De Bruyne asked, puzzled. Shouldn't he be angry?
"Maybe it's their country's custom?" De Bruyne thought for a moment. Japanese characters often bowed in anime, so Lin Quan's explanation seemed plausible.
Atsuto Uchida transferred from the J-League's Kashima Antlers two years ago for a relatively cheap fee of only 1.1 million euros.
After joining Schalke 04, he spent two years winning the coach's trust through his diligence and finally secured a regular starting position this season.
Compared to him, Lin Quan, who came from a powerhouse, immediately secured a starting position in the team upon his arrival in the Bundesliga, even becoming the key player in Werder Bremen's attacking front.
This made Atsuto Uchida jealous. He felt that Lin Quan was only getting opportunities because of his background in a powerhouse, not necessarily because of his own abilities.
But as the season progressed, Lin Quan wreaked havoc on the Bundesliga stage, repeatedly breaching the gates of even Bayern Munich.
This made Atsuto Uchida realize that he and Lin Quan were not in the same league.
So, his jealousy towards Lin Quan disappeared completely, replaced by deep admiration.
A yellow-skinned player achieving such success on the European stage made Atsuto Uchida, who knew the difficulties of the top five leagues, deeply admire him.
Of course, admiration didn't mean surrender.
"Lin-san, I'll do my best to keep up with you in this game and won't let you score easily!" After bowing, Atsuto Uchida returned to his position, making a determination in his heart.
At 4:30 PM, the game started on time.
Both teams were cautious at first, probing each other's defenses slowly, not daring to commit heavily to attacks right away.
For Werder Bremen, they were playing away and had planned to focus on defense from the start.
For Schalke 04, they were behind Werder Bremen in the standings.
In front of their home crowd, they certainly hoped to defeat their opponents.
Otherwise, when they visited their opponents' home ground, the game would be much harder.
Werder Bremen was in excellent form this season. If they didn't fall behind in the second half of the season, the team competing with Schalke 04 for the Champions League spot would undoubtedly include Werder Bremen.
Therefore, if Schalke 04 wanted to secure their Champions League spot for next season, they had to defeat them in a head-to-head clash.
The two teams began to increase their offensive efforts after five minutes of probing.
Schalke, playing at home, was the first to attack.
In the 13th minute, Schalke displayed brilliant teamwork in the attacking third.
Last season's Bundesliga top scorer, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, took a powerful shot in the penalty area, only to be blocked by Milot Rashica.
The quality of the shot was high, and the Dutchman's skills were undeniable. If Milot Rashica hadn't positioned himself well, the shot might have found the net.
A minute later, Werder Bremen responded in kind, with Huntelaar receiving a through pass from Lin Quan and turning to shoot, but the goalkeeper made a one-handed save.
This shot was equally impressive, but Schalke's young goalkeeper, Frederik Rönnow, performed admirably, thwarting the threat.
After this exchange of attacks, both sides threw caution to the wind, believing that their opponents' strength was manageable, and they increased their offensive efforts.
(End of this chapter)