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Chapter 71 Warm-up Match - Cologne
On August 8th, Borussia Mönchengladbach played a warm-up match against the city rival Köln of the Bundesliga Bundesliga. After more than half a month of preparation, it was time for the team to take a walk in what state the team was in.

And the Cologne team is also trying to use the warm-up match to see the changes after the team's summer transfer, and the two sides hit it off.

Although it was a warm-up match, due to the derby relationship, there were still a lot of fans from both sides who went to the Baucaberg Stadium to watch the game.

There are no big-name players in the Cologne team. Podolski is probably the only one at the moment, but it is the two Chinese players Shang Yi and Zhao Junzhe that make Nick's eyes shine.

Both of them were actually able to play the main force in the Cologne team. It seems that their strength has been recognized, especially Shang Yi. His skills are very skilled, and his speed is not bad. Only his physical confrontation ability is weaker.On the other hand, Zhao Junzhe can run very well, and his youth is a big advantage. He is also good at putting in assists at critical moments, and he also has a good long-range shot.

As long as these two Chinese players can play more games, their progress will definitely be stronger than in the Chinese League A. What's more, there is a huge Chinese market behind them, which should ensure that they can play the main force in the new season.

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the referee on duty blew his whistle.

After the start of the game, Borussia Mönchengladbach immediately launched an attack according to the first set of tactics in the training. The team's fast pressing style of play made the Cologne team very uncomfortable.

Nick naturally often inserts into the opponent's half. After half a month of intensive training, Nick's physical fitness has improved a lot. This guy has grown by 2 centimeters, and now he is 190cm tall. He has also greatly improved his technique. His ball control ability is getting better and better, and he has also practiced a lot of fancy moves, which will help Borussia Mönchengladbach break the balance when the game is deadlocked.

Although Zhao Junzhe, the Chinese player who started the game, ran aggressively, it was still difficult to keep up with Nick.Less than 10 minutes into the opening, Zhao Junzhe was dragged out of breath by Nick, haha. Fortunately, this kid has a very tenacious willpower, and he still stared at Nick closely.

But Cologne was the first to make a mistake. In the 19th minute, Deisler's cross from the right accurately landed on Voronin's head. The Ukrainian striker headed the goal and was saved by the Cologne goalkeeper. Then Cologne's No. 4 central defender made a big-footed clearance, but the result was a flawed kick, and the ball rolled crookedly in front of Nick.

Nick was not polite either, he used his physical advantage to squeeze away Zhao Junzhe, and scored a long shot 22 meters away from the goal.

"Haha, this kind of opportunity can be had, and the defender of the Cologne team is too good." Nick laughed and rushed to the sidelines, waved to the Borussia Mönchengladbach fans in the stands, and immediately greeted a tsunami of cheers from the Borussia Mönchengladbach fans.

Zhao Junzhe stood there helplessly with his hips akimbo. It stands to reason that his marking is still in place, but just now he didn't expect that his defender could give such a big gift, so he didn't concentrate all his attention. He could only watch Nick score the goal with a long shot.

"Damn, this is the gap. This kid is a few years younger than me, but he is too aggressive. It seems worth learning." Zhao Junzhe stared fiercely at Nick's back, secretly making up his mind.

After conceding the ball, Cologne launched a counterattack immediately, and the core of the attack was Shang Yi. The energetic Shang Yi was very flexible when facing the two tall central defenders Metzelder and Friedrich of Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In the 24th minute, Shang Yi passed Friedrich through the crotch after taking the ball, and then faced Metzelder's block and made another dunk, but the final shot hit Madavikia and popped out of the bottom line.

This made the Cologne fans who came to the Baukaberg Stadium to watch the game shout. Although they did not score, the Cologne team was able to create such an opportunity.

However, the overall offense of the Cologne team has not been able to function normally. It is obviously difficult to create a real killing intent by relying on long passes alone. This has given Borussia Mönchengladbach a lot of counterattack opportunities.

In the 33rd minute, Nick received the ball from Metzelder and drove straight in. After a two-to-one cooperation with Eto'o at the front of the Cologne team's penalty area, he broke into the penalty area and scored a powerful shot. Rewrite the score to 2:0.
In the 38th minute, Eto'o received Deisler's through pass in the penalty area and turned around and volleyed. The ball was saved by the Cologne goalkeeper;
In the 40th minute, it was Eto'o who received a volley from Nick's overhead pass, and the ball hit the crossbar and flew out of the baseline.

In the few minutes before halftime, Borussia Mönchengladbach even launched a siege around the Cologne goal. If it weren't for the Cologne goalkeeper's high and low blocks, the Cologne team would have been crippled in the first half.

In the second half, the team began to practice the second set of tactics, and Deisler became active.Deisler's offensive methods are very rich. He can pass the ball, break through by himself, and shoot from long distances, so the Cologne team continues to be in a passive situation.

In the 49th minute, Deisler made a precise pass from the right to help Jankel, who had just replaced Voronin, score with a header.

After the score became 3:0, the Cologne team felt that the chance of equalizing the score was very slim. The team's strength was indeed not as good as Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In the 58th minute, Deisler's consecutive breakthroughs caused a foul on the left side of the penalty area for the Cologne team. He personally scored a free kick and extended the score advantage to 4 goals.

Then Borussia Mönchengladbach began to replace a large number of substitute players, and Japanese player Shunsuke Nakamura also replaced Deisler.

The two sets of tactics were successfully practiced, and coach Carl secretly heaved a sigh of relief. With this state, he can compete with several strong teams in the Bundesliga.

Borussia Mönchengladbach's substitute players, under the command of Li Yihuan, still played the Cologne team helplessly. In the 71st minute, Li Yihuan's through ball from 30 meters away successfully penetrated into Cologne's penalty area.

In the next few minutes, Nakamura Shunsuke used his foot skills to create several opportunities, but his cooperation with his teammates was a little rusty, and several attacks by Borussia Mönchengladbach missed the goal.

The Cologne team pulled back a goal in the 79th minute. Shang Yi's fake action tricked Friedrich and fell into the penalty area.

In the last 10 minutes, both sides had several chances, but none of them were seized.The final score was 5:1, and Borussia Mönchengladbach won a big victory.

Borussia Mönchengladbach basically set the tone for the new season through this warm-up match. Similarly, they also found out the problems existing in the team. The problem of cooperation between the two central defenders needs to be continuously strengthened.

Two days later, Borussia Mönchengladbach flew to Italy again to play a warm-up match with Serie A team Roma.The Cologne team is too weak to really test the problems of Borussia Mönchengladbach.

(End of this chapter)