Chapter 119: Play Well, The Future Is Yours!
In the first half of the season, Borussia Dortmund struggled a lot.
By the halfway point, they had only earned 28 points, a whopping 12 points behind league leaders Bayern Munich.
If they still wanted to win the championship this season, they couldn't afford to lose any more matches from now on.
With the conclusion of the Champions League group stage and drawing a weaker opponent, Shakhtar Donetsk, in the round of 16, Borussia Dortmund's pressure to advance to the quarter-finals was greatly reduced.
Therefore, Klopp decided to focus on the league.
With a month left until the start of the knockout stage of the Champions League, they had enough time to accumulate points in the league.
And the first target for them to make up for the disappointing first half of the season was Werder Bremen, who had forced them to a draw and prevented them from getting off to a good start.
When they arrived at the Weserstadion, Borussia Dortmund played extremely aggressively.
In this match, Werder Bremen truly experienced the power of Klopp's high-pressing tactics.
Determined to seek revenge, Borussia Dortmund players collectively covered a distance of 125 kilometers throughout the game. Excluding the goalkeeper, this meant that each player ran an average of 12 kilometers!
High-pressure defense!
Fast attacks! Teamwork!
All of these were demonstrated through Borussia Dortmund's exceptional running ability.
Werder Bremen managed to hold on in the first half, but they were overwhelmed by their opponents in the second half.
At the end of the game, the score was 5-2 in favor of the away team.
In the first half, Borussia Dortmund had already secured a lead with goals from Reus, Götze, and Lewandowski.
In the second half, Werder Bremen attempted a comeback with goals from Lin Quan and De Bruyne within 15 minutes, briefly giving them hope.
However, Reus's solo effort dashed their hopes.
In injury time, Santana scored from close range, sealing the score at 5-2.
Werder Bremen suffered a heavy defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund, marking a disastrous start to the second half of the season!
Losing the game left Lin Quan feeling a bit down.
This match was simply a display of the gap in raw strength. Borussia Dortmund's ability to run was overwhelming, and if you couldn't keep up, you'd be worn out by them.
If Werder Bremen had faced Borussia Dortmund in the middle of the season, they wouldn't have been beaten so badly.
But after a whole winter break to recuperate and recharge, Borussia Dortmund was in peak condition.
They had enough physical fitness to support their intense running, and there was nothing Werder Bremen could do about it.
After all, when Borussia Dortmund went all out, they could defeat Real Madrid by four goals in a single match.
When they approached Werder Bremen with the same attitude they had against Real Madrid, it was strange for Werder Bremen not to lose.
"Lin, we're even now!"
After the match, Reus ran over to Lin Quan, wanting to exchange jerseys with him.
Reus scored twice in this match and led the team to a resounding victory, feeling extremely pleased.
"Even? I don't remember us leaving the Weserstadion with a victory!"
"How so? Doesn't the Telekom Cup count?"
Lin Quan's lips twitched slightly. This guy still remembered the Telekom Cup match.
Did matches of that nature even compare to league matches?
"Hmph, we've settled the score. Next time we go to the Weserstadion, we'll settle it with you guys!"
Reus draped his arm over Lin Quan's shoulder, curious:
"Since we've finished our two league matches, aren't you going back to Barcelona next season? If you go back to Barcelona, we'll probably only meet in the Champions League schedule, and the chances of facing each other won't be many."
"Who said I'm going back to Barcelona? Can't I stay at Werder Bremen?"
"Oh, come on, with your value, Werder Bremen probably can't even afford your salary!"
Reus had a look of disbelief, as if saying, "I may not be highly educated, but you can't fool me."
Come to think of it, Werder Bremen's highest-paid player earns only around 2 million euros, and Lin Quan is quite well-known in Europe now. His salary would probably be around 6 or 7 million euros. Werder Bremen simply couldn't afford that.
"How about this, if you're not going back to Barcelona, why not come to Dortmund with us? We'll take on Bayern together. How about that? Doesn't it sound appealing?"
"Cut it out, all the forward positions in Dortmund are filled. Where's my place there? Am I going to take yours, Götze's, or Lewandowski's?"
"Fair enough!"
Reus scratched his head and finally gave up on that idea.
