"Gibbs takes the throw-in, passing to Arteta, but Sven Bender intercepts the ball as he rushes back!
"Dortmund has a chance for a counter-attack, they're pushing forward with their entire team, shifting into a 3-4-3 formation! Götze has the ball now, the German youngster is only 19 this year, but he's already won a Bundesliga title and a cup title! He's a strong contender for the Golden Boy Award this year, and his biggest rival is Maël, who just had the ball. The media is calling this match a battle for the Golden Boy Award between the two!"
At Westfalen Stadium, amidst the cheers of over 70,000 Dortmund fans, Götze, the team's attacking core, dribbles forward, facing Arsenal's center-back Koscielny.
His dribbling is exceptional, the ball seems glued to his feet, moving with his body.
"Bang!"
After shaking off Koscielny, he quickly sends a through ball towards the center of the penalty area, piercing Arsenal's defense.
With perfect power, goalkeeper Szczęsny doesn't dare to come out, and can only watch as Polish striker Lewandowski takes the ball into the penalty area.
"Shhh!"
Just as Lewandowski is about to shoot, a long leg suddenly appears in front of the ball, blocking his shooting path.
It's Mertesacker, who has come to cover, anticipating Lewandowski's shooting line.
Lewandowski's eyes widen in surprise, and he instinctively pushes the ball to the outside of Mertesacker's sliding leg, costing him the best opportunity to shoot.
"Bang!"
Koscielny, having turned around, clears the ball with a single kick, defusing the attacking opportunity.
"Clap clap clap!" The Arsenal away fans immediately burst into applause. Playing away from home is never easy, and seeing the defense in good form gives them some reassurance.
The home fans also respond with enthusiastic applause, drowning out the entire stadium, naturally encouraging their team's brilliant counter-attack.
After winning the domestic double last season, their confidence and desire have slowly grown, hoping the team can achieve something in the European arena! In the box in the North Stand of the stadium, Isabella and Gilbert push open the glass door and stand outside, clapping excitedly.
They've certainly watched Champions League matches before, but this is the first time they've seen a Champions League match with a close friend playing on the field.
This feeling is naturally different. You feel a strong connection to this important match, as if you are also a part of it.
Don't think that Gilbert is just a Premier League player, and Isabella comes from a wealthy family and doesn't seem to lack anything in terms of fame and fortune.
But... this is the Champions League, the highest level of competition, representing the clash between the best and the best!
Before this, they didn't have any friends playing on this stage.
"The atmosphere in the stadium is great."
Gilbert scans Westfalen Stadium, excitedly saying, "I can't imagine what it would feel like to score a goal here."
Isabella nods slightly, deeply agreeing, she says with hopeful eyes, "When Maël scores, I'm sure we'll be able to feel some of it."
"I hope so."
Gilbert looks at the home team's momentum and atmosphere, not holding out too much hope, "But this is his first Champions League match, and he's facing Piszczek, I don't think his scoring rate will be high.
"As an Arsenal fan, I'll still pray with him that Arsenal can achieve the final victory."
"That's not certain."
Isabella looks at the figure on the sideline, raising the cheering sign she had prepared long ago, "He always performs well in his debut, I don't believe Piszczek can stop him."
On the field, Klopp, the young German coach with a full beard, stands proudly on the sideline, calmly observing the situation on the field.
He took over the coaching position of Bundesliga giant Dortmund at the age of 41, and last year led Dortmund to win the Bundesliga and German Cup after 9 years, breaking Bayern's monopoly and achieving a double crown.
As a coach, he certainly has the capital to be proud. He has been successful twice in his coaching career, never failing.
As long as he is given enough time, he can turn decay into magic and bring the team to where it should be!
"Bang!"
Arsenal's backfield suddenly launches a diagonal long pass, finding Maël in front of Klopp, who takes the ball and launches another breakthrough against Piszczek's defense.
Klopp looks at Maël's back, his eyes full of admiration and desire. No coach dislikes such a sharp winger.
Unfortunately, he is still wearing an Arsenal jersey, facing his team and attacking.
