The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

Robinho was younger and covered more ground, but most importantly, he was better at receiving the ball in the half-spaces and linking up with overlapping full-backs, or with Pato and Eevee when they drifted wide.

Allegri clearly wanted to exploit this.

After scanning the AC Milan players, Wang Shuo’s gaze fell upon the Colombian center-back, Mario Yepes.

The most noticeable thing about Yepes was his number 76 jersey—a very high number.

In truth, he was old too, even two months older than Nesta. He was already thirty-five.

Nesta ultimately didn’t make it back in time for the second-leg match, so Allegri had paired Yepes with Thiago Silva.

Wang Shuo knew not to underestimate Yepes; after all, he’d managed to join a giant club like AC Milan.

Dortmund’s biggest advantage in this match was Wang Shuo’s away goal.

The significance of that goal was that it forced AC Milan’s hand—they could no longer afford to sit back and defend.

Virtually everyone in the world was certain that AC Milan would go on the attack right from the kickoff.

It was a matter of strategy!

Theoretically, Allegri could, of course, choose to launch their attack in the second half.

But the problem was, time was AC Milan’s enemy.

That’s why, for almost any team that lost the first leg 1-0 at home, the first order of business in the second leg is to level the aggregate score as quickly as possible.

This wasn’t a matter of tactics, but of player psychology.

Only by leveling the aggregate score could the players settle their nerves.

Facing AC Milan’s predictable game plan, Dortmund had two options.

One was to defend and counter-attack, playing it safe at the start to protect their one-goal lead.

The risk, however, was that if their defense was breached and AC Milan scored, it would be a massive blow to the team’s morale.

It was too conservative.

The other option was to press high up the pitch, go toe-to-toe with AC Milan, and use their superior stamina and work rate to overwhelm the opponent.

This was Dortmund’s strength.

But the risk was that it would also give AC Milan a better chance to score.

After the DFB-Pokal semi-final against Bayern, Klopp gauged the mood in the locker room, speaking with every single player.

He paid special attention to Wang Shuo, pulling him aside to talk on three separate occasions.

Ultimately, he chose the second option.

It was the choice of the entire Dortmund squad!

...

"Kid, your luck won’t always be this good!"

As Wang Shuo was lost in thought, he suddenly heard someone speak in heavily accented English.

He turned his head and saw that the speaker was none other than Yepes.

The Colombian center-back even had a look of blatant contempt on his face.

’Am I... being dissed?’

Wang Shuo chuckled, simply ignoring Yepes and turning his gaze to Thiago Silva instead.

"Thiago, Nesta’s not seriously hurt, is he?"

Yepes’s face instantly darkened, and he looked furious.

’I’m talking to you!’

’What’s with that attitude?’

’And you’re asking about Nesta right in front of me on purpose?’

’What are you trying to say?’

Thiago Silva was a smart guy. Of course he noticed the change in Yepes’s expression, and he couldn’t help but inwardly give Wang Shuo some props.

’That bastard Wang Shuo is a real headache to play against, but damn, he’s clever!’

’Yepes, why would you provoke him for no reason?’

’Now look, you’ve just made things awkward, haven’t you?’

As his teammate, he couldn’t really say anything to Yepes.

He probably wouldn’t have listened anyway.

But Wang Shuo was asking about Nesta’s injury; could Thiago Silva really be rude enough not to answer?

Where would be the basic courtesy in that?

"It’s nothing serious. Thanks for asking."

"Mm, that’s good. A man his age should be careful."

With that, Wang Shuo turned away, pretending to say something to Reus.

From start to finish, he completely ignored Yepes.

The Colombian center-back was furious.

’Concern for Nesta?’

’This is clearly a jab at me!’

’What’s all this about "Nesta’s age"?’

’I’m even older than Nesta!’

’Isn’t he just being passive-aggressive?’

Just then, the referee from Belgium, Frank De Brickley, led the players out of the tunnel, and everyone began to follow.

The moment Wang Shuo stepped onto the pitch at Westfalen Stadium, the stadium announcer happened to call out his name.

"Let’s welcome the King of Iduna, our number 9, Wang Shuo!"

The entire stadium erupted with cheers from the Dortmund fans.

Everyone was chanting Wang Shuo’s name in unison.

"When did you get the nickname ’King of Iduna’?" Reus asked enviously.

"That nickname sounds so badass!"

"I didn’t even know," Wang Shuo laughed.

"Look at the South Stand."

Wang Shuo turned to look and saw the fans in the South Stand had formed a giant TIFO.

43!

Following Reus’s gesture, Wang Shuo saw the display, turned slightly in the line-up, and raised his hands high to applaud the fans in the South Stand.

This immediately drew an even more fervent roar from the crowd!

To be honest, Wang Shuo absolutely loved the home atmosphere at Dortmund.

But not far behind him in the AC Milan line, Yepes’s eyes were fixed on Wang Shuo, his glare like daggers.

’Once this match starts, I’m going to make you pay!’

...

The match kicked off.

As expected, AC Milan did not play conservatively.

After taking the kickoff, their two full-backs immediately pushed up near the halfway line, taking very advanced positions.

They wanted to control possession right from the start.

But Dortmund immediately resorted to their signature high-intensity press.

The forward line, led by Wang Shuo, relentlessly hounded AC Milan’s defense, forcing them to attempt a long ball upfield toward Eevee.