Chapter 126: Focus
At 1 a.m. Beijing time on November 24, there was still half an hour before the start of the "national derby" between Dortmund and Bayern Munich. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info
Whether in the studio in Beijing or at the front in Germany, the commentators are ready.
Footage of the scene came from the broadcast.
The 80,000-seat West** Stadium is packed, especially the famous South Stand.
The television broadcast gave several close-ups in the stands, almost every of which showed Dortmund fans holding up slogans attacking Götze.
Among them, there was even a gray-haired old lady fan, who also held a sign with the slogan "Judas Gotze", standing in the south stand.
This old lady seemed to be kind and kind, and it would be absolutely unbelievable that she could do such a thing in normal times.
But that's football, and football can always magnify people's feelings, whether they love or hate.
In addition to the various slogans attacking Gotze, the starting lineup is also the topic of everyone's greatest concern. Because both teams have suffered a large number of injuries, it will naturally be a test of what kind of starting lineups the managers of both teams can put in place in this situation.
In the starting list announced by Bayern Munich, the most high-profile Gotze did not appear in it, but Lewandowski started.
In response to this starting line-up, everyone is speculating about why Pep Guardiola did not start Götze.
Some people think that this is Pep Guardiola's protection of Götze - knowing that this return to the West** Stadium, Götze will definitely be hated and hostile by Dortmund fans, so he is simply put on the bench, so that at least the Dortmund fans will have much less time against Götze, and Götze will not have so much pressure.
But some people think that Guardiola doesn't think about it so much, he just simply doesn't trust Gotze, thinking that playing in such an environment, Gotze will carry a heavy psychological burden and play abnormally. Let him play, Bayern Munich is tantamount to bringing a burden.
On Dortmund's side, Subotic, Hummels and Schmelzer are sure to miss this game.
Fortunately, although Friedrich was injured in the warm-up game, after being examined by the team doctor, he thought that he could still play against Bayern Munich.
As a result, Friedrich has just joined the team and has been placed in the main line-up for this major event, and he will partner Papastathopoulos in central defence.
In addition, Piszczek had just recovered from injury but was out for a long time and was not in good form, so Klopp put him on the bench and did not start him.
At the back, Klopp pieced together a four-man defence.
Grosskreutz and Durm played at wing-back, while Papastathopoulos and Friedrich partnered at centre-back.
Although the defense line of four people was finally enough, it was not reassuring.
After all, Friedrich has been out of action for a long time, and his form has declined quickly, otherwise he would not have fallen to the point where he has nowhere to play with the ball. He had only been training at Borussia Dortmund's training base for a week and was about to come out immediately against a rival as strong as Bayern Munich...... How long will he be able to last?
And what is the tacit understanding between him and his partner Papastathopoulos, is also what everyone is worried about.
Marcel Leif mentioned this in his pre-match and post-match connections, and he thinks Pep Guardiola will make a big fuss about it.
He Ping also expressed the same concern: "In terms of bench thickness, it seems that Bayern Munich is more dominant now. In this match, five players from both sides were unavailable. But Bayern Munich can still have a luxurious bench such as Gotze, Thiago and Van Bitten. On the other hand, Dortmund's substitute lineup is really unchanged for 10,000 years. It's not that Klopp doesn't know how to be flexible, it's that there's really no one available...... Perhaps the only variable on the Dortmund bench was Yan Min, who was named in the 18-man squad for this game but was not able to make the starting line-up. I guess this should be Klopliu's backhand......"
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While commentators commented on Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich's starting line-up, Jurgen Klopp was cheering his players on in the dressing room.
"It has been three years since we beat Bayern Munich 2-0 at home on 3 October 2010 and we haven't lost at home to Bayern Munich in three years. This time, we have encountered very great difficulties and the situation is very serious...... But it's not a tough game and it's not just a game against Bayern Munich. I don't want to whitewash the peace and tell everyone that there's nothing wrong with it. On the contrary, we have a serious problem right now, and I hope that each of you will have a clear understanding of this. ”
Klopp said this in a very serious tone and expression, so the atmosphere in the dressing room was also serious, even a little dignified.
"But when we have difficulties, do we have to back down? No! Of course not! If we had difficulties, we would have been able to win the league and the Champions League last season! It has been proven time and time again that Dortmund is an unbeatable team! We have suffered an economic crisis in our eyes, and even the club almost went bankrupt. What is the injury wave compared to that? But didn't we survive it? And we won the league three seasons in a row, as well as a Champions League!
"The game against Bayern Munich is a great opportunity for us to prove it to the world. No one can beat us at our home stadium, and neither can Bayern Munich!"
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In the visiting dressing room next door, Pep Guardiola calmly gave his players the final tactical advice: "Although their backline is patchwork, it's not something we can just penetrate. If you have a very relaxed attitude towards them, then we will suffer. I want you to be more patient in the first half and not always think that you can get away from the Dortmund defence with a single pass or a single break. They're going to have a lot of fighting spirit at the start of the game, and that's a problem. However, as the game time passed, they showed fatigue both physically and mentally. Until then, it will be our chance......"
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When the players from both sides appeared in the tunnel one after another, they looked at each other with unfriendly eyes.
Even Lewandowski, a player who has many old acquaintances in the Dortmund team, did not take the initiative to greet his former teammates when he saw them.
And none of his former teammates wanted to come up and catch up with him, and they all looked straight ahead, treating the Bayern Munich player next to him as air.
At this time, the host of the scene, Norbert Darker, was broadcasting Dortmund's starting line-up.
Every time he called out a person's name, the scene would be cheered with a tsunami of cheers.
After announcing Borussia Dortmund's starters, he didn't forget to mention Bayern Munich.
"Next, let's welcome our opponents from afar, Bayern Munich, the double runners-up of last season's Bundesliga and Champions League, - !!"
There was an overwhelming burst of boos at the scene, mixed with some laughter.
As a mortal enemy in the league, Dortmund will naturally not be polite to Bayern Munich. Norbert Diccol stabbed Bayern Munich directly in the wound and did not forget to sprinkle a pinch of salt.
On the flip side, though, when Borussia Dortmund visit the Allianz Arena, they get something like that.
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When Gotze stepped out of the hallway, he instantly became the center of attention of the reporters. Of course, the stands were also booed at this time.
Amid the boos, Gotze did not go directly to Bayern Munich's bench, but turned to the Dortmund coaching box, and then Klopp, who was standing on the sidelines, said hello.
Klopp turned his head to see that it was Gotze, a smile on his face, and then took the initiative to hug Gotze. Although Götze's sudden "betrayal" hurt Klopp a lot, it has been so long that the parties themselves may not care anymore, so they can smile and enmity when they meet again.
Of course, it is also possible that Klopp is still unhappy with Götze, but in front of so many people, it is impossible to think that he, the manager of Dortmund, is a man of little energy. So no matter what you think in your heart, you must also do it in place.
So this simple meeting, the atmosphere was quite congenial - if the boos wafting over the stadium were automatically blocked......
After the hug was over, the two men parted, and Gotze turned and walked to the Bayern Munich bench, where the boos faded until he sat down on the bench and the cameras and camera lenses in the hands of reporters were no longer chasing him.
At this time, the starters of both sides have finally walked out of the player tunnel, and this high-profile game is finally about to begin!