Champion’s Heart

? ♂,

After the game, the man who was elected the best player was not Zhou Yi, who equalized the score for Dortmund, nor Bayern Munich's goal scorer Toni Kroos, but Dortmund goalkeeper Weidenfeller.

This result is of course undisputed, and Weidenfeller deserves this honor.

Even Zhou Yi praised Weidenfeller in an interview after the game: In the last few minutes, I almost had a heart attack. Roman was my quick-acting life-saving pill!

If it weren't for Weidenfeller's heroic performance at the last moment, Bayern Munich might have defeated Dortmund at the last minute.

Now, with one point, Dortmund left the Allianz Arena contented.

As Marcel Leif said in the post-match commentary, Bayern Munich was unable to defeat Dortmund at home, which may have paved the way for the future two powers to compete for the league championship and left a suspense.

After fifteen league rounds, Bayern Munich still tops the list with 12 wins, two draws and one loss, with 38 points.

Dortmund is ranked second with 34 points from ten wins, four draws and one loss.

Leverkusen has nine wins, three draws and three losses, ranking third with 30 points, four points behind Dortmund, and eight points behind Bayern Munich.

Generally speaking, this season should be the same as the previous two seasons. The league championship is mainly produced between Bayern Munich and Dortmund. It depends on who performs more consistently during the long season. The league is different from the cup. It is a marathon. Even if you lead at the beginning and in the middle, you cannot be sure that you will win the championship. Compared with temporary momentum, continuous and stable performance is the most important.

Because there is not only one league to advance to, but also domestic and European cup competitions. These competitions will have an impact on the team's performance in the league.

In multi-line combat, Bayern Munich performed very well. They do have experience in this area. No matter how Grosskreutz mocks him, Schweinsteiger's confidence is real.

If Dortmund wants to compete with Bayern Munich for the league title this season and also want to go further in the Champions League, they will withstand such a severe test.

Look at Schalke 04 this season. They were third in the league last season. They performed very well in the Champions League group stage this season, especially when facing the seeded team Arsenal, winning away from home and drawing at home.

This kind of performance really makes people admire them.

With one game left to play in the Champions League group stage, they have already qualified from this group early.

But after performing well in the Champions League, his performance in the league pales in comparison to the Champions League.

After fifteen league rounds, they had seven wins, four draws and four losses, ranking fourth with 25 points.

Although the ranking looks good, the fact that they are thirteen points away from Bayern Munich, who is first in the league, shows that they are not focusing on the league at all this season, but are focused on making a breakthrough in the Champions League.

Of course, Schalke 04 does this not because it has any ambitions in the Champions League. In the final analysis, there is only one reason why they work so hard in the Champions League - money.

In every Champions League game, there is a prize money.

According to the UEFA Champions League bonus plan introduced by UEFA this season, each team that can participate in the UEFA Champions League group stage will first receive a bonus of two million euros, and then the appearance fee for each group stage game will be 400,000 euros. If you win the group stage, you will get another 600,000 euros for each victory, and 300,000 euros for a draw. You will get no money if you lose.

In addition, if it reaches the top 16, the team will also receive a bonus of 2.2 million euros.

This is why many strong teams hope to qualify from the group stage, because they will receive more bonuses after qualifying. Whether you can qualify or not depends a lot on economics.

Schalke 04 will definitely not think that their strength is just to travel to the group stage. Let’s not talk about the bonuses for the top 16. If they perform well in the group stage, they will get a lot of rewards just for winning. Of course, we must strive to win more in the group stage.

But with Schalke 04's strength and depth of bench, if they want to achieve good results in the Champions League, they cannot guarantee their results in the league, and may even have to voluntarily give up the league.

The performance of Schalke 04 this season is very obvious. When playing in the league, the state is unstable, good and bad. In fifteen games, they have drawn four and lost four, with a winless rate of more than 50%. Playing in the Champions League is particularly exciting, and the whole team feels like they have been pumped. Won Olympiacos 2:1 away, tied with Montpellier 2:2 at home, defeated Arsenal 2:0 away, tied Arsenal 2:2 at home, defeated Olympiacos 1:0 at home. There was only the last game left in the group stage. They had not lost a single game in the previous five games and received bonuses in every game. Not counting the group stage appearance fee of 4.4 million, Schalke 04 has received 2.4 million euros in winning bonuses and flat goal bonuses alone.

For Bundesliga teams that are very concerned about their financial health, Champions League bonuses are a very important subsidy. They can't always make big transfer fees by selling players, and even if they wanted to, there aren't enough players for them to sell. Champions League bonuses are an important growth point for them to maintain profitability.

