There is a belief called football

Chapter 483 Home Alone
After the Champions League match with Manchester City, Dortmund's opponent in the quarter-finals also came to light. It was "Atletico Madrid" from La Liga.

This is a game that the outside world has long wanted to watch. One side is "Klopp", the number one madman in Germany, and the other side is "Simeone", who is also known for his arrogance.

Some media have even joked that when the time comes, people will be asked to stand between the two coaches in the stadium to prevent the two from fighting. Klopp and Simeone have a precedent of provoking the opposing coach. What sparks will these two spark together?It will be revealed in a few weeks.

After returning to Dortmund, Klopp began to prepare for the weekend league. Many teams will have the so-called sequelae of the Champions League after the Champions League. This is normal. The Champions League is like a big meal, and the league is like a common meal.

The opponent in the weekend league is Mainz.

A very interesting team. If you don’t watch the Bundesliga, you may not understand this team. Then I will tell you briefly, first, it is Klopp’s old club, and second, Mainz is the only Bundesliga mid-range team that beat Bayern Munich in Allianz this season.

Also, this is also a well-known Bundesliga team that likes to introduce Asian players. They just sold the Japanese international "Shinji Okazaki" to the dark horse "Leicester City" of the Premier League last summer, and then bought a Japanese striker, Yoshiki Muto.

But in all fairness, there is really nothing to hype about the confrontation between the two teams. It can only be said to be a very ordinary game. Until a few hours before the start of the game, when Dortmund gave the starting list, immediately, all the football forums in Germany were blown up.

This wonderful list is:

Goalkeeper - Burki
Defensive line - Durm, Kirsch, Gentle, Park Joo-ho
Double midfielder - Shaheen, Weigel
Avant-garde line - Gross Kreutz, Shinji Kagawa, Hoffman
Solo striker - Ramos
Among them, "Park Joo-ho" joined Dortmund as a free agent during the winter break. When everyone looked at the list, Uncle Zha changed all the starting 11 players. You must know that this is the Bundesliga, not the German Cup. Do you play like this?

You may think that it is Klopp's freedom to start how you want, it's none of your business, and you don't pay.

But in European football, that's not the case. It doesn't matter if Dortmund loses three points, but the problem is that those teams competing with Mainz will feel that it is unfair. If it is more serious, it can even be called match-fixing.

Before the game, Klopp was also questioned, because Mainz is Klopp's old club. Klopp has today's achievements. It can be said that Mainz is the most critical factor. Is Klopp "paying favor"?
"Jurgen, did Mainz's top management call you before the game?"
"If you mean routine greetings, then of course, if you mean anything else, then I can tell you absolutely nothing",
"But the starting lineup you made is clearly saying that you gave up the game",
"Who told you? Or where did you see it, please tell you, I will hire you as the technical director of the Dortmund team immediately, and you can help me analyze Atletico Madrid."

The reporters laughed as usual, but after laughing this time, the venue quickly returned to calm, because Klopp's actions were indeed abnormal and aroused people's imagination.

Because if it is to train newcomers, it will only rotate a few positions, especially the goalkeeper position. Generally, no coach will rotate.

This is because the outside world does not know that Weidenfeller is going to leave next season, and Klopp's rotation of goalkeepers is actually preparing for next season.

Sometimes it is really difficult to be a human being. Klopp's purpose is very simple. After the Champions League, let the main players rest and give new players a chance, that's all. But the problem is, no one believes it!

"Well, I only have one sentence. I did this purely to train newcomers and let the main players rest."

There were snickers at the scene.

"So how do you explain Weidenfeller's position? As far as I know, Romain didn't have a lot of exercise in the away game in the middle of the week."

Yes, there is no way for Klopp to explain the position of the goalkeeper, because before the end of the season, he is unwilling to disclose any changes in the team's personnel.

"Roman has a cold, I let him rest",
The reporters thought to themselves: "OK, you just have to be stubborn. Let's see after the game. If Dortmund loses by a big score, it will not be a matter of holding a press conference, but the Bundesliga Disciplinary Committee will invite you to drink tea."

*****
In the locker room, facing this group of childish children, Klopp suddenly felt that he was young. A few years ago, Hummels and Subotic were so tender, and now they have become mature men.

"Do you know why I did this under tremendous pressure"?
"Trust us"?
"It's very smart, but it's more for the future of the team. You should know that according to German law, foreign capital cannot control Bundesliga clubs, that is, we will never be able to become local tyrants like Manchester City and Paris."