But looking at Piszczek again, Klopp feels much more at ease. This player with rich defensive experience and excellent physical qualities should be able to stop Maël.
"Bang bang bang!"
In front of Dortmund's defense, Maël controls the ball and runs towards Piszczek, this time he doesn't have the mentality of testing the waters, but focuses on seeking a breakthrough opportunity.
"Piszczek! Piszczek!"
"Let the British guy taste your defense! Make him cry on the sidelines!"
"He's French, quickly tell him to go back to France to find his mommy!"
"He seems to be an orphan... raised by his aunt and uncle since he was little."
"Ah? Sorry."
The Dortmund fans' shouts came from the stands, they seemed to have an extraordinary trust in Piszczek.
Maël didn't pay much attention, mainly because he couldn't understand and could only guess that they were definitely slandering him.
He still focused on the field, concentrating on Piszczek's knee center of gravity and shoulders, judging the opponent's next move.
In high-level games, it is impossible for players to have pre-planned attacks. Like doing a Bicycle Kick to deceive to the right and then break through to the left; or dribbling the ball first, then using a Marseille Turn to change direction.
This is not very realistic. High-level games change rapidly, and the situation on the field changes every second.
If you can't adjust flexibly and make changes based on the defensive player's center of gravity changes and various reactions, then there will be almost no chance of a successful breakthrough.
"Peng peng..."
Maël continued to advance. After seeing that Piszczek's footsteps were very steady and there was no change, he looked up at the center.
After looking back, he looked at the position of the baseline, wrapped the football with the inside of his right foot, and pushed the ball towards the baseline with a large stride, with a very obvious intention of going to the baseline for a Cross.
"Shua!" Just like last time, Piszczek reacted quickly, turned around quickly and strode back to chase.
There was no way around it. Facing this kind of winger with Speed and a strong body, if you couldn't predict his intentions in advance and react first, then you would most likely be easily broken through.
"Pa peng...!"
As a result, at this moment, Maël stopped in place, stretched out his right leg to step on the ball he had dribbled out, pulled it back, and kicked it towards the middle.
A feint! He took the initiative to seize Piszczek's psychology of liking to predict defense and deceived him!
Then, with extraordinary Coordination, he pulled the ball back before it left his body's range, and broke through towards the middle!
"Damn it!" Piszczek had already run back two steps. At this moment, seeing Maël flexibly pull the ball and turn to the middle, he was shocked and immediately turned around quickly to follow up.
Because his brain turned too fast, his body hadn't reacted yet and was dragged to turn around. His body twisted violently when he turned, and he almost fell.
Fortunately, his Coordination was also good. After his feet slipped, he stabilized his body and didn't fall.
But he had obviously lost the best time to chase back, giving Maël a chance to drive straight in and bringing him to a dangerous area!
"Piszczek! Pisz pi..." The shouts from the stands gradually weakened. All the Dortmund fans didn't expect that their proud full-back would be defeated so embarrassingly in the second confrontation.
Not far away, Klopp's expression was also obviously stunned, with a few traces of solemnity on his face, and he looked at Maël's back with trepidation.
"Peng!!"
Maël had already arrived in the middle position at this time. Seeing that Subotić and Hummels did not dare to come out to defend, he drew his bow and set his arrow and kicked out a Brutal Long Shot, testing the goalkeeper Weidenfeller.
"Pa!" Weidenfeller then made a wonderful save, pushing off the ground and using one hand to block the ball back into the penalty area.
He definitely wanted to push the ball out of the baseline, but the power of this shot was too great. He tried his best but could only block it out of the goal.
At the second landing point, Van Persie's eyes sharpened and he quickly followed up. Gross also started charging at the same time as him.
In the end, Gross relied on his physical advantage to block Van Persie and shovel the ball out of the baseline first, resolving the threat.
"Oh!!" The Arsenal fans' cheers and applause instantly rang out, directly occupying the entire stadium. They were cheering for the team's attack.
There was no doubt that they saw the team's chance to break through the opponent's goal and felt that a goal was approaching! The Dortmund fans sat quietly in their seats this time, and many people touched their chests to calm their racing heartbeats, sighing that they had escaped a disaster.
