Chapter 128: Enjoying Treatment Like a Top Star!
After breaking into the penalty area, Lin Quan saw the opposing goalkeeper and two defenders all charging towards him, while Petersen on the other side was in an open position.
So he feigned a shot and made a real pass, giving his teammate the opportunity to score, and seizing the chance to notch an assist.
Petersen didn't waste Lin Quan's exquisite pass. With a side-footed shot, he put the ball into the net, helping the team take the lead.
Werder Bremen changed the score to 1-0 in the 23rd minute of the first half, temporarily leading by one goal.
After scoring, Petersen was very excited. He ran to the corner flag, took off his shirt, raised his arms to the crowd, asking for applause.
Werder Bremen's fans cooperated well, immediately giving him warm applause and cheers.
A few nearby female fans even flirted with him, making Petersen so excited he almost wanted to dance.
After confirming the goal's validity, the main referee pulled out a yellow card, expressionless, and walked up to Petersen, showing him the first yellow card of the match.
Lin Quan lifted Petersen's shirt off the ground, handing it to him to put on quickly. Celebrating by taking off one's shirt after scoring was sure to earn a yellow card, and Petersen should have known the consequences before making that move.
So Lin Quan didn't say anything, but the coach Sharf on the sidelines frowned slightly.
"Petersen has received several yellow cards this season?"
"Um, it was four before this, so with this one, it's five."
"Which means he'll be suspended for accumulation of yellow cards in the next match?"
"That's right!"
Sharf massaged his forehead, feeling a bit speechless.
Petersen's performance in the last few matches had gradually improved, and Sharf had planned to give him more playing time.
But this guy wasn't paying attention to his actions on the field, and now, with the next match suspension, he couldn't even give him the chance.
Petersen didn't know he would be suspended for the next match. After scoring, he was very active, running around like a slippery eel in the frontcourt, disrupting Augsburg's defense.
His efforts paid off, as his high activity level led Augsburg's players to strengthen their defense against him.
But as a result, Lin Quan on the other side was freed up.
In the 42nd minute of the first half, Werder Bremen launched another deadly counterattack.
Similar to the previous counterattack, after winning the ball back, Werder Bremen's players quickly passed the ball forward to the front line.
Augsburg's defensive line in midfield was like paper, easily penetrated.
Lin Quan dribbled into the penalty area, with Petersen and Falkrug also in position for support.
Werder Bremen formed a three-on-three attack in the frontcourt!
Augsburg's players thought Lin Quan would pass like last time, so one went to mark Arnautovic, one to mark Petersen who had just scored, leaving only one defender to face Lin Quan.
Lin Quan saw the opponent's choice and immediately smiled.
After deceiving the defender with a fake pass, he quickly dribbled past him, breaking through one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper rushed out but halfway through saw Lin Quan raise his foot as if to pass.
He immediately braked, preparing to intercept the pass.
But it was another fake move!
Seeing the goalkeeper fooled, Lin Quan didn't hesitate to slot the ball into the far corner. The goalkeeper hurriedly dived to save, but he was too slow. Before he hit the ground, the ball had rolled into the net.
After conceding two goals in a row, Augsburg's players were dumbfounded.
They couldn't believe the result of this match! Clearly, they had been besieging the opponent's goal.
But they hadn't scored a goal in half of the attack, while the opponent had only launched a few counterattacks and scored two goals.
The efficiency of these goals was simply outrageous!
This made them somewhat unable to accept it!
Why did the opponent have such good luck?
If they had lost to a fully fit Werder Bremen, Augsburg wouldn't have much to complain about.
But the problem was, the current Werder Bremen was a sick tiger!
Their players seemed lethargic and out of form.
To concede two goals in this state, Augsburg's players couldn't accept it.
What's worse, after being hit by the opponent's two sneak attacks, Augsburg's players' mentality underwent a significant change. Some players were angry and couldn't accept the scoreline.
