On October 19, in the third game of the Champions League group stage, Dortmund challenged Greek team Olympiacos away.

In the end, Dortmund, who was strong and in excellent form, defeated Olympiacos 3-1 away. Zhou Yi completed an assist.

Half the group stage, Dortmund won three games and ranked first. This made the seed Arsenal a little embarrassed...

Arsenal now has six points and less than Dortmund's three-pointer, but they are not without a chance. They still have a game against Dortmund at home.

As long as they can beat Dortmund at home, they still have the chance to win the first place in the group.

Back in Germany, Dortmund welcomed his opponent Cologne at home in the league.

In this game, Zhou Yi was in excellent form. He gave two assists to help Dortmund defeat Cologne 5-0 at home.

Bayern Munich lost 1:2 away to Hannover in this round of the league, which revealed an upset.

In this way, Dortmund is only one point behind Bayern Munich.

At the beginning of the season, everyone thought that Dortmund was easy to play and defend the league, and it was not easy to defend the league championship. Bayern Munich would never allow Dortmund to steal the league championship for two consecutive years.

But now it seems that the experts' predictions are not correct...

The league has just begun ten rounds, and Dortmund began to exert its strength after the ups and downs at the beginning of the season. It gradually caught up with Bayern Munich and stared at Bayern Munich behind it.

After the league, Dortmund ushered in the second round of the German Cup, and their opponent was Dresden, a team ranked tenth in the Bundesliga.

This time, Klopp fully learned from the lessons learned from last season. Although he had a rotation, he did not replace all the main players in one breath. At least Zhou Yi is still on the court.

Zhou Yi scored a goal in this game, helping Dortmund eliminate Dresden 2-0, and finally did not repeat the mistakes of last season.

Last season, Dortmund was unexpectedly eliminated by Offenbach's kickers in this German Cup. This season, they can at least go further than last season.

Back to the league, maybe it was because of the recent period that I had been a little tired of the double matches for a row of consecutive weeks, maybe it was because I was in good shape before and needed adjustments.

In short, Dortmund was tied 1:1 by Stuttgart away in the 11th round of the league.

Bayern Munich beat Nuremberg 4-0 at home.

The difference between the two teams widened to three points again.

The competition between these two teams in the league will continue. Obviously, Bayern Munich is not that easy to give up. After all, the Bundesliga is their back garden. If you want them to give up the league championship, you have to make great efforts.

In the Champions League, Dortmund remained strong, and they easily defeated Olympiacos 3-0 at home. After the four-round group stage, Dortmund played four sounds in four games and accumulated 12 points. Since Marseille, the third in the group, was unable to defeat Arsenal away, Dortmund won the right to qualify in the group in advance.

Now Dortmund is 12 points, and Arsenal is ranked second with seven points because of his handshake with Marseille, while Marseille is only four points, ranking third. With two rounds left in the group stage, Marseille cannot pull Dortmund down anyway. Their only hope is to squeeze out Arsenal and become the second in the group.

But Arsenal will naturally not give up.

Arsenal now has seven points, five points less than Dortmund. As long as they can maintain a complete victory in the last two group matches and Dortmund loses all of the next two games, they can replace Dortmund as the first in the group.

But honestly, this probability is too small.

First, they will defeat Dortmund at home in the next group stage, and then expect Dortmund to lose to Marseille at home in the last group stage...

The fact that defeating Dortmund at home may not be difficult for Arsenal, and Arsenal also has this confidence.

But Dortmund lost to Marseille in the last game...it was not something they could control. And Dortmund was not stupid either. Of course, they understood the importance of the first place in the group. How could they lose to Marseille in the last round when the situation was very good?

※※※

In the 12th round of the league, Dortmund faces Wolfsburg at home, and Bayern Munich challenges Augsburg away.

Before this game, Dortmund Club received a fax from the Chinese Football Association.

The content of the fax surprised Klopp.

