Chapter 65: The Last Battle
After the game, the news that Cheng Hai scored twice again and returned to the top of the Bundesliga scorer list continued to sweep the screen.
Now Cheng Hai is a super hot spot, media reporters are not bored at all, readers and fans also like to watch it, just like when Ronaldo was popular, everyone chased after him, and he didn't feel bored watching Ronaldo's news every day.
The more it is reported, the more fans like it.
After the game, Jurgen Klopp gave everyone a day off and continued training.
On December 15, Borussia Dortmund flew to Spain for the final match of the UEFA Cup group stage against Sevilla.
With already qualified early, this away group stage is not very important.
However, if they can win the group, they will have a certain advantage in the knockout draw.
Therefore, although Klopp rotated a few people, most of the main force was brought in. As for Cheng Hai, who is perverted in his own physical state recovery ability, he must have it.
At 21 o'clock in the evening of December 15, 2010 local time in Spain, the final round of the group stage of the League Cup between Sevilla and Dortmund officially started at Sevilla's home stadium.
Borussia Dortmund have already qualified, but Sevilla have been hurt by the Group of Death, finishing third in the group and three points behind Paris Saint-Germain.
Therefore, Sevilla will have to beat Borussia Dortmund in this round and pray that PSG will lose to Cappadi if they can qualify for the knockout stages on goal difference.
In order to avoid match-fixing, both matches are played at the same time.
Sevilla can't control another game and can only do their best to beat Dortmund on their home turf and beat Dortmund first.
As soon as the game began, Sevilla, playing at home, launched a frantic attack on Dortmund's half to the cheers of the home fans.
On the one hand, they have to attack, they have to win, and on the other hand, they know how terrifying Cheng Hai is on the Dortmund bench.
They will have to score more goals before Cheng Hai comes on to win the whole game.
This kind of thinking makes Sevilla's formation quite high, and the backfield is small, and it needs to rely on fouls to stop Dortmund's counterattack.
Sevilla, who were attacking with all their might, scored the goal of Borussia Dortmund in the fourth minute, drawing excitement and cheers from the home fans at the scene.
However, in the 24th minute, Dortmund also played a wave of sharp counterattacks, and if Sevilla had not relied on the tactical foul of midfielder Endri, I am afraid that Dortmund striker Lewandowski would have scored a single goal.
Despite this, their defence was unable to withstand Dortmund's counter-attack.
Being at the top of the Bundesliga standings, Dortmund's strength this season, even without Cheng Hai's play, they are very strong.
In the 31st minute, Dortmund cut off Sevilla's ball and launched a wave of quick counterattacks, and finally the fullback Foylner crossed from the bottom, Lewandowski grabbed the first point but had a poor starting posture and could not shake his head to attack the goal, so he ferried the ball to Shinji Kagawa, a forward who was inserted in the back row.
Shinji Kagawa's performance after joining Dortmund is very good, according to the evaluation of professional footballers, if it is not for Cheng Hai to steal all the limelight, Kagawa Shinji is the best player in the first half of the Bundesliga in the first half of the season.
Now although he has been robbed of the limelight by Cheng Hai, his performance is still very good.
This time, after receiving Lewandowski's header, everyone thought that he would hurry up and shoot directly, but unexpectedly, his raised leg fell gently, and the ball went to the right, and he passed the Sevilla defender who thought he was going to shoot directly and blocked the gun's eye with his back, and entered the penalty area.
After entering the penalty area, someone came up to intercept him, but Shinji Kagawa, who had excellent skills, shook off a gap in the shot by feintging the ball, and then shot from less than 15 meters from the goal.
The ball also played at a very high level, with enough strength, fast speed, and sharp angles, and in the end it was not destroyed by the defenders in the penalty area, and the goalkeeper was beyond his reach, so he could only watch the ball go into the net.
Shinji Kagawa equalised for Borussia Dortmund.
This time, Sevilla was completely anxious.
You know, Cheng Hai hasn't played yet!
If they can't establish a leading edge when Cheng Hai doesn't play, can they still win after Cheng Hai plays?
As a result, Sevilla FC then went into a furious mode, almost giving up on defense and putting all the players on the attack.
Although in the 36th minute, they had to stop Dortmund's counterattack with a foul due to a lack of defensive strength, and received a yellow card, but it finally prevented Dortmund from potentially scoring.
Sevilla, on the other hand, were cheered on by the home fans and finally paid off in the 41st minute when striker Canute volleyed in a cross from a team-mate on the line of the penalty area.
Sevilla, playing at home, finally took a 2-1 lead.
Neither side scored again in the next few minutes, and after one minute of stoppage time, the two sides went into the break with a 2-1 scoreline, with Sevilla leading by one goal.
After 15 minutes of half-time, the two sides changed sides and fought again, and Sevilla, who had a one-goal lead, did not feel safe and still maintained a high-intensity attack in the second half.
On the football field, there is indeed a big difference between home and away games.
Although Borussia Dortmund did not perform badly either, Sevilla FC played better under the pressure of having to win and the advantage of playing at home.
The Spanish team's technical superiority was also on full display in a team attack in the 52nd minute.
