novelraw Chapter 289 - 71: Absolute Dead Angle! Bayern’s Bane! Peerless Hero! Dortmund’s Great Opportunity! Make Bayern Regret It
Chapter 289 - 71: Absolute Dead Angle! Bayern’s Bane! Peerless Hero! Dortmund’s Great Opportunity! Make Bayern Regret It
After the goal, Shahin excitedly rushed toward Wang Shuo.
"I knew you’d get that pass to me!"
Hearing this, Reus looked pitifully at their leader.
’Bro, we agreed I’d make a diagonal run into the six-yard box for your pass...’
While celebrating the goal with Shahin, Wang Shuo listened carefully to the stands.
’Still booing?’
After the restart, Dortmund continued to press the attack.
In the 35th minute, Wang Shuo suddenly dropped back to receive a pass from Foyelner.
Vienna Rapid’s midfielder, Boskovic, didn’t close him down immediately, giving Wang Shuo the chance to receive the ball and turn.
Receive, turn...
[Insight] and [Eagle Eye] allowed Wang Shuo to instantly see through the gaps in Vienna Rapid’s defense, and he sent a precise through ball with his right foot.
How clever was this pass?
Kuba made a late run, and as he charged into the right side of the penalty area, he caught up to the ball just ahead of the center-back. Without needing to adjust, he smashed a shot, sending the ball into Vienna Rapid’s goal once again.
2-0!
What do you call a silver-platter assist?
This is it!
Kuba was absolutely ecstatic.
"In that moment, I felt like Ronaldo!"
"Wang, you’re really our Beckham!"
Wang Shuo smiled and celebrated the goal with Kuba.
’Beckham’s long balls and crosses are amazing, but are his through balls really that good?’
Reus was frustrated again.
’Kuba and I both made forward runs at the same time...’
’Wang, why did you pass to Kuba and not me?’
’I’m your most loyal brother!’
Wang Shuo, however, was focused on the boos from the stands.
Although quite a few people were still booing, the sound was clearly much weaker.
Turning his head, Wang Shuo noticed the sulking expression of a slighted wife on Reus’s face.
"Marco, just you wait. I’ll set one up for you later."
He had to wait until the second half.
In the 53rd minute, Wang Shuo suddenly appeared between the left center-back, Lanewald Soma, and the left-back, Marcus Kaczor, to receive a diagonal pass from Kuba.
Receiving the ball side-on, he performed a one-touch move to get past Soma and broke into the right side of Vienna Rapid’s penalty area.
Facing the retreating center-back Marcus Hiekinen, Wang Shuo first came to a sudden stop, then abruptly accelerated again, dribbling straight for the goal and drawing out the goalkeeper, Paye.
Immediately after, Wang Shuo sent a square pass with his right foot.
The ball traveled precisely between Hiekinen and the goalkeeper Paye, rolling along the six-yard line to the left side of the small box.
Reus galloped up to meet it and slotted the ball into the net with a simple push.
3-0!
Wang Shuo had practically fed the goal to Reus on a silver platter.
At that moment, the young Dortmund star was finally satisfied and relieved!
Wang Shuo listened carefully again. The boos at Ernst Happel Stadium had finally stopped!
’Keep booing!’
’Why’d you stop?’
In the 60th minute, Dortmund began making substitutions.
The first player Klopp subbed off was none other than Wang Shuo, who had just completed a hat-trick of assists.
In the end, Dortmund secured a resounding 3-0 away victory against Vienna Rapid, getting their UEFA Europa League group stage campaign off to a flying start.
After the match, during the post-game summary, Wang Shuo received two messages from the system.
Received 7 Passive Value points.
Because this was his first official match in a European competition, the system awarded him a choice between one Passive Skill Card or 50 Passive Value points.
The two rewards were essentially the same, so Wang Shuo chose the 50 Passive Value points.
...
While Dortmund was defeating Vienna Rapid 3-0 in Vienna, Bayern was in Haifa, Israel, for an away match against Hapoel Haifa.
This was the first round of the Champions League group stage.
But that wasn’t the main point.
