The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

Hummels beat his man to the ball and headed it back.

Dortmund quickly launched an attack.

They attacked down the flank again.

But AC Milan’s defense fell back quickly.

Just 1 minute and 28 seconds into the match, Dortmund had already created an excellent opportunity.

Reus received the ball on the left wing, cut inside, and sent a diagonal pass to Götze at the top of the penalty arc.

Wang Shuo was positioned to the right, ready to make a run forward.

If Götze had sent a through ball then, Wang Shuo would have been one-on-one with the keeper.

But Götze chose to shoot himself, and his shot went wide.

A collective sigh of regret echoed through the stadium.

Wang Shuo, however, applauded Götze encouragingly.

He had the green light to shoot whenever he wanted, and he certainly scored a lot of goals.

But he couldn’t expect his teammates to pass him the ball every single time.

’That would be too overbearing!’

’If that happened, who would want to play with me?’

The first threatening attack personally orchestrated by Wang Shuo occurred in the 4th minute.

After getting the ball near the halfway line, Shahin launched a long pass directly behind Jankulovsky.

Wang Shuo cut diagonally toward the right corner of the penalty area. Under tight pressure from Yepes, he used his right foot to knock the ball toward the byline, just outside the right of the box, then turned and chased after it.

Yepes pursued him along the right edge of the penalty box.

But just as Wang Shuo caught up to the ball, he came to a sudden stop, chopped the ball back, and quickly turned. He took a step back before lifting a cross into the box with his left foot.

Götze burst into the box to meet the cross to the left of the penalty spot.

But his shot was saved by a diving Abbiati.

Reus followed up at the far post with another shot.

But the ball went over the bar.

"That was a very dangerous attack from Dortmund."

"Two shots in quick succession gave the AC Milan defense a real scare."

Walking back upfield, Wang Shuo gave a thumbs-up to Götze and Reus in the box.

He glanced over at Yepes and saw the Colombian’s face had darkened.

One-on-one!

’He couldn’t stop Wang Shuo at all!’

Wang Shuo didn’t even spare him a second glance before turning and walking away.

Yepes was left fuming.

’To be ignored by Wang Shuo like that... it was the ultimate insult!’

...

The match restarted.

But Wang Shuo soon got another good opportunity in the final third.

Receiving the ball on the right side just outside AC Milan’s box, Wang Shuo was facing forward, one-on-one with Yepes. He started with a feint that tricked the defender, then suddenly cut back toward the center.

As a veteran, Yepes was very experienced. He anticipated Wang Shuo’s feint and immediately moved to block the move.

But he didn’t expect that to be a feint as well; Wang Shuo chopped the ball back to his right foot.

Having completely shaken Yepes, Wang Shuo took a touch forward with his right foot and unleashed a powerful shot.

The shot was from a full 20 meters out, struck with immense power and at a difficult angle, aimed to bounce into the bottom-right corner.

But the goalkeeper, Abbiati, had lightning-fast reflexes and good positioning. He dove to his side and smothered the ball.

"That was a beautiful long-range shot from Wang Shuo."

"He used two quick feints and a change of direction to get past Yepes."

"Wow, the Colombian veteran is really struggling."

"With those old legs, it would be a real tragedy if he got injured from one of Wang Shuo’s feints."

"The shot that followed also showed incredible skill. Luckily, Abbiati was fully concentrated."

But in the 9th minute, Dortmund won the ball on the right side of the halfway line.

Sven Bender intercepted a pass in AC Milan’s midfield and, before Kevin Boateng could close him down, passed the ball out to Piszczek on the right.

Piszczek surged forward, caught up to the ball, took a touch to set himself, and then played a square pass to the center circle.

Götze had already pushed forward and met Piszczek’s square pass, immediately playing a through ball.

From the opening kickoff, Wang Shuo had been operating on Yepes’s side of the field.

This was part of Klopp’s plan.

Everyone knew that replacing Nesta with Yepes would make the Colombian the weak link in the defense.

High hopes had been placed on Yepes, who was tasked with shadowing Wang Shuo and sticking to him like glue.

Allegri still hoped to use the "cage" tactic from the first leg to contain Wang Shuo.

As Piszczek received the ball, Dortmund launched their counter-attack.

Wang Shuo ran forward, but not at full speed.

Yepes stayed close to Wang Shuo.

He was a center-back with the classic style of a South American defender.

’So many dirty tricks!’

For instance, while running, he was constantly scanning his surroundings, but he kept a hand on Wang Shuo’s jersey the entire time.

The reason was simple: he was afraid of losing his man.

By holding the jersey, he ensured Wang Shuo couldn’t get far.

But it was incredibly annoying behavior.

The referee’s attention wasn’t on players off the ball.

Wang Shuo just kept running his routes as usual.

Besides, he knew exactly how to deal with Yepes.

As Piszczek passed sideways to Götze, Wang Shuo, near AC Milan’s 30-meter line, suddenly stopped short, feinting as if to receive a pass from Götze.

Wasn’t Yepes pulling his jersey?

With the sudden stop, Yepes’s grip slipped.

Realizing what had happened, Yepes also skidded to a halt.

But the moment he stopped, Wang Shuo burst forward again, sprinting at top speed.

Götze’s through ball arrived perfectly in the space behind the defensive line.

To his credit, Yepes’s reaction was quite fast.

The center-back was clearly skilled; otherwise, he never would have joined AC Milan.