"Besides, if I go to Dortmund, how am I supposed to get revenge on you guys?"
Reus was dumbfounded. This guy really held grudges!
...
Losing to Borussia Dortmund in the league left Werder Bremen feeling fired up.
Coincidentally, the next match was the Northern Derby between Werder Bremen and Hamburger SV.
Now, the coach didn't even need to motivate the players before the game. The players took it upon themselves to show great determination and prepare to thrash Hamburger SV.
Hamburger SV was mediocre, with no outstanding achievements or star players. They were safe from relegation but had no hope of winning the title. It could be said that they were a team without any ambition.
However, because Hamburger SV had a Korean player, the match gained some extra attention.
During the pre-match press conference, a Korean journalist asked Schaaf how he viewed Hamburger SV's number 40 player.
Schaaf had heard about a promising young winger from Hamburger SV's youth academy who had performed well this season, scoring 6 goals in the first half of the season.
This performance was considered excellent among 20-year-old young players, but compared to their own players like Lin Quan and De Bruyne, he still seemed to be lacking.
Ah, what could he do? His judgment had been influenced by the exceptional talent of these two prodigies in the team, but neither of them was a Werder Bremen player, which was rather tragic.
Thinking about this, he praised: "Sun is a very promising player, and I have high hopes for his future."
The Korean journalist, upon hearing Schaaf's praise, proudly puffed up his chest.
Then, pushing his luck, he asked: "Then, in your opinion, who has more potential, Sun or Lin Quan?"
Schaaf was stunned for a moment, surprised at the question: Are you serious? Judging by the journalist's expression, it seemed like he wasn't joking.
So he replied seriously:
"I don't think we need to discuss this, do we? Lin's talent, at his age, I haven't seen anyone stronger."
The journalists at the scene nodded in agreement. With 25 goals scored in the first half of the season, this young player could only be described as extraordinary.
The Korean journalist, unwilling to accept this, said: "That's biased. Our Sun is no worse than Lin Quan. As long as he gets enough playing time and tactical status, I believe he can achieve better results than Lin Quan!"
Schaaf's lips twitched slightly. He thought, where did this fool come from?
Wasn't Lin Quan's position on the team earned through his performance in matches?
If your Sun Xingmin really had the ability, why doesn't Hamburger SV give him such tactical status? Wasn't it because Hamburger SV's coach lacked vision?
Schaaf turned to look at Hamburger SV's coach, Fink, whose expression didn't look too good.
He felt that the Korean journalist's question was an attack on his tactical arrangements and personnel choices, challenging his authority.
So, as the coach of Hamburger SV, he actually took the opportunity to praise Lin Quan vigorously, exaggerating his qualities and praising him to the skies, even going as far as to say that he was a once-in-a-century genius, a reincarnation of a football king.
Schaaf couldn't help but suspect that this old guy had his eye on his players. Otherwise, how could he say such exaggerated words?
A once-in-a-century genius? A reincarnation of a football king?
Fink, this old guy, really dared to say anything!
The Korean journalists were unreasonable, but Sun Xingmin himself was very sensible.
When they met in the player tunnel before the match, he took the initiative to apologize to Lin Quan.
Lin Quan was completely unaware of what had happened at the press conference and was puzzled by Sun Xingmin's apology.
So he could only encourage him with a sentence: "Play well! I believe in you!"
20-year-old Sun Xingmin was encouraged by 17-year-old Lin Quan in this way.
No matter how you looked at it, this situation felt a bit strange, but Sun Xingmin was extremely excited in his heart: Lin knows me!
He believes in me!
He felt incredibly honored and excited, wishing he could rush onto the field immediately and show Lin Quan everything he could do!
After the match started, Son Heung-min was very active on the left side, and several times his dribbling from the flank posed a real threat.
This got the Korean fan groups on the sidelines extremely excited: "Wow, our Son Heung-min is so amazing, Werder Bremen's players can't handle him at all!"
"He truly deserves to be Asia's number one, Son Heung-min is awesome!"
"The stage of the Bundesliga is too small for him, Son Heung-min will waste his talent if he stays here. He should move to the Premier League or La Liga, only those top leagues are worthy of him!"
