The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

The Portuguese center-back hadn’t expected Wang Shuo to be so fast.

His heart pounded in his chest.

He couldn’t figure out why, but he had the distinct feeling that Wang Shuo was deliberately targeting him today.

’Shouldn’t I be the one who’s angry after being brutally nutmegged in the first leg?’

’Why does it seem like Wang Shuo is even angrier than I am?’

But Pepe had no time to dwell on it.

He immediately darted toward Wang Shuo, looking to get tight on him.

He was confident that if he could just get close, he could use his physicality to shut Wang Shuo down.

At that very moment, Wang Shuo faked left, throwing Pepe off balance. Then, feinting one way and moving the other, he used the outside of his right foot to send the ball diagonally forward to the right.

Kuba sprinted down the right flank, blowing past Ramos to beat the offside trap. He latched onto Wang Shuo’s pass and carried it into the right side of Real Madrid’s penalty area. As Casillas rushed out to meet him, Kuba squared the ball across the box.

Reus stormed in to meet it, slotting Kuba’s cross into the virtually unguarded net with his right foot.

"GOAL!!!"

The entire Westfalen Stadium erupted with an unprecedented roar.

"Just eight minutes in, and Dortmund has already broken the deadlock against Real Madrid!"

"One-nil!"

"A goal from Reus."

"But at least half the credit for this goal should go to Wang Shuo."

"It was his brilliant first touch to create space, followed by a run that drew Pepe in, that opened things up. His perfectly timed diagonal ball in behind sent Kuba through on goal, leading to the cross."

Like the rest of his teammates, Wang Shuo took off, sprinting toward the sideline to celebrate the goal.

Reus, a die-hard Dortmund fan himself, was especially ecstatic, cheering non-stop.

Meanwhile, Westfalen Stadium was filled with the roars and cheers of the Dortmund faithful.

...

After the 3-3 draw in the first leg at the Bernabéu, everyone had been speculating on how the second leg would play out.

Almost everyone thought that the second leg wouldn’t be as open as the first leg.

At the very least, there wouldn’t be as many goals.

But Real Madrid faced a glaring problem: they had conceded three away goals at home. How could they possibly turn the tie around?

Mourinho had his answer.

So from the kickoff, Real Madrid looked to go on an all-out blitz.

The plan from the Portuguese manager was clear: blitz for an early goal to turn the aggregate score in their favor, then drop back into a defensive formation and force the match into the counter-attacking rhythm that Real Madrid excelled at.

But Dortmund, playing on their home turf, were anything but conservative.

Klopp had decisively opted to meet their attack head-on.

As a result, a fierce battle for control raged around the halfway line.

Possession changed hands back and forth, and neither side gave an inch.

The deadlock continued until the 8th minute, when a pass from Wang Shuo tore through Real Madrid’s defense, freeing Kuba for a run on goal and leading to his assist for Reus’s opener.

Even after taking the lead, Klopp didn’t signal for his team to sit back. Instead, he continued to demand they focus their energy on pressing high up the pitch.

Especially in midfield.

After their encounter in the first leg, Klopp and his coaching staff had pinpointed a strategy to neutralize Real Madrid’s attack.

The plan was to shut down Real Madrid’s midfield, restrict their build-up play, and force them out wide.

From there, they could contain Real Madrid’s attacks on the flanks.

But Mourinho had made adjustments of his own.

Benzema, who had performed well after coming on as a substitute in the first leg, was in the starting lineup for this match.

Mesut was on the bench, with Kaka playing as the attacking midfielder.

This formed an attacking quartet of Ronaldo, Benzema, Kaka, and Di María.

This was arguably the most formidable attacking lineup in the European Football Scene.

But against Dortmund’s relentless, high-energy press—especially given the incredible form and fighting spirit the players displayed at Westfalen Stadium—Real Madrid struggled to find an answer.

Even after conceding, Real Madrid’s attempts to mount a counter-offensive were fruitless.

The flow of the first half largely mirrored the stalemate of the first leg.

As the first half drew to a close, Real Madrid mounted another wave of attacks.

But Dortmund seized an opportunity in the 41st minute.

Subotic collected a pass back from Gundogan and immediately launched a long, accurate ball deep into the final third, right to the edge of the penalty area.

Wang Shuo sprinted toward Real Madrid’s penalty area at full speed.

Ramos was in hot pursuit, desperately tracking back.

Wang Shuo reached the penalty spot first. He leaped into the air, cushioning Subotic’s long ball with his chest and directing it to the right of the spot.

As soon as he landed, Wang Shuo burst forward, knocking the ball toward the right corner of the six-yard box before Ramos could intervene.

Before Ramos could react, Wang Shuo exploded with a burst of speed, getting to the ball just before Ramos could cut him off and unleashing a thunderous right-footed shot.

Casillas was clearly hesitant.

He wanted to rush out, but hesitated, seeing that Ramos was already back in position.

But Wang Shuo’s movements were simply too quick.

From bringing the ball down with his chest to striking it, every single movement was perfectly linked, giving Casillas no time to react.

The Real Madrid goalkeeper had just started to charge off his line when Wang Shuo’s thunderous shot was already flying past him.

Casillas clearly no longer possessed the peak form of his "Saint Casillas" days; his reactions were a split-second too slow.