Because China hopes to allow Zhou Yi to play for a while less in the game against Wolfsburg, it would be even better if he could play as a substitute.

In the fax, they also explained in detail the reasons for making such a request.

This is because there will be a very critical game for the Chinese national team in the future. The Chinese team will challenge the Iraqi team away.

In the Asian qualifiers of the World Cup, the current situation in which the Chinese team is in is Jordan, with two wins, one draw, seven points, the Chinese team ranks second with one win, two draws, five points, Iraq, one draw, one loss, four points, and Singapore, with zero points, all three games.

Because each group is the top two qualified to advance to the top ten, if the Chinese team wants to qualify from this group, Iraq, which is only one point away from them, must fight to the death. Failure to win Iraq at home is enough to make the Chinese team feel nervous. If they lose to Iraq away, the Chinese team will have to fight Jordan in the last round, and it also depends on the results of the game between Iraq and Singapore.

In order to qualify smoothly, of course, it is the best result to win away games or draw with Iraq.

That's why this game is so important.

China hopes that Zhou Yi can maintain a relatively good physical condition in this game. In the last game, the Chinese team was tied by Iraq at home. Some analysts pointed out that Zhou Yi's physical condition was not at its best. After all, he played in the club every game, in the league and the Champions League, and had to play games across the entire Eurasian continent, which was indeed easy to get tired.

Generally speaking, players will be required by the club to play from the national team and will only play half-time, and the national team will abide by such an agreement. The national team will give the club the requirement that players play less club games. This is the first time...

Klopp originally planned to refuse because there is no such precedent. The club is the one who pays players' wages and is qualified to decide whether the players play games and how long it takes. It is not the national team to make a move. Moreover, the club will in turn worry that the national team will overuse players, which will cause players to be injured in national team games. The current regulations are that players are injured in national team games, and the national team will compensate the club.

How did Mark Wagner, Dortmund's main shooter, get injured? Wasn't he injured while participating in the national team competition?

On the one hand, the club has to pay the players, and on the other hand, the players are injured in the national team, and the club has to spend money to treat them. When the players are unable to play due to injuries, the club has to pay the salary, and no penny is left. Players can easily make money by lying on the hospital bed... Is there anything more unreasonable than this?

But Klopp thought about it and called Zhou Yi aside alone at the training ground, and then handed the national team's fax to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi quickly scanned it, and Klopp asked, "I want to hear your opinion, Zhou Yi. What do you think?"

Zhou Yi took the fax and thought for a while and said, "The one who signed the contract with me was the Dortmund Club, and the one who gave me an annual salary, and the one who gave me the bonus was also the Dortmund Club."

Klopp thought that Zhou Yi was unswervingly standing on the interests of the club, but he didn't expect that Zhou Yi would change the subject next.

"But as a Chinese player, playing for the country is the duty. Besides... the World Cup is very important for Chinese football, and I don't want to have any regrets."

Zhou Yi's words were not very direct and a little tactful, but Klopp nodded: "I understand."

The World Cup is a dream for all professional players. It is normal for Zhou Yi to have such an idea. So how can we prevent the interests of the club and the players' own wishes from irreconcilable conflicts...

While Klopp was still considering this issue, Zhou Yi continued: "So I thought of a way that does not require harm to the interests of the club and can guarantee the interests of the national team. I wonder what you think, coach?"

"Huh? Let's talk about it." Klopp didn't expect that Zhou Yi had made a decision.

"It's me who played against Wolfsburg and then tried to secure the victory early so you can replace me in advance."

Klopp stared at Zhou Yi with wide eyes. He didn't expect that Zhou Yi would make such a suggestion.

Are you really confident enough to make such suggestions?

"What? Is this idea not good?" Zhou Yi asked when he saw that Klopp's expression was wrong.

Klopp, who came to his senses, shook his head and smiled, "No, this idea is very good!"

He gave a positive answer.
Chapter completed!