The Korean fans, as usual, started to exaggerate, completely ignoring Asia's current number one, Shinji Kagawa, and instead attributing this title to Son Heung-min.
Son Heung-min's potential is indeed good, but in 2013, he was clearly not as good as Shinji Kagawa.
However, after Park Ji-sung left Manchester United, the title of Asia's number one was taken away by the Japanese.
This made Koreans very unhappy. They finally had a young player with potential emerging, so naturally, they showered him with praise.
After the start of the match, Hamburg played quite well, especially Son Heung-min, who was very active on his side.
After Lin Quan noticed this, he reduced his activity in the middle and focused on attacking from the flank.
His immense threat made the entire Hamburg team wary.
Seeing him dribbling on the flank, Son Heung-min dared not continue his attack and could only choose to defend.
Lin Quan played as the right winger, while Son Heung-min was the left winger, and they happened to be on the same flank.
So, in the 9th minute of the match, the anticipated showdown between Lin Quan and Son Heung-min finally arrived.
Son Heung-min's attacking ability was decent, but his defensive ability was average.
Faced with Lin Quan's breakthrough, he was very cautious.
Seeing that the opponent lacked defensive experience, Lin Quan deliberately exposed a flaw, shifting his weight to his right foot.
Son Heung-min fell for it, seeing Lin Quan's change in weight, and chose to tackle without hesitation.
But just as he tackled, the ball disappeared from his sight.
Lin Quan's weight shifted again, easily bypassing him and heading towards Hamburg's half.
Ah, he got past him!
Seeing Son Heung-min lose to Lin Quan in their direct confrontation, the Korean fans on the sidelines who were cheering loudly were very disappointed, and their momentum was somewhat deflated.
"Don't be discouraged, our Son Heung-min is good at attacking, he's not a professional defender, so it's normal that he can't defend well against strong opponents!"
"That's right, who wants to watch defense anyway? Later we'll see Son Heung-min attack, the opponent won't be able to stop him either!"
So, the Korean fan groups revived again, continuing to loudly support their players.
Son Heung-min's suppression resulted in Hamburg losing their threat on the left side.
In just ten minutes, Lin Quan completed three breakthroughs on his side and even assisted a teammate in scoring a goal.
This left Son Heung-min feeling very frustrated, despite his extreme caution, he was still doubted in his abilities.
The gap between me and Lin Quan senior is indeed quite large! Seeing Lin Quan celebrating with his teammates after scoring, Son Heung-min felt very bitter.
But upon hearing the cheers from the Korean fan groups on the sidelines, he ignited his fighting spirit again: I can't disappoint the fans who have come from afar, defense is not my strong suit, attacking is!
After the restart, Son Heung-min regained possession of the ball.
He dashed down the flank, determined to help his teammates score and equalize the game.
As a result, just after halftime, Lin Quan appeared in front of him again, blocking his way.
"Here he comes! Lin Quan is going to be beaten this time!"
On the sidelines, the Korean fans saw Lin Quan coming to defend against Son Heung-min and became excited again.
"Haha, I've watched this guy's matches, his defensive ability is simply rubbish, he definitely can't stop our Son Heung-min!"
The Korean fans were full of confidence, thinking that with Son Heung-min's abilities, it would be easy to get past a defender with poor defensive skills like Lin Quan.
Son Heung-min also thought the same: Lin Quan senior has strong attacking abilities, but his defensive abilities have always been his weak point.
He's coming to defend against me, most likely to buy time for his teammates.
I can't let him hold me back, I must get past him quickly.
Thinking this, Son Heung-min used his left foot to flick the ball, preparing to speed past the sideline.
Lin Quan saw his movement, didn't rush to tackle, but immediately chose to block his position, not giving Son Heung-min time to overtake.
Son Heung-min was about to make his move, ready to break through, but unexpectedly, the opponent reacted so quickly.
He didn't have time to adjust and collided head-on with Lin Quan.
The two had a height difference of 10 centimeters, and Son Heung-min was the one who initiated the collision.
In theory, he should have knocked Lin Quan down, but surprisingly, it was Son Heung-min himself who fell.
Lin Quan only took a step back from the collision, not falling to the ground.
The Hamburg home fans were in an uproar, unable to understand why their winger lost in a physical confrontation?