Sevilla's team attack drew a chord from fans and journalists alike as Sevilla split Dortmund's defence with a series of more than 10 passes up front, before their number 10 striker Fabiano volleyed past Weidenfeller.
In this attack, most of Sevilla's passes were completed within 30 meters of the front goal, and the slightest mistake would be touched and destroyed by Dortmund's players.
Therefore, this team cooperation is quite pleasing to the eye, which in itself is enough to cause cheers from the fans in the audience.
Not to mention, it was a hugely successful team effort to put the ball in the end, giving Sevilla a 3-1 lead, which made the home fans in the stands even more happy.
On Dortmund's side, although there is no pressure to qualify, Klopp still wants to win to ensure the first place in the group and get a better draw in the knockout round.
Therefore, seeing that the team was behind by two goals, in the 62nd minute, Klopp replaced Cheng Hai.
At this time, with stoppage time, you will definitely have to play more than 30 minutes.
Originally, the physical fitness coach trained Cheng Hai from the beginning of the season has been able to play a 45-minute half-game.
But now that Cheng Hai's speed has increased, the physical consumption during the long-distance run is greater than before, and he can't even play half a game.
I can only continue to substitute in the second half and play until the end of the game.
Playing in the 62nd minute, he is basically close to Cheng Hai's physical limit, and it is estimated that the last few minutes will be a walk.
However, there are not so many things to care about, and Dortmund, who are two goals behind, must score.
After Cheng Hai played, Sevilla naturally didn't dare to attack anymore, and the empty backfield must be a racetrack reserved for Cheng Hai, and the counterattack was accurate.
Coupled with a two-goal lead, Sevilla felt that even if Cheng Hai played, they would have a chance to keep the two-goal lead until the end of the game, even if Cheng Hai scored a goal.
Therefore, a few minutes after Cheng Hai played, Sevilla also made substitution adjustments, and changed two people at once.
First, a striker was replaced with a defensive midfielder.
Then a defender who had received a yellow card before was replaced and a new defender was replaced to avoid the same defender receiving two yellow cards and being sent off by two yellows and one red.
After the substitution adjustment, Sevilla's tactics also changed from attacking aggressively to shrinking defense, and it contracted quite hard, anyway, it was to limit Cheng Hai's play in the penalty area as much as possible.
Although Cheng Hai now has a lot of offensive skills, he lacks long-range shooting skills.
The basic skill "Long Shot" was not turned on, and auxiliary skills such as shooting power, arc, and volley were not turned on, so that Cheng Hai's shots outside the penalty area lacked power and speed, and therefore lacked threat.
At present, most of Cheng Hai's shots are completed in the penalty area, and if he does not enter the penalty area, Cheng Hai's shooting threat is much lower, and it is not much different from ordinary strikers.
Sevilla saw this and piled up most of the defenders in the penalty area, so that Cheng Hai's skills such as running without the ball, grabbing points, and dribbling could not be brought into play.
From being substituted in the 62nd minute to the 72nd minute, a full ten minutes have passed, and Cheng Hai has not even shot a single shot.
The only few touches of the ball, also with their backs, were stuck in key positions by several opposing defenders, unable to complete the action of turning and shooting, and finally had to pass the ball back to teammates outside the penalty area.
However, fortunately, after the ground attack was restricted, Cheng Hai still has header skills, and his strength is also good.
In the 74th minute, Gotze's breakthrough on the flank finally caused the opposition defender to kick the ball off the line, allowing Dortmund to get a corner.
This time, it is not only Cheng Hai and Lewandowski in the penalty area, but also central defenders Hummels and Subotic, and even captain Kyle is near the penalty spot, which is a great threat.
Relatively speaking, Cheng Hai's height of 179cm is not very conspicuous in the penalty area.
Although Sevilla's players know that Cheng Hai has scored a header, and now Cheng Hai is also showing a good bounce, but after all, there are Hummels, Lewandowski and others to share the firepower, and Sevilla does not dare to focus most of their attention on defending Cheng Hai like the sports warfare attack.
Even, Sevilla's two tallest central defenders did not defend Cheng Hai, but Lewandowski and Hummels.
Defending Cheng Hai, there is only one defender Balas, who is only two or three centimeters taller than Cheng Hai.
In the case that Cheng Hai is very tall and only two or three centimeters shorter, the bounce is increased to 19, the point is full value, and the physique is also full value, if this corner kick is opened and the landing point is near the two people, then it is almost unnecessary to think that Cheng Hai must be able to grab the header.
But Barras didn't think so, he defended very seriously, and behind the penalty spot in the big penalty area, he and Cheng Hai kept pulling and pushing and fighting for a favorable position.
Of course, the other players from both sides were also scrambling, and the referee came forward to warn everyone, so that everyone was a little more rational.
It was in this situation that Gotze finally took a corner.
Originally, Gotze wanted to send the ball over the heads of Hummels and Subotic on the line of the six-yard box in the middle, but his footwork was not as precise, the ball was a little higher and a little more inclined outward.