"Hey! Hey!!"
Klopp finally had a chance to speak. He loudly expressed his dissatisfaction to Hummels and others, pointing to his head and saying, "What are you thinking? Are you afraid that he will get past you? As long as he comes up, push him out and block the shot!
"If you give him such a chance again, see if Weidenfeller will save you... If you had Maël's shooting level, you would know what kind of opportunity you are giving him!"
Although this was somewhat of a way to increase the morale of others and diminish one's own prestige, Klopp was speaking in German. He just wanted to spur his players and didn't want to praise Maël in front of him.
However, in his anger, he obviously forgot that there were German players in the Arsenal lineup.
Mertesacker was running from the backcourt to Dortmund's penalty area at this time, preparing to compete for a header.
After arriving next to Maël, he couldn't help but chuckle, "That guy was praising you just now, he probably thought you couldn't understand him."
"Who?"
Maël asked. After seeing Mertesacker's gaze, he glanced in Klopp's direction and immediately understood, "Haha... him?"
"Yes, he said your shooting was good, and then complained about the Dortmund defense." Mertesacker turned his head again, and Klopp seemed to notice that he was explaining something to Maël, his face flushed red as he turned and left.
"Bang!!"
The corner kick was then taken, cleared at the near post by Subotić, failing to create a threat.
Over the next period, both sides slowly adapted to each other's rhythm, and the offense and defense became stable, like a methodical and routine exchange.
Champions League matches, in theory, should be the fastest-paced and most intense games.
However, most of the time, they don't give fans a very direct sense of impact, at most making everyone feel it's wonderful, but not making people feel the pace of confrontation is fast.
Firstly, it is indeed that both sides slowed down the speed of offensive and defensive transitions for the sake of stability, choosing to seek stability in most situations.
Offensive players, after finding no chance, will not hesitate to pass the ball back to reorganize the attack.
Defensive players, after discovering they've lost the ball, will also carry out a quick counter-press, but will not invest too many troops, they will tend to quickly fall back to organize the defense.
Secondly, the players who can set foot on this arena are all very strong in individual ability and attach great importance to the Champions League matches.
They rarely make low-level mistakes, are extremely careful with every pass, and will not engage in prolonged entanglements with opponents in local areas during offense and defense, generally transferring the ball out extremely quickly.
The pinnacle of tactics! Refined passing and pressing!
This is the Champions League! However, beneath all of this lies each player's strongest desire to win, desire to score, undercurrents surging on the field, everyone holding their breath, preparing to give the other side a fatal blow.
An unreasonable pass that doesn't seem to have much impact at the time may be the fatal fuse that leads to the goal being broken! "Bang bang bang!"
The football is passed quickly, the formations of both sides are constantly rotating, and each player is moving steadily within their respective systems.
Maël has also gained a lot of opportunities to hold the ball during this period, but mostly in positional attacks.
Dortmund is playing relatively conservatively today, not playing Klopp's high-pressing concept, they only carry out frantic pressing in local areas, and will not press on all fronts.
Presumably, they are also worried about Arsenal's counterattack. After all, after Maël joined Arsenal, the team's offensive firepower has clearly increased.
An average of about 3 goals per game is still very deterrent.
"Now it's Maël coming to get the ball, the Dortmund defense is standing very tightly, and Piszczek is standing in front of him again.
"No choice to break through, in this case, forcibly getting past Piszczek is not very meaningful, and the success rate will not be high.
"Dribbling towards the center, his ball protection is very good, his body is blocking Piszczek from getting close to the football, and his footwork is also good... this is the real thing, my ball protection is like Henry!
"A diagonal pass to the ribs! Beautiful! Gervinho started late, otherwise this would be a good opportunity!"
"…"
"Maël is making a comeback! This time he chooses to go directly to the bottom line to get past Piszczek! Piszczek is following late, he hasn't gained any advantage in one-on-one offense and defense today! "A cross! Ah, the combination of Van Persie and Walcott is indeed average in terms of aerial ball contention, the landing point of this ball is already very good, but it was still cleared by Subotić! "Maël is very dazzling, he does give people a different feeling, as if he can create opportunities that other players can't create.
