Chapter 124: Are You Really the Third Best in the World?
"Götze is indeed back!"
Seeing the opponent's starting lineup, Coach Shauf sighed, and any remaining trace of hope in his heart was completely shattered.
"It's good that Götze is back. It saves us from beating Dortmund only for the outside world to think we didn't win fair and square!"
Seeing Götze lively in the opponent's lineup, Lin Quan turned his head and said to De Bruyne, "When facing Dortmund players later, use the move I taught you!"
"Alright, don't worry. I'll surprise them!" De Bruyne nodded heavily, feeling eager to try.
At 7:30, with the referee's whistle, the last match of this round of the German Cup, the focus of the match, between Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund officially began!
After the kickoff, Dortmund, as usual, pressed Werder Bremen's defense with fierce pressing and quick running.
Just a month ago, they used this tactic to take revenge on Werder Bremen in the league, which filled the entire Dortmund team with confidence.
They felt they had found a way to limit Werder Bremen's attack, as long as they neutralized the opposing twin stars and continuously attacked the opponent's defense, it wouldn't take half time for the opponent to surrender.
They had won the last game on this pitch in this way, with a 5-2 victory.
With Reus absent in this game, the team's attacking firepower might be slightly lacking, but scoring two or three goals should be no problem.
Can Werder Bremen's fragile defense stop their attack?
Impossible!
In the first ten minutes of the game, the situation on the field was always Dortmund attacking Werder Bremen's goal.
Their aggressive pressing and high-speed tactics were indeed difficult to handle, even though Werder Bremen had been prepared, the players still struggled to keep up with Dortmund's rhythm after they accelerated on the pitch.
However, after learning from the last game's defeat, Werder Bremen made targeted adjustments for this game.
They assigned a player specifically to limit Dortmund's midfield organizer during defense, preventing the opponent from easily passing threatening balls.
Dortmund had two organizers, Kehl in the back and Götze in the front.
Kehl's position was too deep for effective limitation.
Werder Bremen simply ignored him and focused on Götze, who was the key figure today.
When Götze was near the center circle, De Bruyne restricted him.
If he continued to dribble forward, Werder Bremen's captain Fritz would join the pressure to force him to pass the ball.
This position was far from Werder Bremen's goal, and Götze's ability to pass threatening balls was not as strong as De Bruyne's.
His strength lay in his strong dribbling and ball control skills, which made him a forward, and he would utilize these advantages in open play.
And that was precisely Dortmund's strength.
However, Götze's physical confrontation ability was weak, and he wasn't good at creating chances in set-piece situations.
Werder Bremen couldn't slow down the entire Dortmund team, but they could slow down Götze alone.
In the first ten minutes of the game, although Werder Bremen appeared very passive on the field and was constantly besieged by the opponent, the home fans were also very worried. They sweated for their team every time the opponent took a shot.
But on the sidelines, at the Dortmund coaching bench.
Klopp's expression was not relaxed at all; instead, it looked very serious.
"Is Götze's performance today a bit abnormal? Could it be because he hasn't fully recovered from the flu?" said the assistant coach worriedly.
In the past ten minutes, Götze's performance had been mediocre, with nothing outstanding.
If it were an ordinary player, Klopp would never blame him, thinking that the opponent was playing poorly.
But for Götze, this was unacceptable!
He was Dortmund's number one star now; how could he give such a mediocre performance on the field?
If he wasn't in form, then Dortmund would have to rely solely on Lewandowski to win.
But if there was only one point of attack, it would be easy to defend against.
"His flu has already cleared up. The reason for his subpar performance is because the opponent has greatly restricted him, greatly reducing his space to move!" Klopp said, looking more and more uneasy, with his brows involuntarily furrowing.
Why did it feel like the way Werder Bremen played was somewhat familiar, very similar to Bayern Munich?
...
"Hehe, I wonder if Klopp has noticed our defensive tactics!"
On the home team's coaching bench, seeing Klopp standing on the sidelines with a frown, Shauf and several assistant coaches couldn't help but smile.
Klopp's feeling was correct; Werder Bremen's defensive tactics were indeed learned from Bayern Munich.
