The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

Chapter 281 - 70: National Derby! Van Gaal Has Gone Mad! A German’s Dream Is Shattered! The Makings of a Grand Comeback?

Losing a match costs you three points at most, but if you make a substitution in the first half and fall out with a player, that’s like planting a time bomb in the locker room. You could even lose the entire season.

Besides, while a first-half substitution makes the player the scapegoat, it also admits that the manager’s starting tactics and lineup were flawed.

That’s why managers would rather watch their team concede goal after goal in the first half than make a substitution.

Even substitutions during the halftime break are rare.

Especially when it involves a star player.

No matter what, you have to give them until at least the 55th or 60th minute.

But when everyone from Dortmund returned to the pitch, they were all stunned to see that Bayern had actually made substitutions.

Up front, number 33 Gomez was replaced by number 11, Olic.

Even Wang Shuo was shocked.

What was even crazier was that Van Gaal didn’t just make one change.

Thomas Müller came on for the holding midfielder, Tymoshchuk.

Bayern was switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation!

Madness!

Van Gaal must have gone mad!

Klopp obviously realized something was wrong. He immediately went to the sideline and shouted to his players, signaling for them to play a bit more cautiously and focus on defense in the second half.

"Wang."

Wang Shuo heard his coach’s shout and looked over, seeing Klopp making hand signals at him.

The general meaning was for him to put more pressure on Bayern’s defensive line.

Wang Shuo raised a hand to show he understood.

When he looked back at the stadium’s big screen, the camera was focused on the stands.

The expressions on the faces of both Rummenigge and Hennes were clearly unnatural.

This was Mario Gomez we’re talking about!

Germany’s number one center-forward!

The top domestic scorer whom Bayern had spent 30 million euros to sign.

And Van Gaal had subbed him off at halftime.

Anyone could imagine what must have happened in Bayern’s locker room during the break.

This was bound to be a huge news story after the match.

...

Regardless of what had happened in Bayern’s locker room, their entire attack changed dramatically after the second half began. Their midfield and forward line, in particular, became extremely aggressive.

As soon as Dortmund kicked off, Bayern immediately pressed forward.

At this point, Bayern seemed to be in a 4-2-3-1, but in reality, Olic’s and Thomas Müller’s positions were very fluid.

Ribery’s and Robben’s positions weren’t fixed either.

This created huge problems for Dortmund’s defense.

Just five minutes into the second half, Lahm surged forward on the right flank and sent a precise through ball to the feet of Thomas Müller upfield.

And where was Thomas Müller?

He had appeared on the right wing, where Robben was supposed to be.

After receiving the ball, the young Bayern player turned and sent a pass in behind the defense.

Someone made a quick diagonal run from the right side of the penalty arc toward the right byline.

The number on the back of his jersey was 7.

Ribery!

When Ribery received Thomas Müller’s pass on the right side, just outside the box, he blew past Hummels and sent a cross from the byline to the center.

Olic tried to get on the end of it in front of goal, but with Subotic pressuring him, he couldn’t get a touch.

The ball slid past the face of the goal inside the six-yard box.

But at the far post, the number 10, Robben, rushed in and tapped it into Dortmund’s net.

2-3!

Everyone was completely stunned!

But Bayern’s attack continued.

After the kickoff, Bayern continued to launch a fierce assault on Dortmund.

Up front, Olic, Ribery, Robben, and Thomas Müller relentlessly pressed Dortmund’s midfield and defense.

But the Bumblebees were no pushovers.

Bayern’s high press naturally exposed problems in their own back line.

The double pivot of Schweinsteiger and Van Bommel, in particular, wasn’t providing enough protection for the defense.

Just four minutes after Robben’s goal, Dortmund launched a swift counter-attack.

Shahin collected the ball just past the 30-meter line in his own half and switched it with his left foot to the right wing, finding an unmarked Kuba.

Kuba immediately cut inside toward the penalty area with the ball.

The entire attacking route was a carbon copy of Wang Shuo’s second goal in the first half.

But just as he reached the right side outside the penalty arc, Wang Shuo, with his back to the box, suddenly pointed to the space in front of him.

Kuba immediately passed it horizontally into the Arc Top District and then sprinted forward himself.

Wang Shuo took a step forward, evading Badstuber and Van Bitten. He trapped the ball with the inside of his right foot, took another step forward, and then back-heeled it with his left foot toward the penalty area.

Badstuber and Van Bitten had both followed Wang Shuo forward, terrified of giving him a chance to turn and face the goal.

But they never expected the sudden back-heel. The ball went straight between the two center-backs and landed to the right of the penalty spot.

After sprinting forward, Kuba caught up to Wang Shuo’s back-heel pass and blasted it with his right foot!

"GOOOOAL!!!!"

80,000 Dortmund fans roared in unison once more!

"4-2!"

"Dortmund score again!"

"An incredibly imaginative back-heel assist from Wang Shuo!"

"Another swift counter-attack!"

"Bayern were attacking too aggressively. Their defense made a serious error, giving Dortmund the chance to counter."

...

The start of the second half was almost a carbon copy of the first.

After Dortmund scored again, Bayern showed no signs of backing down. Instead, they became even more ferocious.

Especially up front.

Their pressure on Dortmund was even more intense than before.

In the 65th minute, Robben received a pass from Lahm on the right wing and kept dribbling at De De, forcing him to retreat.