"In Arsenal's central position, there is also a player standing, who can score goals that other players can't score.
"I hope the two of them can connect today and help Arsenal get a valuable away victory!"
"…"
Maël looked at the dense defensive personnel in the Dortmund penalty area and felt a burst of difficulty. He turned around and ran back to his position, waiting for other offensive opportunities.
Can't have a sense of frustration... with his personal ability, he will definitely wait for an opportunity!
Champions League matches are difficult, he must first slowly adapt to the rhythm of the game, and then slowly adapt to scoring goals.
The game passed 30 minutes, and the change finally came. Dortmund, up and down, seemed to suddenly open some kind of mechanism, frantically pressing towards Arsenal's half.
"Press, press, press!!"
"Charge!"
The tracks of the German chariot began to roll, and the Dortmund players in yellow jerseys really crossed the halfway line like a swarm of bumblebees, launching a high press.
This was Klopp's design, he didn't completely passively wait for counter-attack opportunities, but put the high-pressure play before the end of the first half.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
The Arsenal players quickly felt a bit out of sync, losing possession frequently in their own half, allowing the Dortmund players to launch a series of brilliant counter-attacks.
The tempo of the game suddenly increased, and the intensity of the challenges went up more than one notch! "Götze is trying to break through the middle himself! He wants to get past Mertesacker, but it's a bit difficult to find an angle to shoot!
"Oh! Just a little bit off, the ball grazed the post and flew out! Götze is frustrated!
"Dortmund has been pressing well lately, bringing back the familiar tactics from their league games, which is built on the players' ample stamina reserves. Klopp's team has strict discipline and fighting spirit!"
"..."
"It's Götze again, he's been very bright today. He must know what this game means to him! A one-two with Sven Bender, and a pass to Schmelzer on the left wing! A cross! Into the middle! It's Götze again! A right-footed outside-of-the-boot shot, he's so agile!
"Just a hair's breadth away, the ball almost slipped past Szczęsny's fingertips and into the net! It can be said that Götze and Maël are the two best players on either team in the first half, one with extraordinary creativity, and the other with absolute impact.
"Let's see who can score first! Looking at it now, after the golden generation of '85, '86, and '87, the '92 and '93 generation is also promising! The next decade will definitely be a time of upheaval in world football! After that, it's hard to say."
"..."
While Dortmund suddenly pressed forward with a fluid and frenzied attack, hidden dangers were slowly being buried in their defense.
Of the four Arsenal forwards playing today, only Gervinho is tracking back to defend. The other three remain high up the pitch, maintaining a three-man attacking group.
"Boom!!"
"Clang!!"
In the 43rd minute, Götze's Cut Inside and Curved Shot hit the crossbar and bounced back into the six-yard box, landing right in Szczęsny's arms.
"Ah!" The Dortmund players stood still in disappointment, either holding their heads or looking up at the sky with their mouths open.
The broadcast cameras focused on them, capturing the moment when top stars on the field revealed their frustration.
"Clap, clap, clap." Klopp on the sidelines didn't immediately realize anything was wrong, clapping his hands to encourage the players on the attacking line.
Arsenal had been using a short goal-kick strategy throughout the first half. Leaving aside the earlier part, in the last ten minutes or so, these short passes had difficulty penetrating Dortmund's midfield and forward defensive lines.
Unable to penetrate, they naturally couldn't find their three forwards, and couldn't create any threat.
This prolonged ease made many Dortmund players forget the pressure on their defense.
"Boom!!"
Until Szczęsny suddenly turned and launched a diagonal long pass, sending the ball to the left wing in the attacking third, did the Dortmund players wake up as if from a dream and look back.
They saw that their defensive line was in complete disarray. The three center-backs who remained behind had already crossed the halfway line to avoid being disconnected from the midfield players.
Walcott and Van Persie created some chaos in the two gaps between the three center-backs, making it impossible for them to immediately assign defensive responsibilities.
