Chapter 126: Battle of the Real Men, Lewandowski, Don't Run!
"If only I hadn't gotten injured, then I could have helped the team on the field!"
In a certain residential house, a handsome blond young man sighed as he watched the live broadcast of the match on TV.
Watching Lin Quan sprinting across the field, Royce couldn't help but feel envious.
Why could this guy stay healthy all the time while he got injured four or five times in a single season?
There must be something wrong somewhere!
...
Despite Klopp having a heart-to-heart talk with Götze in the locker room, and Götze's efforts to break free from the cage the opposition had woven around him in the second half, his efforts yielded little result.
After more than half of the game, Werder Bremen's players became even more proficient in their defensive tactics, making Götze's struggles seem futile in their eyes.
Moreover, thanks to his excellent performance in the first half, Lewandowski became the focal point of Werder Bremen's attention.
Shafer brought in Pavlovic, the young defender they bought for a hefty €650,000 during the winter transfer window, specifically to mark Lewandowski.
Pavlovic was tall and physically fit, though not particularly skilled, he was very tenacious.
In the previous match against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, he had an outstanding performance against their striker Mandzukic.
Although the team conceded five goals to Bayern, he successfully limited Mandzukic's opportunities.
In that game, Bayern scored five goals, excluding Selassie's own goal, and none of those goals were related to Mandzukic.
In this aspect, this young player still had his strengths.
After Pavlovic came on, he immediately engaged in a fierce battle with Lewandowski.
Lewandowski had a hard time whenever he entered the penalty area, facing Pavlovic's harassment.
Pavlovic had just come on as a substitute, full of energy, and with his fierce fighting spirit, even if he was outplayed, he didn't get discouraged. Lewandowski could outplay him a thousand times, but Pavlovic treated him like his first love.
Lewandowski found him very annoying.
This guy's skills were very poor. With Lewandowski's dribbling skills and clever runs, it shouldn't have been difficult to shake him off.
But the problem was that this guy was like an indestructible cockroach, wherever Lewandowski went, he followed. If Lewandowski slowed down a bit, he would come to harass him, wanting to play this game of 'real men'!
What's more, this guy's actions were very clean; he would cling to you, but never foul.
Lewandowski was really annoyed, his temper was about to explode.
Götze was restricted, Lewandowski was locked down by a tough opponent.
Although Dortmund's players were working hard to launch attacks, their offensive became increasingly thunderous but ineffective, posing less and less threat to Werder Bremen's goal.
Now, even the fans at the Weserstadion could see it clearly: Dortmund had run out of tricks!
Dortmund's performance this season was far from impressive compared to last season.
In the league so far, Dortmund had lost four games, including to weaker teams like Hamburg and Wolfsburg, as well as strong teams like Schalke 04.
If losing to Schalke 04 in the Ruhr derby could be understood, then losing twice to Hamburg, and both times being heavy defeats, it was definitely because their tactics were being restricted by the opponents.
Last season, Dortmund's outstanding performance had made them the focus of study for Bundesliga teams.
So, at the beginning of this season, most teams faced with Dortmund played very conservatively, some even parked the bus and played ultra-defensively.
Facing this tactic, it was too difficult for Dortmund to win. Once the opponent stole a goal, they could lose the game.
And in this game, Werder Bremen adopted tactics learned from those teams that had beaten Dortmund before, summarizing a set of targeted tactics.
At present, it seemed that these tactics were having a good effect.
If Klopp's team wanted to become another powerhouse in the Bundesliga, they still had a long way to go.
At least, they needed to enrich the team's tactical approach and not continue relying solely on one strategy.
The reason why Bayern Munich was difficult to play against this season was not only because of the depth of their bench but also because of coach Heynckes' tailored coaching.
He would arrange different tactics according to the different characteristics of the players on the field, fully tapping into the potential of each player.
This made it difficult for his opponents to figure out Bayern's true playing style, and thus difficult to limit them.
However, Klopp didn't have time to think about all of this now.
He replaced a forward and a midfielder, continuing to strengthen the attack.
Two goals behind, at this point, only scoring could save the team.
If they could score a goal, it could boost the team's currently low morale.