In last weekend’s *Der Klassiker*, didn’t Van Gaal substitute Gomez off at halftime?
After the match, many media outlets speculated about what exactly had happened in Bayern’s locker room during halftime.
But surprisingly, everyone at Bayern remained tight-lipped, not leaking a single word.
But come the midweek Champions League match, everyone noticed that Gomez was on the bench.
Olic was in the starting lineup.
And unexpectedly, against the Israeli team, Bayern Munich couldn’t get the job done in the first 65 minutes, failing to break through their opponent’s goal.
The trio of Ribery, Olic, and Robben, favored by Van Gaal, also failed to produce results.
Instead, it was after Gomez came on as a substitute in the 65th minute.
Less than a minute later, Bayern scored from a corner kick, with Van Bitten getting the goal.
In the 85th minute, Thomas Müller scored.
In the 88th minute, Gomez assisted Thomas Müller for another goal.
The young Bayern star completed his brace.
This sent the German media into an absolute frenzy.
Why was Gomez benched?
On what grounds was he benched?
The German media collectively launched an assault on Van Gaal.
But who was Van Gaal?
Was he the type to give in so easily?
Come the weekend, for the 6th round of the Bundesliga, Bayern hosted Nuremberg.
Van Gaal simply started both Gomez and Olic, deploying a 4-2-3-1 formation with Thomas Müller on the left wing and Ribery rotated out.
That sounds pretty good, right?
But for the entire first half, Bayern’s performance was a complete mess.
Forget scoring, they were almost caught on the counter by Nuremberg.
And then came Van Gaal’s baffling move.
At halftime, he substituted Gomez off for Ribery.
This time, he had truly poked the hornet’s nest.
Gomez was so furious he kicked a water bottle on the spot and stormed into the locker room.
Substituted at halftime for two league matches in a row.
This was an absolute, utter humiliation!
The Bayern fans at Allianz Arena were also very displeased.
Is this how you treat Germany’s number one center-forward?
But to their dismay, just ten minutes into the second half, Olic scored off an assist from Thomas Müller.
Afterwards, Nuremberg midfielder Gundogan assisted Choupo Moting for a goal, leveling the score.
But in the 82nd minute, Van Bitten scored again from a corner kick opportunity.
2-1!
Bayern won!
This left the fans across Germany, and especially the Bayern supporters, with very mixed feelings.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung went even further, publicly questioning Van Gaal.
"He is continuously eroding Gomez’s confidence. He is making Germany’s top center-forward start to doubt his own abilities!"
Moreover, ever since the season began, Van Gaal has failed to find a mature and stable tactical system, constantly changing things.
"This has left the players confused and unable to adapt!"
...
While Bayern was having problems, Dortmund was facing a major opportunity.
Unlike the Champions League, UEFA Europa League matches are held on Thursday nights.
Therefore, Dortmund’s 6th round Bundesliga match on the weekend was scheduled for the 20th, a Sunday.
In the league matches on Friday and Saturday, Hamburg drew 1-1 away at Frankfurt.
Bayer Leverkusen drew 0-0 at home against Werder Bremen.
The two teams ranked ahead of Dortmund had both drawn.
Now, they both had 14 points.
Dortmund had 12 points.
As long as they could beat Hannover 96 away and get 3 points, Dortmund would make a historic climb to the top of the table.
When was the last time Dortmund was at the top of the table?
The final round of the 2002 Bundesliga season.
Back then, under the leadership of Sommer, Dortmund pulled off a last-minute comeback to top the Bundesliga table and claim the championship title!
That was also Dortmund’s last moment of glory!
A full seven years!
For Dortmund’s fans, these seven years were undoubtedly a period of torment and pain.
As the team was departing for Hanover, Klopp even declared their slogan.
"We will go there and fight for all three points!"
Everyone at Dortmund was filled with ambition.
Chairman of the Board Watzke and Sporting Director Zorc even traveled with the team to Hanover to oversee this crucial match.
Countless Dortmund fans were also waiting with bated breath.
But in Hanover, Dortmund got off to a bad start, suffering heavy blows in the first half.