In the last round of the German Cup, Bayern Munich, in order to limit Lin Quan's performance, designed a mobile cage tactic with Martínez at its core specifically for him.
This tactic was very effective and gave Werder Bremen a lot of inspiration.
So, in this game, they implemented this tactic against Dortmund's main attack point.
Didn't the Dortmund side's media call Götze the third best player in the world after Messi and Ronaldo?
Then let's use tactics to deal with you as if you were the third best player in the world!
Götze felt that he was playing very poorly today; it seemed like there weren't many people defending against him.
But wherever he went, he felt like he was in an invisible cage, with almost all breakthroughs and passing directions being blocked by the opponent.
And whenever he hesitated, the opponent would immediately press him.
What was even more annoying was that during the press, the opponent also liked physical confrontations.
His physical confrontation ability was weak, and he was even inferior to De Bruyne.
But Götze considered himself a technical midfielder, earning his bread and butter with his skills, not his physique.
If he were to gain weight to improve his physical confrontation ability, it would lead to a decrease in his speed and agility, affecting his performance in attack.
But now, facing Fritz's press and shoving, Götze regretted it a bit.
If his physical confrontation ability were slightly stronger, he wouldn't have lost the ball under the opponent's press.
Fritz once again successfully took the ball from his feet and quickly passed it to the retreating De Bruyne.
After De Bruyne received the ball, before he could turn around, Dortmund's defender who was marking him had already rushed over.
Feeling the movement behind him, De Bruyne didn't receive the ball. Instead, he waited for the defending player to approach. In the instant the opponent rushed forward, De Bruyne used his supporting foot to cut the ball behind him and smoothly completed a 180-degree turn.
The defending player, due to the inertia of his forward sprint, couldn't adjust his position in time and was easily bypassed by De Bruyne.
After getting past the closest defender, De Bruyne's field of vision opened up. Within a five-meter radius around him, there was no one to threaten him.
For top playmakers like De Bruyne, in the absence of interference, they often deliver incredible passes.
Just like now, he spotted a defensive loophole in Dortmund's half and directly sent a precise long pass of over 40 meters.
The ball found its target!
Good pass!
Seeing De Bruyne's pass, Lin Quan mentally praised him and then sprinted towards the ball.
Dortmund's players obviously realized the danger. They quickly retreated while trying to intercept Lin Quan, competing with him for the ball.
Lin Quan's absolute speed wasn't fast, but his explosive power when starting was extraordinary.
By the time his speed had fully kicked in, Dortmund's players were just starting to move.
The competition between the two sides had already been decided in the first second; Lin Quan received De Bruyne's pass ahead of his opponents.
Seeing Lin Quan receive the ball, Yun Da Bremen's forward Arnautovic desperately squeezed into the opponent's penalty area.
Although unsure if Lin Quan would pass the ball to him, Arnautovic pushed forward just in case. If Lin Quan passed to him and he wasn't prepared, he'd blame himself.
Dortmund's defenders didn't initially see Arnautovic as a threat, but seeing him actively moving and charging in the penalty area, they felt a bit nervous:
Could the number 10 pass the ball to this big guy?
No way?
Just as they were thinking this, Lin Quan, dribbling the ball, glanced at Dortmund's penalty area, apparently looking for his forward's position.
Arnautovic, seeing Lin Quan searching for his position, became excited. His physical confrontations with the defenders became even more aggressive.
Dortmund's defenders initially didn't think Lin Quan would pass the ball to Arnautovic, but that one glance made them less confident.
So, the two center-backs stared at Arnautovic, afraid to give him a chance for a header.
In previous encounters, Arnautovic had created significant threats with his headers.
If they didn't focus on defending against him, he might score a header.
If a super striker like Lin Quan scored, the Dortmund defenders wouldn't feel too frustrated. They would console themselves: the opponent's strength was too strong, failing to defend was normal, didn't Bayern's defenders also fail?
But if Arnautovic, this big guy, scored with a header, they wouldn't be able to sleep for several days out of anger.