With Dortmund's attacking strength, as long as the team's momentum was built up, not to mention being two goals behind, even being three goals behind would not be daunting.
The frenzied Yellow Wall was invincible on this planet!
Seibert was sent on a rescue mission and substituted into the match in the 67th minute.
His appearance relieved some pressure on Lewandowski, allowing him to find a great scoring opportunity in the 77th minute.
But unfortunately, due to being entangled by Pavlovic for tens of minutes, Lewandowski was in a bad state, and his shot surprisingly flew into the stands, causing a stir among the Dortmund fans.
Not just the fans, even Lewandowski himself held his head in frustration, unable to understand this missed shot.
When Klopp saw Lewandowski taking the shot, he clenched his fist, ready to celebrate.
But when he saw the ball flying into the stands, he froze for a moment, then turned around and punched the roof of the coach's bench.
The quality of the roof of the Weserstadion's coach's bench was quite good, so there was no problem after being punched. But Klopp's hand was in pain.
Although Klopp immediately put his hand behind his back and grabbed it tightly with the other hand, trying to maintain a calm expression on his face, his flushed face and still slightly trembling hand betrayed his inner feelings.
This punch must have hurt a lot!
"Dortmund's head coach Klopp seems to be a bit excited, and the camera on the sidelines captured the scene of him struggling with the roof of Werder Bremen's substitute bench."
Taking advantage of the dead ball time, several commentators in the commentary box took the opportunity to joke.
"Hehe, the team is passive on the field, Klopp is probably really angry, right?
However, getting angry with the roof of the Weserstadion is clearly not a wise choice. In this encounter, Klopp seems to be completely at a disadvantage, with no hope of winning."
As time passed by bit by bit, the Dortmund players on the field began to grow impatient.
In the 81st minute, De Bruyne was preparing to counterattack after receiving the ball, but Nuri Sahin couldn't grab the ball from behind, so in a moment of urgency, he directly pushed De Bruyne.
De Bruyne was just about to turn around to shake off, but with such a push, he immediately fell to the ground and slid forward for quite a distance on the grass.
Sahin already regretted his action when he made the move, but seeing the opponent's 'exaggerated' reaction, his anger surged up. He walked up, not to help De Bruyne up, but to question why he exaggerated his fall like that, was it to falsely accuse him and get him carded?
De Bruyne had just climbed up from the ground and hadn't steadied himself yet when Sahin pushed him down again.
Now, the Werder Bremen players were not happy.
The tough and silent Hunt flew up with a kick, directly aiming at Sahin's chest.
Sahin hurriedly dodged but still got kicked on the side of his body by the opponent, letting out an exaggerated scream and diving to the ground in a more exaggerated posture than De Bruyne's earlier dive.
Hunt's action aroused the dissatisfaction of Dortmund fans, and they quickly surrounded him, ready to beat him up.
The Werder Bremen players couldn't let their teammate be bullied!
Moreover, this whole thing started with Dortmund players getting physical first.
So, they also rushed up, and both sides erupted into a large-scale pushing match on the field, seemingly about to escalate into an all-out brawl.
The main referee was about to rush over and give Sahin a yellow card, but after seeing Hunt's action, he decisively pulled out the red card and sent him off.
The Werder Bremen players were not happy with the referee's decision because he only punished Hunt, not the Dortmund players.
The referee showed a yellow card to the protesting Werder Bremen players, then immediately pulled out a red card and went towards the instigator of the conflict.
Sahin tried to explain to the referee, but with a grim face, the referee ignored his explanation and directly showed him the red card, sending him off as well.
Both sides had a central midfielder sent off, reducing the number of players on the field to 10 each.
The situation didn't seem to change much, and neither side suffered much.
However, this conflict lasted for a full five minutes before it finally subsided. By the time the main referee managed to calm the situation on the field, the game was almost over.
In the final minutes, Dortmund players still tried to launch attacks, but under the cohesive defense of Werder Bremen, they couldn't break through and ultimately had to accept the result of losing away.
As the main referee blew the final whistle, the Weser Stadium turned into a sea of joy.
Countless Werder Bremen fans cried tears of joy as their team made it to the semi-finals!
