The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

"If Wang Shuo really scores his 41st goal of the season in this match, then I, Gaid, and all the Bayern players and coaches will be happy for him and wish him well."

"But deep down, we’ll also be disappointed and saddened."

"We’re paying the price for a mistake we made years ago!"

At this point, Hennes’s tone shifted. "Actually, we had the chance to sign Wang Shuo back then. He should have been wearing a Bayern jersey, playing for Bayern."

"But we made a very, very serious mistake, one that we might regret forever."

"I’m not trying to assign blame. I just want to say that I had a chance to keep this record at Allianz Arena!"

To conclude the interview, Hennes magnanimously conceded that this season’s title already belonged to Dortmund.

What Bayern wanted to do now was regroup and focus on the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League.

...

Clearly, not all Bayern fans were as magnanimous as Hennes.

The next day at noon, when the Dortmund players, led by their captain Weidenfeller, stepped into Allianz Arena, the stadium was filled with thunderous boos.

The sound of 69,000 fans booing in unison was utterly overwhelming.

This was especially true of the banners unfurled in the stands.

"Chinese man, get out of Allianz Arena!"

"You will not desecrate Müller’s record!"

"You’ll never score a goal in Allianz Arena!"

"We will guard this legacy!"

The moment the stadium announcer called out Wang Shuo’s name, the entire crowd erupted in a unified chorus of boos.

The entire Allianz Arena was a sea of red.

But if one looked closely, it was easy to spot pockets of Dortmund’s yellow within the sea of red.

More interestingly, the traveling Dortmund fans, under police protection, had also unfurled a banner of their own.

"Tonight, we are here to make history!"

It was as if this group of brave Dortmund fans had come to Allianz Arena to throw down the gauntlet.

When they revealed their banner, the Bayern fans in the stadium grew even more enraged.

If it weren’t for the police cordon, they likely would have been overrun.

Finally, the entire Allianz Arena erupted in deafening boos, as if trying to swallow Wang Shuo, the instigator of all this, whole.

After a ten-day rest, Wang Shuo was in excellent shape, both mentally and physically.

After the pre-match huddle with his teammates, he and Götze stood in the center circle, ready for kickoff.

In the brief moment before kickoff, Wang Shuo did a few hops and some high-knee running in place, getting his body completely loose.

He looked toward the left flank of Bayern’s half.

Bayern’s left flank had always been their weak spot. They’d tried many players in that position but had never found a consistent left-back.

Since Van Gaal took over as Bayern’s manager, he had tried numerous players at left-back.

For example, there was his favorite, Planic, whom he brought from the Netherlands.

He also had Lahm fill in, or promoted the youngsters Contento and David Alaba.

For this match, he had the left-footed Brazilian defensive midfielder, Gustavo, filling in at left-back.

Bayern’s starting lineup was still a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Goalkeeper: Craft;

Defense: Gustavo, Badstuber, Tymoshchuk, and Lahm;

Midfield: Planic and Schweinsteiger as the double pivot, with Ribery, Thomas Müller, and Robben ahead of them;

Forward: Gomez.

This was the strongest starting lineup Bayern could currently field.

Tony Kroos was primarily a substitute.

Van Bitten’s performance hadn’t been particularly consistent this season. More importantly, he was at a distinct disadvantage when facing Wang Shuo.

Dortmund, for their part, also fielded all their starters.

Goalkeeper: Weidenfeller;

Defense: Schmelzer, Hummels, Subotic, and Piszczek;

Midfield: Shahin and Sven Bender as the double pivot, with Grosskreutz, Götze, and Kuba ahead of them;

Forward: Wang Shuo.

Klopp’s reason for starting Grandcross was clear: to strengthen their high press in the midfield and attack.

This was especially targeted at the side with Lahm and Schweinsteiger.

Years ago, Klopp’s tactic of relentlessly pressing Schweinsteiger when playing against Bayern had worked wonders.

And it was still effective now!

"My job is to pressure Xiao Zhu. I’m leaving the front line to you."

Götze said to Wang Shuo with a smile.

"We’re all going to do everything we can to help you score!"

Wang Shuo smiled and nodded at Götze. Nothing more needed to be said.

With his current reputation and status in the Dortmund locker room, no one would dare challenge his authority.

With a blast of referee Graf’s whistle, Dortmund kicked off, immediately passing the ball back.

Bayern Munich, however, immediately pressed high up the pitch.

From the very first second, Van Gaal’s team made their intentions clear: they were going to meet Dortmund’s attack with one of their own!

This was Allianz Arena, after all!

...

To be honest, Wang Shuo had dreamed about this moment many times.

’At Allianz Arena, will I score my 41st goal? How will I score it?’

’He had thought about it over and over again recently.’

’He wanted to score this meaningful, record-breaking goal in a spectacular, breathtaking fashion.’

And so, just three minutes after kickoff, Wang Shuo seized an opportunity and unleashed a volley from outside the penalty area.

It was, admittedly, a beautiful strike.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep the ball down. He was a bit too focused on making the shot spectacular, which caused him to strike too low on the ball and send it flying high.