So they wanted to continue attacking vigorously, trying to equalize or even surpass the score.
But some were scared by the quality of the opponent's counterattacks and dared not continue attacking, afraid of conceding more goals.
In this conflicting mindset, it was difficult for the team to unify their thoughts.
As a result, they couldn't score and couldn't defend.
Augsburg's players' performance on the field became even worse than before!
On the home team's coaching bench, seeing the opponent in disarray, Sharf breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed like this game was in the bag!
In this game, most of Werder Bremen's players were indeed out of form, so he substituted Falkrug and Petersen to join Lin Quan in the frontcourt, creating a lineup of three energetic attackers.
With excellent counterattacking tactics and three energetic attackers in the frontcourt, they turned the overall disadvantage into a local advantage.
So far, this tactic seemed to be working well.
In the end, with the excellent performance of the front trio, Werder Bremen won the match 2-0 at home, securing victory in this game.
After winning this game, the team finally got through the physical bottleneck.
A week later, Werder Bremen visited Borussia-Park Stadium to challenge Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Compared to their previous poor performance, Werder Bremen's players seemed to have resurrected.
After 90 minutes, the scoreboard read 1:3 in favor of the home team.
The Parakeets triumphed over Borussia Mönchengladbach at their home ground, securing two consecutive wins.
With this game concluded, Werder Bremen further extended their lead on the points table.
Currently, they stand at 18 wins, 3 draws, and 4 losses, totaling 57 points, placing them second in the Bundesliga.
Borussia Dortmund has 13 wins, 7 draws, and 5 losses, accumulating 46 points, securing third place.
Bayer Leverkusen has 13 wins, 6 draws, and 6 losses, gathering 45 points, ranking fourth.
Werder Bremen's lead over the two teams behind them exceeded 10 points. With 9 rounds left in the league, and without facing powerhouses like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund again, their lead can be considered significant.
However, despite their second-place ranking, Werder Bremen is far behind the top and hardly harbors any hopes of winning the title.
This season, Bayern Munich's form has been exceptional!
After 25 rounds, they have 21 wins, 3 draws, and 2 losses, totaling 66 points, comfortably leading the league by 9 points over Werder Bremen in second place!
They are a staggering 20 points ahead of last season's champions, Borussia Dortmund!
Without Werder Bremen disrupting the league, Bayern could have clinched the title six or even seven rounds earlier.
After experiencing several seasons of turmoil and decline, it seems that this season, the Bundesliga giants have rediscovered the secret to dominating the league.
The media in Bayern Munich's camp has started singing praises, hailing the team's revival and anticipating the dawn of a new Bayern dynasty.
However, other German media outlets express concern, believing that Bayern's dominance is detrimental to the overall development of the Bundesliga.
In the top five European leagues, apart from the Bundesliga, there's hardly any league dominated by a single team.
The Premier League has the BIG 6, La Liga boasts two major powerhouses, and in recent seasons, Atletico Madrid has emerged as a threat to the dominance of Barcelona and Real Madrid.
As for Serie A, with Lyon's decline in dominance, teams like Bordeaux, Lille, Marseille, and Montpellier have all claimed titles, creating a chaotic situation where several teams compete for the crown.
Only in the Bundesliga, Bayern reigns supreme, while other teams merely flash in the pan, unable to shake their dominance.
The promising Borussia Dortmund of the previous two seasons has seen a rapid decline in form this season, plummeting in the standings.
They have been overtaken by Werder Bremen, whose squad strength is far inferior, causing quite a surprise.
In this context, the Bundesliga is considering promoting fairer financial policies to limit Bayern's poaching activities in the league, allowing other teams to retain their stars and compete with Bayern.
However, these issues are irrelevant to Werder Bremen. They don't have the money or big-name players in their squad.
Lin Quan and De Bruyne are not their players and can't be retained, so they don't worry about being poached.