And the opponents who also made it to the semi-finals were all determined, Werder Bremen would face Wolfsburg in the next match.
If they could eliminate Wolfsburg, they would enter the final again after four years.
And their final opponent would be determined from the matches between Stuttgart and Freiburg.
Undoubtedly, this year was the one with the highest hope for Werder Bremen to win the German Cup.
All the traditional strong teams in the Bundesliga had already been eliminated, and Werder Bremen was the strongest among the remaining four teams!
As soon as the match ended, reporters surrounded Lin Quan on the sidelines, wanting to interview him.
Having crossed the mountains of Dortmund and successfully reached the semi-finals, Lin Quan was in a good mood, so he readily accepted the reporters' interview request.
"Lin, how do you feel now? Before this match, did you ever think that you could win against Bayern Munich and Dortmund consecutively and advance to the semi-finals of the German Cup?"
Lin Quan smiled and shook his head:
"To be honest, if someone had told us before the game that we would encounter the two giants of the Bundesliga in the next two rounds, I'm afraid no one would have thought we had a chance of winning."
Seeing Lin Quan's sincere answer, the reporters were also surprised and continued to ask:
"So, what do you think Werder Bremen relied on to overcome these two giants and reach the semi-finals?"
"Of course, it's relying on the full preparation of the entire team, tenacious struggle, teamwork, and of course, a little luck."
The reporters laughed. It was easy to talk about this match against Dortmund, but for the previous match against Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen could win mostly thanks to their good luck.
However, seeing Lin Quan not being arrogant and attributing the credit to the whole team, the reporters admired him.
"Lin, now that you've reached the semi-finals, and the strongest opponents have been eliminated, do you have confidence in winning the championship?"
"If I say we don't have confidence in winning the championship, you will definitely accuse me of hypocrisy!"
Lin Quan's words made some reporters feel a bit awkward, as they indeed had such intentions.
"Yes, our goal is to reach the final and win the championship. This is not because we disrespect our opponents, but because we have a championship mentality. Our desire for the championship is no less than anyone else's. No one can stop us!"
The reporters were very surprised. Lin Quan was usually low-key and rarely made such bold statements.
But today, he declared his intention to win the championship!
They realized that this would be an explosive piece of news.
Sure enough, the next morning, Lin Quan saw the newspaper subscribed by Mr. William on the dining table.
The front page headlines of the newspaper mostly related to the German Cup matches:
"Championship Declaration, Werder Bremen's Number 10 Vows to Bring the Championship Trophy Back to Bremen!"
"Lin Quan: I'm Already Considering the Opponent for the Final!"
There were also some discussions about Werder Bremen's outstanding performance this season:
"Grassroots Counterattack? How Did Werder Bremen Eliminate the Two Bundesliga Giants Bayern and Dortmund Successively?"
"Parrot Legion's Strong Revival, or Recapturing Past Glory?"
"Will the Pattern of the Bundesliga Change? What Does Werder Bremen's Rise Bring to Us?"
Of course, because there was some discordant scene in this match and Klopp, unable to vent after losing, took the opportunity to vent his anger at Werder Bremen, the reporters seized the opportunity to report on this matter extensively:
"Klopp Criticizes Werder Bremen's Rough Play, Suggests Werder Bremen Rename to Boxing Legion!"
"Dortmund Will Choose to Appeal and Request Strict Punishment for Foul Players!"
"From the Field to the Boxing Ring, Werder Bremen and Dortmund Almost Engage in a Full-scale Conflict!"
The last report made Lin Quan somewhat embarrassed because some unscrupulous reporters put him in the center of the layout, making him look like a bully on the field!
Seeing this photo, Lin Quan felt even more wronged than Dou E!
I mean, buddy was there to break up the fight, not to start one!
Okay, I did want to punch Sahin to stand up for De Bruyne.
But after this guy got kicked down by Hunt, he just lay there rolling around. I didn't even get a chance to punch him!
And then I go to break up the fight, and you take a picture of me looking all fierce and evil?
What a sinister intention!
But to be honest, this photo looks pretty badass!
In the photo, Lin Quan protected De Bruyne behind him, glaring fiercely at the Dortmund players who wanted to trouble De Bruyne, like an old hen protecting her chicks!