Seeing Arnautovic holding off the two central defenders, Lin Quan mentally praised him:
Arnautovic, well done. When I have connections in the future, I'll recommend you to the Chinese Super League for gold digging!
With no central defenders covering him, facing Dortmund's full-backs' defense, Lin Quan easily got past them with two feints.
Dortmund's captain Hummels realized the danger and rushed over to intercept Lin Quan.
But trying to defend at this moment was too late.
Moreover, if he left, there would be only one player next to Arnautovic.
Facing Hummels' defense, Lin Quan made a feint, causing Hummels to lose his balance, then swiftly chipped the ball into the penalty area, passing it to Arnautovic for real this time.
Arnautovic, seeing that Lin Quan didn't immediately pass to him, already understood that he wouldn't receive the ball. However, he still didn't give up his positioning and request in the penalty area, hoping to provide cover for his teammates with his effort.
Unexpectedly, when he thought his teammate wouldn't pass to him, Lin Quan actually passed the ball to him.
Not prepared, Arnautovic couldn't directly head the ball for a goal, so he chose to flick the ball with his head to the back post.
On that side, the other winger, Eliyah, rushed over, tackled the ball before the defending player could interfere, fell to the ground, and shot, kicking the ball into the goal.
"Lin, I'm sorry, I wasted your excellent pass!"
After his teammate scored a goal that should have been his, Arnautovic appeared somewhat guilty, actually running to Lin Quan to apologize.
"Hehe, it's okay. Your header assist was great. Be more prepared later, and I'll give you another good pass!"
Lin Quan also felt regretful, losing an assist due to Arnautovic's flick.
But seizing this opportunity to give the team a lead made him equally happy.
If Arnautovic had chosen to head for goal just now, he might not have beaten the goalkeeper's ten fingers.
So he didn't dwell on it, hugged Arnautovic, and then went to hug his teammates to celebrate.
"Beautiful!"
Seeing the team seize this counterattack opportunity and score a crucial goal, Shaaf was extremely pleased.
He had a feeling that both sides wouldn't score many goals in this match.
At this moment, any goal was crucial. Perhaps when the game ended, both sides would rely on this goal to determine the outcome.
The fans at the Weser Stadium were also excited after seeing this goal.
Previously besieged by Dortmund, coupled with the recent heavy defeat at home to the opponent, many fans felt that today's game was more ominous than lucky. Unexpectedly, they were the ones to score first.
While the fans breathed a sigh of relief, they couldn't help but start to imagine the future:
If they could win this game, both of Germany's strongest teams - Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund - would have been eliminated by them.
The remaining teams didn't seem as strong as them. They seemed to really have a chance to win the German Cup championship trophy!
It had been four years since Werder Bremen last won the German Cup. In a situation where the team couldn't win the league championship, winning the cup was significant for them.
If they could win this trophy, not only could they end their years of embarrassment without a trophy, but they could also directly get a ticket to the Europa League by virtue of this trophy.
However, the latter wasn't as important for Werder Bremen at this moment. As long as they maintained their position in the league, next season Werder Bremen would be able to represent the Bundesliga in the Champions League and compete with many top clubs on the European stage.
Thinking of the German Cup championship trophy, the fans became nervous.
They must hold on and not let the opponent equalize!
Trailing behind, Dortmund launched a more fierce counterattack.
The unexpected elimination of Bayern Munich made Dortmund see hope for defending the German Cup.
This season, their point gap with Bayern in the league was too big, basically declaring the failure of defending the league.
In this context, winning the German Cup was crucial for them.
Klopp's team needed enough honors to maintain the entire team and inspire players to be more active in fighting and attacking on the field.
If they fought for an entire season and ended up with nothing, the players would doubt their efforts in the past season.
Since they couldn't get anything, why fight so hard?
Dortmund relied on the spirit of fighting to defeat strong opponents one by one. If they lost this spirit, they would completely lose the ability to challenge Bayern.
A small team like Werder Bremen absolutely couldn't become an obstacle to them winning this trophy!
Dortmund's war chariot would ruthlessly crush the opponent!
(End of this chapter)