Now, having qualified for the group stage one round ahead of schedule, Schalke 04 has pocketed the €2.2 million bonus from the round of 16 in advance. Perhaps they are already considering the 2.5 million euro bonus for the quarter-finals.

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After Dortmund and Bayern Munich end this national derby, they will also usher in their last game in the Champions League group stage.

This season, three Bundesliga teams have entered the main stage of the Champions League. After fighting in the group stage, all three teams have entered the knockout rounds. Their performance will earn enough European points for the Bundesliga and provide a good foundation for future Bundesliga football. The team has a say in the allocation of Champions League spots.

This is something that the entire German football world likes to see.

The media also hope that the German team can go further in the Champions League this time, just like last season, Bayern Munich reached the final and Dortmund reached the semi-finals.

Among the three Bundesliga teams, Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund were the first to make their debut. They played in the group stage on December 4th, challenging Montpellier away and Manchester City at home respectively.

In the end, Schalke 04 drew with Montpellier with a score of 1:1, and because Arsenal unexpectedly lost 1:2 to Olympiacos in the away game, it turned out to be Schalke 04 with 12 points. Ranked first in the group in points, beating the seeded team Arsenal!

This can be regarded as a surprise for Schalke 04. After failing to defeat Montpellier in the away game, they all thought that Arsenal would definitely be first in the group. They could qualify from this group and reach the sixteenth place. I'll be very happy if I'm strong. It doesn't matter where I am in the group, I can be second in the group. Who would have thought that a few minutes later, they would become the first in the group.

In the final round of Group D games at the same time, Dortmund rotated at home, but even so, they still defeated Manchester City 1:0 at home, and Real Madrid defeated Ajax 4:1 away.

In fact, the outcome of these two games has no meaning to Dortmund and Real Madrid.

After all, the first and second place in the group are determined. But it may still make sense for Ajax - if they can finish third in the group, they can still participate in the UEFA Cup. But the key to whether they can get third in the group is not in their game with Real Madrid. Even if they try their best, they may not be able to defeat Real Madrid. The key is that in Manchester City's away game against Dortmund, if Dortmund, who is already destined to qualify first in the group, deliberately lets loose and loses to Manchester City, then Manchester City will surpass Ajax with five points and become third in the group and win the title. Qualification for the UEFA Cup knockout rounds.

Therefore, Ajax must hope that Dortmund will uphold sportsmanship and not lose to Manchester City at home. Even if it is a draw, it will be okay. The final result satisfied Ajax, and Dortmund did not give up on sportsmanship just because the appearance was a foregone conclusion.

As for Manchester City... the upstarts of the Premier League, who are ambitious to write a new chapter in the Champions League, don't pay attention to the UEFA Cup at all. Whether they finish third in the group or participate in the UEFA Cup really doesn't mean anything to Manchester City. No time to care.

In the end, the points ranking of this group of death is very clear. Dortmund tops the table with 16 points from five wins and one draw. Real Madrid has three wins, two draws and one loss, ranking second with 11 points. Ajax has one win, one draw and four losses, ranking third with four points. Manchester City has zero wins, two draws, four losses and two points, ranking fourth and last.

Everyone originally thought that the points of the death group would be very close, but there was such a contrast, which many people had never expected before. It seems that everyone has to wait for a classic group of death like the 1999 Champions League Group D.

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One day later, Bayern Munich welcomed its last opponent in the Champions League group stage, BATE Borisov at home.

Before the game, they and Atletico Madrid had the same points, but in terms of mutual victory and defeat, they had the advantage.

So as long as they can get the same points as Atletico Madrid, they can get first place in the group.

But what’s the safest way?

Of course we still win. If Bayern Munich accidentally capsizes in the gutter at their home court and loses to Borisov, or is tied by Borisov, and Atletico Madrid defeats Lille away from home, then Bayern Munich will suffer a loss. Ranking second in the group is unfavorable for the draw for the next round of 16 knockout rounds.

So just win.

In the end, Bayern Munich lived up to their expectations and defeated Borisov 4:1 at home. At the same time, Atletico Madrid defeated Lille 1:0 in the away game.

The two teams were tied with 13 points. In the end, Bayern Munich defeated Atletico Madrid 2:1 at home and drew 1:1 away from home to become the first team in the group.

The three Bundesliga teams all qualified as first in the three groups. For German football, it is simply a grand occasion... (To be continued.)