Clearly, their winger seemed to have the advantage!
They didn't know that although Lin Quan was shorter than Son Heung-min, his weight was almost the same as his.
Being shorter meant a lower center of gravity, coupled with the defensive techniques he learned from Guardiola, he reasonably used his body, giving him the upper hand in physical confrontations.
Lin Quan's weight was almost catching up to Messi's weight. Messi's physical confrontation ability was not weak, otherwise, he wouldn't have scored so many goals or completed so many brilliant dribbles.
But his current weight was already enough. He couldn't continue to gain weight.
If he gained more weight, it would put enormous pressure on his ankles and knees, and it would also reduce his agility, affecting his speed.
Seeing Son Heung-min fall, the Korean fans in the stands protested loudly.
They believed that Lin Quan must have used foul play, otherwise, how could he stop their Son Heung-min?
"This guy, so despicable!"
"That's right, his playing style is too dirty!"
"Our Son Heung-min is too naive, if it were me, I would definitely give that guy an elbow and let him know how tough I am!"
Although the big screen at the venue showed a replay of the defense just now, Lin Quan's defensive action was clean and did not foul.
But the Koreans turned a blind eye to this, still clinging to their own opinions.
Ten minutes later, Son Heung-min dribbled past the flank again, and Lin Quan confronted him for the second time.
"Here he comes again, our Son Heung-min will definitely pass that guy easily this time!"
The Korean fans were excited again, but halfway through their excitement, they stopped abruptly.
After learning from the previous lesson, this time Son Heung-min did not choose to slow down when encountering Lin Quan, but suddenly accelerated, not giving the opponent time to block him.
His speed had always been his trump card. As long as he used this trump card well, he didn't believe the opponent could still stop him?
However, Lin Quan really did it!
Seeing Son Heung-min preparing to dribble past him, Lin Quan judged his intention and decisively turned around, intercepting the ball before Son Heung-min and immediately sending a through pass to De Bruyne in the frontcourt.
De Bruyne made a beautiful lofted pass, assisting the returning Arnautovic, who headed the ball into the net.
The score became 2-0, and Werder Bremen had basically secured the victory.
Failing twice in a row, this left Son Heung-min's confidence greatly shaken.
The Korean fans on the sidelines also completely lost their fire.
This time, Lin Quan's defense didn't even touch Son Heung-min's jersey. Even though they had thick skins, they couldn't bring themselves to say that Lin Quan fouled again.
These few rounds of confrontation were enough to prove that Lin Quan and Son Heung-min were not players of the same level.
Son Heung-min couldn't defend against him, and couldn't break through either. In both offense and defense, he was completely suppressed by Lin Quan.
Among the tens of thousands of spectators at the scene, probably only Koreans would think that Son Heung-min is stronger than Lin Quan!
In the end, Werder Bremen won 3-0 away against Hamburg, and the Northern Derby of this season ended with Werder Bremen's complete victory.
After the match, Son Heung-min was somewhat downcast, seemingly deeply affected by this game.
Just as he lowered his head and prepared to leave the field, a green figure appeared in front of him.
"Let's exchange jerseys, okay?"
Lin Quan smiled at Son Heung-min. He didn't have much affection for Korean fans.
But he wouldn't take it out on the players because of this. Son Heung-min's character and ability were excellent, different from ordinary Korean players.
Such people, he didn't dislike.
"Senior Lin, I..."
Hearing Lin Quan wanting to exchange jerseys with him, Son Heung-min quickly took off his jersey.
But he felt a little embarrassed in his heart. He felt that his performance in this game was so bad that he didn't deserve to exchange jerseys with Lin Quan senior.
"Keep going, play well, I believe in you!"
Lin Quan repeated the words he said to him in the player tunnel.
After saying that, as if he remembered Duncan's famous saying, he patted the other's shoulder and added: "The future is yours!"
Son Heung-min was greatly encouraged, nodding heavily, feeling extremely excited to see Lin Quan's departing figure.
Lin Quan senior actually believes in me so much, and he even said the future is mine! Hehe, just thinking about it makes me a little excited! Wait, how old is Lin Quan senior this year? Son Heung-min suddenly remembered the other's age, and then felt a little messy in the wind...
(End of this chapter)