"If we want to become a top club in Europe, we can only rely on our own youth training."

The big guy nodded, everyone listened attentively, and no one dared to sing a contradictory tune.

"So do you know what will happen if you lose this game?"
"Know, caught up by Bayern Munich",
"Hehe, it's that simple"?
What else?Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. Although everyone is a rookie, isn't it just a Bundesliga game? If you let us play the Champions League final, we may be scared to pee, but a Bundesliga game is not necessary.

"If you lose, I will be caught in a storm of public opinion, match-fixing, friendliness, and all kinds of messy comments will come at me."

What are you doing, Jurgen, are you kidding me?
"Now it is the 26th round of the Bundesliga. The Bundesliga has a total of 34 rounds. It is already the end of the league. Every 3 points is very important."

Shaheen can be regarded as the big brother in the starting lineup, "Jurgen, don't worry, we understand that the Bundesliga is not without youth storms."

Klopp smiled. He knew that Shaheen was referring to the young guard "Stuttgart" led by Magath in 2004. The Stuttgart team was full of unknown names, but they became famous all over the world in the future.

To give a few examples, Lahm was the left back of Stuttgart at the time, as well as the German international "Sinkel", and the Belarusian international "Hleb" who later went to Barcelona.

Klopp knows the truth of youth invincibility. In the football world, if you have no money, then pin your hopes on young people.

*****
Before the game, the whole of Germany was paying attention to the game, but there was one person who publicly applauded Klopp, and that was another madman in Germany - Magath.

How good is Magath?

Of course, when Bayern fired him, Hoeness did not dare to talk to Magath face to face, but through a lawyer, although Magath only knew that he was fired by the club when he was listening to the radio in the car.

Since then, Magath has been at odds with Bayern. In 2009, the year he led Wolfsburg to win the championship, Wolfsburg beat Bayern Munich with 5 goals at home. At the last moment, Magath estimated that he changed the goalkeeper to show his humiliation to Bayern. At that time, Bayern's "Van Bommel" was almost in a hurry.

Magath came out to support Dortmund, not to say that he and Klopp are friends, but that he will support whoever opposes Bayern Munich.

"If I hadn't given Lahm a chance back then, would Germany have such a good right back?"Magath said.

"Although Klopp may lose this game by doing this, he gave us hope. Maybe Ginter and Durm will be the main force of the German national team in the future",
It turned out that Magath was half right, and half wrong was that Dortmund did not lose, and the game was very exciting.

After the game started, Mainz was the first to enter the state. Their Turkish international and the team's offensive core "Marley" broke through and completed the first shot of the audience. Unfortunately, there was no threat.

After 20 minutes, Dortmund's little guys started to enter the game, Shaheen, Shinji Kagawa and Ramos cooperated to complete an attack.

After Shaheen took the ball in the midfield, he scored with his instep and distributed the ball to the opponent's defensive space. Shinji Kagawa stepped in and made a cross before the opponent's defender. Ramos in the middle rushed to shoot. The German goalkeeper "Karius" made a pounce, but the ball reached Ramos' feet again.

Dortmund lead 1-0 at home.

Before the end of the first half, Dortmund's year-old defense paid the price, Durm tackled Mainz striker "Samperio" in the penalty area,
penalty!

The referee ran over and pointed to the 12-yard penalty spot.

The Turkish international "Mali" made it overnight, and the score became 1 to 1. At the end of the first half, everyone dispelled their doubts about Klopp, because this Dortmund second team does not look weak, at least it is enough to play in the Bundesliga.

But the good show was still in the second half. It was "Hoffman" who replaced Li Qiao and staged a "Li Qiao style" assist in the second half. He took the ball in the midfield and started it. ! !

2 to 1 go-ahead.

The Signal Iduna Park Stadium is boiling. The fans really can't imagine that Dortmund's second team can play at such a level. This is the future of Dortmund. It seems that Dortmund is already ahead of the Bundesliga teams in the future competition.

Immediately after the goal, the camera scanned the bench—Li Qiao, Royce, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang and others.

The meaning couldn't be more obvious, "The main force, the pressure is too high"?
In the end, Dortmund won the game 2-1, and continued to lead the standings by 7 points. The Bundesliga champion is in sight!
(End of this chapter)