The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

The evening of April 6th, at Dortmund’s Westfalen Stadium.

Long before the match began, the German media had already put out a teaser.

Several of Dortmund’s fan clubs had jointly planned to give the visiting Chelsea a show of force at their home stadium before this crucial quarter-final knockout match.

Previously, the TIFOs at Westfalen Stadium were usually confined to the South Stand.

But this time, it would be expanded for the first time to sections of the East and West Stands. The goal was to create the largest giant TIFO formation in history to celebrate Dortmund winning the Bundesliga title for two consecutive seasons!

This was a decision the Dortmund fans had been brewing for a long time!

Therefore, the live television broadcast was also paying close attention to the activity in the stands.

Just before the players from both teams were about to enter the pitch, the fans in the South Stand were the first to unfurl the core section of the giant TIFO.

They had designed a display combining the Dortmund crest with the Bundesliga championship shield—both are circular—with the name "Dortmund" emblazoned in huge letters above them.

Below it was a line of text: "Kneel and worship the champions!"

In the sections of the East and West Stands closer to the South Stand, fans also quickly formed TIFOs, though they were smaller and mostly consisted of slogans.

For example, things like "WELCOME TO HELL!"

As the TIFOs were unfurled, the fans’ cheers grew increasingly fervent.

The roar was especially thunderous when the two teams walked onto the pitch, led by the Spanish referee, Marinko.

When the announcer called out Wang Shuo’s name, it triggered a tsunami of cheers from the crowd.

This couldn’t help but stun the entering Chelsea players.

People always said the home atmosphere in the Premier League was intense.

But compared to Westfalen Stadium, Stanford Bridge was as quiet as a library.

As they stood on the pitch, listening to the wave of sound pouring down from the stands, they all had the same feeling.

Was this really just cheering?

It was enough to make the ground tremble and the very air resonate!

"Dortmund’s home atmosphere is terrifying!" goalkeeper Cech remarked with emotion, standing next to his captain, Terry.

Terry nodded, his expression grave. "Have you ever played here before?"

"No." Cech shook his head. "This is my first time."

"Me too."

At this, Terry turned to his helmet-wearing teammate and gave a slight smile. "You’ll have to be careful of that Wang Shuo later. He’s in great form lately."

"Yeah, I’ve done my homework on him. Besides, don’t I have you in front of me to block him?"

Cech was joking, trying to lighten the mood.

But Terry couldn’t manage a smile.

In the Bundesliga match just this past weekend, Wang Shuo had come on as a substitute and scored five goals in nine minutes.

It was truly outrageous!

Although many Premier League fans and media questioned the intensity of the Bundesliga, scoring five goals in nine minutes was still a terrifying feat.

What’s more, his goal tally for the season had already reached 48.

Ronaldo’s and Messi’s goal-scoring abilities were astonishing, right?

Now, Wang Shuo was trampling all over their records.

Head coach Ancelotti had been stressing it repeatedly. Even just now, as they were about to leave the locker room, he was still reminding the back line to pay close attention to Wang Shuo’s positioning and runs.

How could Terry dare to be careless?

"Don’t you worry. Brani Slav and I will have your back. We absolutely will not let him get near your goal!" Terry promised in a deep, solemn voice.

Tonight, Chelsea’s center-backs were Terry partnered with Ivanovic.

...

To everyone’s surprise, Chelsea did not use their preferred 4-3-3 formation for this away game.

Instead, they opted for a 4-4-2.

Goalkeeper: Cech;

Defense: Ashley Cole, Terry, Ivanovic, Bosingwa;

Midfield: Essien holding, Zhirkov and Ramirez on the wings, with Lampard pushing forward;

Forwards: Torres and Drogba.

Ancelotti was never a manager who liked to take risks.

But he knew exactly how to play in a cup competition.

Especially in a knockout tournament like the Champions League.

In the first leg away from home, scoring an away goal was key!

Klopp had repeatedly emphasized before the match that Chelsea would definitely try to score an away goal.

The Blue Army’s strength was beyond doubt, and their squad was massive.

Besides defense, what Ancelotti excelled at was organizing and structuring the attack.

He had even managed to coach Essien, the Ghanaian water buffalo, into a central midfield playmaker, and he even looked the part.

This alone was a testament to Ancelotti’s skill.

But Chelsea wasn’t invincible.

The problem that the whole world knew about was Torres and Drogba.

Ever since Torres joined Chelsea for a sky-high transfer fee, his form had been consistently poor, and he hadn’t played up to his expected standard.

Drogba’s presence made Torres’s situation particularly awkward.

This led to constant controversy surrounding Chelsea’s forward line.

If they stuck with a 4-3-3, should they use Torres? Or Drogba?

If they insisted on using Drogba, then what was the point of signing Torres for that astronomical fee?

Was Torres underperforming?

Then shouldn’t he be given more playing time to gel with the team and better integrate?

But if they used Torres as the lone striker, it was easy to see he was nothing like Drogba, the kind of center-forward who could single-handedly carry the fight to the opponent’s entire back line.

His strength was making runs and attacking space!

Chelsea’s midfield shortcomings would be laid bare.

So, what about playing a 4-4-2 and starting both Drogba and Torres? Would that work?

The results weren’t good either.

This was the awkward predicament Chelsea now found themselves in.

Before the match, after getting Chelsea’s starting lineup, Klopp had already guessed Ancelotti’s intentions.