The only right-back, Piszczek, who was trailing behind, wasn't having an easy time either. Maël was in front of him, forming a one-on-one situation.
"Track back!!"
Fear quickly appeared on Klopp's face. He quickly lowered his clapping hands and leaned forward, waving his arms wildly: "Track back!! Take down Van Persie and Walcott!"
The defenders tackling Van Persie and Walcott wouldn't be the last line of defense. Takedowns, as long as the situation wasn't particularly serious, would at most result in a yellow card.
At this time, using a yellow card to stop two possible counter-attack points was extremely worthwhile.
As for Maël, who was in front of the last defender, they could only hope for Piszczek. His header wasn't strong, and Piszczek might be able to jump up and clear the ball directly.
If he cleared it, everything would be fine. If he didn't clear it and Maël controlled the ball, it would definitely be a threatening opportunity.
With Maël's ability to protect the ball, he would most likely hold off Piszczek and pass the ball to a teammate who was coming up from behind.
"Oh!" The Arsenal fans, who had been silent for more than ten minutes, began to cheer, seeing a good opportunity appear on the field.
"Maël!"
"Take it down!"
Gilbert and Isabella in the box also leaned their heads out of the box's railing, their faces excited.
At the critical moment, the ball slowly fell, landing right in front of Piszczek and Maël! This was a very accurate quick release, Szczęsny did everything a goalkeeper could do in attack! "Watch the second point! Mine!!"
Piszczek lowered his center of gravity, judged the landing point, and shouted to his teammates. He was ready to jump and contest the header.
Maël noticed his intention and used force against his back, pushing him backward with his back.
If Piszczek had retreated half a meter, the ball would have landed firmly at his feet! There wouldn't have been the slightest chance to jump and contest the header.
Piszczek instantly felt a powerful force coming at him. He gritted his teeth, dug his cleats into the turf, even embedding them in the dirt, and exerted all his strength to push forward.
"Sizzle..." But this still didn't change the fact that he was constantly retreating. Eventually, he abandoned the idea of contesting the header and instead moved to interfere with Maël's ball control from the left.
Maël felt a sudden emptiness behind him, and a force coming from the left.
He glanced at the falling soccer ball, his eyes flickered, and his left foot quickly stepped outward, using force to protect the ball while turning to the opposite side! His whole body turned to the right, and his right leg stepped back, just catching the first point of the ball's descent! "Pa!"
In the instant of the turn, the soccer ball just landed on the instep of his right foot, within his control! He steadily stopped the ball, facing the direction of attack! And Piszczek, because he exerted force in the opposite direction, was already staggering towards the opposite position.
It was a stop and turn in one move! "Boom!" Maël turned and then pushed the ball forward, the whole set of movements completed in one go. When he looked up again, there were no defensive players in front of him, only Weidenfeller standing alone in front of the goal.
It was an incredibly elegant turn!
A One-on-One! "Oh my God..." The Dortmund fans in the stands stood up in shock, looking towards Weidenfeller's position, hoping he could make an effective save.
"Yeah!!" The Arsenal fans began to celebrate in advance, all standing up and cheering in the stands, a scene of wild revelry erupting instantly.
"Maël!"
In the box, Isabella's eyes shone with a brilliant light. She raised her right hand, waiting for the final moment of explosion.
"My God!"
Gilbert's face was shocked. As a player, he certainly knew the difficulty of such a stop and turn, which required many qualities, not just ball control, but physical fitness, Coordination and reaction, and so on.
It also required the player to maintain extraordinary reaction and calmness when the opportunity came!
What kind of monster was he? However, such thoughts only flashed through his mind, with a slight sigh.
Now, looking at the dashing figure on the field, looking at the Dortmund defense that was panicking and chasing back with their heads down... Gilbert understood that his good brother was very likely to usher in his first Champions League goal!
-----------
This high quality machine translation is powered by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
To read the full translation, as well as more than 130+ full translations or to request new translations, check out: https:// randomtranslator.com/
You can also join the Random Translator Community on Discord to connect with other readers: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------