Champion’s Heart

After everything that needs to be done is done, players from both sides stand in their positions, waiting for the game to begin.

The referee of this game, Kralovic, blew the whistle to start the game.

At the beginning of the game, Manchester City players launched an aggressive attack towards Dortmund's goal.

They obviously hope to beat Dortmund at their home ground.

Because they lost to Real Madrid in the first group match, if they want to qualify from this death group, they must defeat every opponent at their home court, otherwise the situation will be very unfavorable to them.

Amid the cheers of the home fans, Manchester City continued to attack Dortmund's goal.

Although Dortmund's players had some expectations of what they would face at the Etihad Stadium, when Manchester City's attack really hit, they still felt that something was beyond their expectations.

Manchester City's fierce attack suppressed Dortmund's players. Although they had prepared before the game, the fierceness of Manchester City's offensive still made it difficult for them to cope with it.

Manchester City fans at the Etihad Stadium kept cheering excitedly to cheer their team on. They were all pleased with the fighting spirit the team showed after the game started.

Mancini, who was on the sidelines, was very satisfied with the team's performance. Although he told his players to pounce on Dortmund's goal after the game started and strive for an early goal. But the team's performance has completely exceeded his expectations.

Why is this?

He set his sights on Dortmund's No. 23 Zhou Yi on the court.

I have to thank this person for that kick.

Now the fact that he played football to say hello to Manchester City has been considered an offense by all Manchester City players. No one likes to be offended, so the angry Manchester City players will go all out to defeat Dortmund in the game in response to Zhou Yi's offensive provocation.

In Mancini's view, Zhou Yi's previous actions were very stupid no matter what the purpose was.

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Faced with Manchester City's fierce offensive, Dortmund recovered all lines and stayed within its own 30-meter zone.

Weidenfeller continued to hit high and low blocks,

Make sure the goal is not missed.

During this period, the Dortmund fans in front of the TV and in the stands were watching with fear, fearing that Manchester City's attack would result in conceding a goal.

Fortunately, Dortmund's defense was still very solid. Although Manchester City's attack was fierce, they did not score a goal.

Fifteen minutes passed, and Manchester City's fierce offensive weakened slightly. It was like diving. After staying underwater for a long time, you need to get up and take a breath.

At this time it was Dortmund's turn to attack.

The football was passed to Zhou Yi's feet.

As the core of Dortmund's midfield, it is normal for Zhou Yi to get the ball more often, but this time Zhou Yi just got the ball when he was hit by Manchester City's midfielder Xavi Garcia, causing him to stumble and lose the ball. .

Xavi Garcia bypassed Zhou Yi to catch up with the ball, and Manchester City launched another offensive accordingly.

Zhou Yi was a little surprised when he lost the ball because he didn't hear the referee's whistle - he thought Javi Garcia must have fouled this time.

Who would have thought that the referee didn't think it was a foul!

So he had to chase back and try to intercept Javi Garcia, but Garcia had already passed the football away. Zhou Yi gave up chasing the ball and returned to his position. At the same time, he looked at Javi Garcia. Unexpectedly, the other party also happened to look over. The two people's eyes met in the air. Zhou Yi felt that the other person's eyes were on him. There seems to be another spark.

This feeling is the same as what he felt before the game started.

The opposing players will be more aggressive towards him, which Zhou Yi himself knows well. But what he didn't expect was that the referee's penalty scale was not as strict as he thought.

Maybe it's because it's the home ground of a Premier League team?

Regarding the Premier League, although Zhou Yi has never played, he has heard a lot about it. He knows what the style of the Premier League is. Physical collisions are commonplace, and the referee will also be more liberal in the penalty scale for physical contact.

But the problem is that the referee of this game is not a Premier League referee... Maybe the referee thinks that as a Premier League team, physical collisions between Manchester City players are normal?

Both the German and Chinese commentators were dissatisfied that Xavi Garcia's grab for the ball was not called a foul.

Marcel Leif said excitedly: Just because Manchester City is a Premier League team, we cannot relax the standards for their physical collisions!

He Ping also said: This should be a foul! It's 100% a foul! Today's Zhou Yi is no longer the same as when he just debuted. His current physical strength is the standard of a normal player. If he is staggered by the collision, then why not Can’t you say it’s because he’s too thin?”

Although commentators from both countries expressed their dissatisfaction with Zhou Yi, Zhou Yi did not argue with the referee on this issue.

There is no point in focusing your energy on arguing with the referee. This is the concept of Zhouyi.

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Next, as long as Zhou Yi gets the ball, not only Xavi Garcia, but also other Manchester City players will be rude, which makes it difficult for Zhou Yi to control the ball well.

Of course, the referee will not turn a blind eye to all the collisions of Manchester City players, and will also call Manchester City players for fouls, including a yellow card for center back Kompany.

Dortmund was closely defended by Manchester City players in Zhouyi, and it was difficult to organize a decent attack. So even if Manchester City's offensive slowed down, in general, Dortmund was still suppressed.

During this process, the TV broadcast gave Manchester City's head coach Mancini a close-up shot, which seemed to say that this was Manchester City's tactical arrangement.

But in fact, the director really wronged Mancini this time.

Mancini did ask his players to defend Zhou Yi strictly before the game, but he did not say that he would let the players use rough fouls to contain Zhou Yi...

Such a big defensive move is actually the players' own choice. Why would they do this?

Isn't it because of Zhou Yi's provocation?

Mark Lawrenson said: Zhou Yi received 'special treatment' from Manchester City players during the game. He was targeted. It is difficult to tell whether he was targeted because he was the core of Dortmund, or because he was targeted for 'provocation' before the game. . But no matter what the reason is, it is probably a severe test for Zhou Yi now.

Although he said this, Mark Lawrenson had an expectation for Zhou Yi deep down in his heart - he wanted to see what Zhou Yi would do under such circumstances.

Because he thought of the Olympic Games again, he wanted to further verify his analysis and guess.

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In fact, Zhou Yi was not surprised by Manchester City's performance.

Because he has already experienced similar treatment in the virtual space. The only difference is that although the virtual Manchester City players in the virtual space defended him very fiercely, they did not commit many fouls. In real life, the Manchester City players came at him as if they wanted to kill him.

But this difference is not a big deal to Zhou Yi.

He has never been afraid of opponents who are deliberately looking for trouble, because if they are not focused on the game, Zhou Yi has a hundred ways to deal with them.

Although it is a group of death, judging from the matches in the virtual space, Zhou Yi does not think Manchester City is a very powerful team.

This team was the Premier League champion last season, but that Premier League champion came with some luck. Manchester City's performance in the Premier League last season was pretty good, leading the standings. However, midway through, they performed poorly and were overtaken by their arch-rivals Manchester United. If Aguero hadn't been the savior in the last game, Mancini's league title would have been lost.

The Manchester City team started participating in the restructured Champions League last season, but failed to qualify in the group.

Compared with Dortmund, Manchester City's Champions League experience is far behind. After the restructuring of the Champions League, Dortmund is still a team that has won the Champions League. Even the current Dortmund has reached the knockout rounds for two consecutive seasons, the top eight in the first year and the semi-finals in the second year.

How can such experience be matched by today's Manchester City team?

Some people may have taken a high look at Manchester City's Champions League journey this season because Manchester City almost overturned Real Madrid in the first group match away from home, and may have developed a fear of Manchester City.

But after competing one after another in the virtual space, Zhou Yi knows that this Manchester City team may not be as powerful as people think... (To be continued.)