In a sense, Son Heung-min and Zhou Yi are actually very similar, and they can indeed be compared.

Both of them came to Germany in 2008.

Seventeen-year-old Zhou Yi went to Dortmund, while sixteen-year-old Son Heung-min went to Hamburg.

At that time, both of them were still unknown people in German football and did not attract everyone's attention.

Son Heung-min benefited from the opening policy of the Korean Football Association. As a member of the cooperation program between South Korea and the German Football Association, he was favored by the Hamburg Club and went to Germany to receive football training. At that time, a total of six Korean players were given the opportunity, of which Son Heung-min joined the Hamburg Football Club, and the other three joined Nuremberg.

Zhou Yi joined Dortmund's youth training camp because of a football reality show being spotted by the Dortmund club. At the same time, several other partners who participated in the reality show filming with him also joined different clubs and started their own different football lives.

After entering Hamburg, Son Heung-min received youth training in Hamburg and participated in second-team competitions. He accumulated a lot of competition experience. From 2008 to 2010, he grew up in Hamburg's youth training camp for two years.

Compared with him, Zhou Yi's path is more wild. Not long after he arrived at the Dortmund youth team, he went straight to U19 from U17 and represented U19 in the Youth League and Youth German Cup. He performed well and was transferred from the youth team to the first team in less than a season.

It can be said that from this point of view, Zhou Yi does show a stronger talent than Son Heung-min, and the development trajectory of the two people here is completely different.

Zhou Yi, who was promoted to the first team, only stayed dormant for less than half a season. He seized the opportunity in the game against Hoffenheim and became famous in one game. Then he gradually settled in the main position of Dortmund's first team. By the end of the season, Dortmund even let the original midfielder Shahin go for him. As it turned out, their decision was correct.

Although he lost Shahin, Dortmund then ushered in an era that belonged to them.

Winning the league championship and winning the Champions League for three consecutive seasons is the most glorious time in the history of the Dortmund club, and even the time it won the Champions League in the 1990s cannot be compared.

At this time, Zhou Yi not only quickly grew into the core of Dortmund, but also became a hot star in the world football world. It is wrong to say that "new star" is not right. Every summer, his name is inevitable to contact other wealthy clubs.

It's a coincidence that Zhou Yi confirmed his core position in Dortmund from the 2010-2011 season, and only has three seasons so far.

Son Heung-min won his first professional contract in his life, and he played in the Bundesliga for the first time on behalf of Hamburg's first team, and also in the 2010-2011 season.

In three years, Zhou Yi has become a hot star, and Son Heung-min has also grown little by little in Hamburg.

Now, Son Heung-min joins Leverkusen, and his transfer fee of 10 million shows his strength.

These two young people have now grown rapidly into leaders in their respective national teams. Therefore, the confrontation between them is the top-level confrontation between China and South Korea, and it is not a barely force.

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Before the game, the two were also asked by reporters about their impressions of each other.

"Son Heung-min? He is a very outstanding striker and very threatening. Klopp has reminded us to pay special attention to him in the game. Last season, he scored three of us in Hamburg and was a very powerful opponent." Zhou Yi said to the Korean reporter, which made the Korean reporter feel like he had eaten honey when he heard this. Being able to get Zhou Yi's evaluation, their vanity was greatly satisfied.

Zhou Yi didn't say that just to take care of the Koreans' face. He told the truth.

Klopp did remind them to pay attention to several players in Leverkusen's team, and Son Heung-min is one of them.

Zhou Yi is not unfamiliar with Son Heung-min. Before, he had played against Dortmund three times, starting twice and playing as a substitute. Son Heung-min scored three goals in these three matches, all of which were scored last season.

Among them, in the fourth round of the league last season, Dortmund lost 2:3 away to Hamburg. The culprit was Son Heung-min. He scored twice in the game and helped Hamburg win, giving Dortmund the first and only failure of that season.