A week later, Werder Bremen faced the challenge of Clover Field of SC Paderborn at home.
Paderborn, newly promoted to the Bundesliga this season, immediately faced the threat of relegation.
After playing most of the season, Paderborn currently has 2 wins, 8 draws, 15 losses, with a meager 14 points, ranking last on the table and trailing the fourth-last team by a whopping 15 points!
Unless a miracle happens, they have basically secured a relegation spot.
Facing the second-placed Werder Bremen, the players of SC Paderborn were still determined, striving to secure a point away from home.
But their dreams were soon shattered.
Before the end of the first half, Werder Bremen had already scored 2 goals, courtesy of Lin Quan and Phil Krug.
Twenty minutes into the second half, Lin Quan scored again, making it 3:0.
After this goal, Werder Bremen began to ease off.
Lin Quan and others were substituted one after another.
Paderborn seized the opportunity to launch attacks and scored a face-saving goal, but it ended there.
Ultimately, Paderborn lost to Werder Bremen 1:3 at home, suffering their third consecutive defeat.
After this game, the visiting Paderborn fans were reluctant to leave. Their team now only has theoretical hopes of avoiding relegation.
...
After finishing the league season, the FIFA match days arrived.
Next week, Spain has two World Cup qualifying matches, including an away game against their biggest rivals, the French team.
So, as soon as the league ended, Lin Quan hurried back to Spain to report to the national team.
"Look, isn't that Lin?"
"Wow, it's really him!"
"Lin, could you give me an autograph? I'm your fan!"
Unlike the last time he reported to the national team, this time, as soon as Lin Quan arrived outside the national team training base, he was recognized by the fans and warmly welcomed.
The enthusiasm of Spanish fans startled Lin Quan. He didn't realize he had such popularity in Spain.
After hurriedly signing autographs and taking photos with the fans for half an hour, Lin Quan finally broke free from the crowd with the help of the base staff.
"Lin, you shouldn't sign autographs outside the stadium, it's too dangerous!"
Seeing Lin Quan safely escape, Coach Tony, who came over to inquire, breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but remind him.
"Yeah, I got it, thanks for the reminder, Coach Tony!"
Before, he didn't know about his popularity in the national team, so he didn't realize how serious it was.
But now he knows, he won't get off the bus outside the base next time.
"Lin, you're back!"
"I just heard such a big commotion outside, I was wondering which star was coming, and sure enough, a star did come!"
As soon as he entered the training base, several national team teammates came forward to greet him.
Some of them, who had a good relationship with him, even gave him a hug.
This reminded Lin Quan of when he first reported to the national team, with Pique introducing him to the other players.
In just half a year, everything had changed.
Among his teammates, Morata had the best relationship with Lin Quan.
After warmly embracing Lin Quan, Morata patted his muscular chest and marveled, "Not bad, kid, you've grown even stronger since last time, impressive!"
"Hehe, you're still a bit better than me. I heard you played for Real Madrid and even scored a goal. Is that true?"
"Of course, hehe, not many goals, just three, but each goal is worth its weight in gold!"
Morata was a little proud. He felt his position within the Real Madrid team was slowly improving.
Last season, he only played once for Real Madrid and didn't score.
But this season, he had already played 15 times for Real Madrid and scored several goals.
This made Morata look forward eagerly to next season. Could he secure a regular starting position at Real Madrid and score more goals?
With rumors of Argentine forward Higuaín possibly leaving in the summer transfer window, Morata's chances of playing next season will definitely increase significantly.
Morata had just turned 20, which, for a player of his age, playing for a top club like Real Madrid was already quite remarkable.
And he's still young, with plenty of room for improvement, which is why Real Madrid sees potential in him.
However, every time Morata thought of the word "young," he couldn't help but look at Lin Quan in front of him.
Hiss! This guy, three years younger than himself, can actually start for both Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga and the Spanish national team! What kind of monster is he!
(End of this chapter)