Everyone looked in the direction of the ball's flight, but found that the landing point was near Cheng Hai and Ballas behind the penalty spot.
Cheng Hai occupied the geographical advantage with his strong physique, and then watched the incoming ball's legs kick hard, jumped up, and hit the goal with a fierce header against the incoming ball, changing the direction of the ball's flight and pushing the ball towards the goal.
Although Barras also jumped on the side to compete for the top, no matter the judgment of the landing point or the height of the jump, it was not as good as Cheng Hai, and in the end he could only watch Cheng Hai hit the ball in the air and push the ball in the direction of the goal.
The ball was a bit far away, so goalkeeper Palop still reacted to the save.
It's just that Cheng Hai's 17-point header technique, Ballas failed to interfere with him too much, resulting in Cheng Hai's header Although it did not go straight to the dead corner, the angle was also very tricky.
In the end, Palop couldn't save the goal.
He touched the ball but couldn't get it out of the net. The ball changed direction only slightly, but eventually flew into the goal.
In the 74th minute, Cheng Hai grabbed the first nod in the penalty area through a corner kick opportunity and put the ball into Sevilla's goal, helping Dortmund to make the score 2-3.
When the ball flew into Sevilla's goal, Sevilla's faces became quite bad for both the players on the field, the coaches off the field, and even the fans in the stands.
Now, they are only one goal ahead. And leading by one goal is the most dangerous score on the football field, and the leading side will be under great pressure and worry about being equalized by the opponent at any time.
Next, it will be difficult for Sevilla to decide whether to attack or defend.
In the end, when Cheng Hai and his teammates celebrated the goal, the manager of Sevilla decided to let the team defend after half a minute of consideration.
Not only did he let the players on the field die, but he also made another substitution, replacing the last striker on the field with a real swing to defend and try to hold on to a one-goal lead.
After the game resumed, Dortmund faced Sevilla's iron wall and turtle shell.
Sevilla, who couldn't defend it together, did cause great trouble for Dortmund's attack.
Whether it is the ground cooperation of Cheng Hai and Shinji Kagawa and others, or the side attacks of Gotze, Foyerna and others, it almost does not work.
Because the goal is always in the middle, the attack anywhere must eventually return to the middle.
Sevilla, on the other hand, placed the most manpower in the middle of the box inside and outside the penalty area, and couldn't defend it, so that Dortmund almost couldn't speak.
Even with Cheng Hai's full-value dribbling and Matthews feints, he couldn't fight his way out of the ground and get a chance to shoot.
After Cheng Hai scored a goal, Sevilla's marking of Cheng Hai also became more strict, and there were often two or three people running with Cheng Hai, so that he could not get any gaps.
Whether it is running without the ball, dribbling through and heading for the top, Cheng Hai has little room to shoot.
However, while attracting two or three defenders, Dortmund's other attacking players occasionally run very good chances, but they never took them before.
Finally, when the time came to the 87th minute, Cheng Hai received a pass from Shinji Kagawa with his back to the goal on the right side of the penalty area.
This time, Cheng Hai was besieged by three players on the other side with the ball on his back, two defenders blocked all his space to turn and shoot, and the third player kept stretching his legs from the side to poke the ball at Cheng Hai's feet.
However, Cheng Hai's full-value dribbling and physique allowed him to resist the pressing of the opponent's three players, and firmly controlled the ball at his feet, not being snatched away by the opponent.
The ball stayed at Cheng Hai's feet for three or four seconds before it attracted the attention of almost most people, and Dortmund's left-back Schmelzer went from the wing into the left penalty area without anyone knowing.
Only when Cheng Hai controlled the ball and found the ball path without being able to turn and shoot, he found Schmelzer's side plugged in.
Suddenly, Cheng Hai's eyes lit up, since he couldn't shoot, let's assist his teammates!
Cheng Hai began to take the ball to the middle and dribble horizontally. The players around him and the players in the middle all surrounded him, and for a while, there were four players around Cheng Hai, wanting to completely encircle Cheng Hai.
But before the opponent's four players sealed all the gaps, Cheng Hai had already dodged a gap through dribbling, and then passed the ball out, and the ball rolled towards the left rib of the penalty area.
Although Cheng Hai's passing skills are not opened, he has a full value of shooting skills, so his passing is not in the state of an amateur player, and this kind of short pass in the penalty area is still competent.
When Sevilla's defenders and goalkeepers looked in the direction of Cheng Hai's pass, they saw Schmelzer who had inserted into the penalty area from the side, and wanted to make up for it, but it was too late.
Schmelzer met the ball passed by Cheng Hai, and without stopping the ball to adjust, he directly volleyed the ball to the bottom left corner of Sevilla's goal.
Goalkeeper Palop was originally on the right side to prevent Cheng Hai from turning and shooting, but although he moved to the middle with Cheng Hai, he still failed to save in time in the face of Schmelzer's extremely fast burst.
As Palop made a save, the ball flew into the net before his palm could hit the ground.
In the 87th minute, Cheng Hai sent an assist when many people were surrounded by people in the penalty area, helping fullback Schmelzer break through Sevilla's goal.
The score became a 3-3 draw.