It is precisely because of this history of confrontation that Klopp reminds everyone to pay attention to Son Heung-min.

After entering Leverkusen for the transfer this season, Son Heung-min started ten times, made a substitute once, scoring six goals, ranking third in the number of goals in Leverkusen, second only to forward partner Kislin who scored nine goals and midfielder Heiney Sam who scored seven goals.

Some Chinese journalists also went to interview Son Heung-min, wanting to hear his views on Zhou Yi.

In South Korea, Son Heung-min is an idol and superstar, but when talking about Zhou Yi, his attitude was quite respectful: "To me, he is not only a strong opponent, but also the pride of our Asian players, especially East Asian players. I also dream of one day achieving great achievements in the club like him."

It also made Chinese journalists feel happy when they heard it.

And no one thinks that Son Heung-min said so to coax them. Zhou Yi's achievements and status are there, and Son Heung-min is just telling the truth.

Although Zhou Yi is one year older than Son Heung-min and is only one season earlier than Son Heung-min, he can also be regarded as Son Heung-min's senior. Therefore, Son Heung-min's speech with such an attitude is not considered an insult to him.

No matter what opinions Korean fans have about China, they have no right to express their dissatisfaction in this matter.

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In addition to the contest between Zhou Yi and Son Heung-min, this game is also a "brother derby" between the Bend brothers - Lars Bend, the twin brother of Sven Bend, who played for Dortmund, also played in the midfield at Leverkusen.

Although both of them are midfielders, their positions and characteristics are different.

Sven Bend is a pure defensive midfielder with fierce defense, but lacks good offense and has no performance to show.

Lars Bend is a "BOX_TO_BOX" player, that is, a midfielder from the penalty area to the penalty area. He has excellent offense and defense, a tenacious style, a large coverage area, and a strong back and forth ability.

The battle between the two brothers will definitely become one of the highlights of this game.

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Originally, everyone's focus was on these things. But just one day before the competition began, an accident happened.

Reus was injured during training!

Although it is not that kind of very serious injury, I don't know if I can catch up with this game against Leverkusen.

Team doctor Dr. Braun’s advice is to not allow Reus to participate in the competition and take a break.

However, this game is very critical for Dortmund. If they lose to Leverkusen at home, they will be widened by the opponent and Bayern Munich, and the league championship may become a bubble.

But if Reus insists on playing with injury, we should consider the Champions League group stage in the away game to challenge Galatasaray in the middle of next week. That game is equally important and critical for Dortmund. If Reus is injured and beat Leverkusen, his injury will become serious, and he will miss the next game against Galatasaray, or miss more games, who will be responsible for the loss?

After thinking about it, Klopp finally put Reus on the roster. But he also agreed to Dr. Braun that he would not let Reus start. As for whether he wanted Reus to play as a substitute, it depends on the specific situation.

This can be considered a kind of practice. Considering the pressure taken by the head coach, Dr. Braun did not strongly stick to his advice, but instead acquiesced to Klopp's approach. Of course, he did not forget to say one more thing: "If possible, try not to let him play the game."

Reus, who was about to start, could not start, so his position was freed. So who can replace Reus' vacant position?

In the last away game, Mkhitaryan played the starter, but his performance was not satisfactory. Of course, although Mkhitaryan was a front midfielder, he could also play side fire, so it is not impossible to let him replace Reus. If there is no better choice, Klopp might have done so.

But now, there are actually better choices, and Klopp turned his attention to Yan Min.

Yan Min performed well in funds and continued to work hard in training. During his limited playing time, he showed convincing performance. Moreover, he was a wing player and was more suitable to replace Reus. The only problem is that he was better at playing on the left side, even though he was a right-footed player.

Of course, this is not a big problem in Klopp's opinion. Because Yan Min has changed positions and has not played on the right side in the game. His right foot can cut in and shoot in the left side, and when he switches to the right side, he can send a cross with good accuracy.
Chapter completed!