ATPnovel Chapter 426 - 91: Advancing to the Final! Wang Shuo Is on a Rampage
Chapter 426 - 91: Advancing to the Final! Wang Shuo Is on a Rampage
More importantly, his goal tally in the UEFA Europa League this season had reached a staggering 22!
Wang Shuo was on an absolute tear!
...
While Dortmund was eliminating Atletico Madrid 3-1 away from home, winning 6-3 on aggregate to storm into the UEFA Europa League final, the other semifinal match was also decided.
In the all-Premier League clash between Liverpool and Fulham, the two sides drew 1-1 at both home and away, and were still unable to decide a winner even after extra time.
In the end, the Red Army managed to eliminate Fulham in a penalty shootout, advancing to the UEFA Europa League final.
Thus, Dortmund’s opponent in the UEFA Europa League final on the night of May 12th would be Benitez’s Liverpool!
Before Dortmund even returned to Germany, the entire country was already in an uproar.
Especially since the day before, Bayern had defeated Lyon 3-0 away, eliminating the Ligue 1 team 4-0 on aggregate and smoothly advancing to the Champions League final.
Two Bundesliga teams reaching the finals of the Champions League and UEFA Europa League simultaneously had happened several times throughout history.
The most recent occurrence was in ’02.
And as it happened, the team that reached the UEFA Europa League final that year was none other than Dortmund.
For the Bundesliga, it was not a year worth remembering fondly.
That year, after reaching the Champions League final, Bayer Leverkusen lost 1-2 to the Galaxy Battleship, Real Madrid.
Dortmund, meanwhile, lost 2-3 to Feyenoord, who were playing in their home stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Bundesliga teams participated in the finals of two European competitions, but lost both!
And the time before that was in the ’81/’82 season. Bayern Munich reached the Champions League final, only to lose 0-1 at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam to Aston Villa, who were in the English First Division at the time.
Hamburg also made it to the UEFA Cup final.
The UEFA Cup final was still a two-legged tie back then. Hamburg lost 0-1 away and suffered a crushing 0-3 defeat at home to the Swedish team, Göteborg.
Across the three matches of those two finals, the two Bundesliga teams shockingly failed to score a single goal.
It could be said that for the past twenty-odd years, the times when two Bundesliga teams simultaneously reached the Champions League and UEFA Europa League finals have been nothing but painful memories for German fans.
Now, Dortmund and Bayern had once again reached the UEFA Europa League and Champions League finals, respectively.
Public opinion in Germany was a mix of excitement and unease.
This was especially true considering that both Bundesliga teams were facing formidable giants of the sport.
Although Serie A was in decline, Inter Milan had just eliminated the seemingly invincible Barça "Dream Team 3" in the semifinals. Mourinho’s squad was now at its zenith, making them the top favorite to win the Champions League.
And Benitez’s Liverpool went without saying. The dominance of Premier League teams had been clear for all to see in recent years.
In the UEFA Europa League semifinals, two of the four teams were from the Premier League.
While the media and fans fretted, the club began to shift its full focus to preparing for the UEFA Europa League final.
The day after the team returned to Dortmund from Madrid, Klopp called a motivational meeting.
The main purpose was to lay out the preparation plan for the upcoming period.
According to Bundesliga rules, all matches in the last two rounds of the season are played simultaneously.
This created a difficult situation for Dortmund.
On the night of April 29th, after playing the second leg of the UEFA Europa League semifinal in Madrid, they rushed back to Dortmund overnight, arriving after midnight.
They rested on the morning of the 30th and had a recovery training session in the afternoon.
Then at 2:30 PM on May 1st, they had their Bundesliga Matchday 33 game, a home match against VfL Wolfsburg.
What was to be done?
Rotation!
Heavy rotation!
After all, the team had already clinched the title!
As long as they didn’t lose at home, there was no reason to risk a full-blown battle with VfL Wolfsburg.
Wolfsburg also had nothing left to play for at this point in the season, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
A week later, at 2:30 PM on May 8th, was Matchday 34 of the Bundesliga.
But on the night of May 12th, Dortmund was set to face Liverpool in Hamburg.
Therefore, Klopp explicitly told the players that this match would also see heavy rotation.
The main squad needed to rest, recuperate, and adjust their condition to face Liverpool with peak fitness and form.
Wang Shuo didn’t have any major objections to this arrangement.
Fighting for the UEFA Europa League title with everything they had was the absolute top priority right now!
After the meeting, Wang Shuo entered the Ball God System and invested another 50 Passive Value points to upgrade [Eagle Eye] from Regional Level to National Level.
After the upgrade, the levels of Wang Shuo’s 12 Passive Skills were as follows:
Intercontinental Level: [Breathing], [Ball Sense], [Swift], [Foundation];
National Level: [Inverted Foot], [First Move], [Coordination], [Spiritual Light], [Insight], [Eagle Eye];
Professional Level: [Breathing];
Special Skills: [Damage Reduction].
...
「Afternoon of May 1st.」
When the head referee, Brych, blew the final whistle, the entire Westfalen Stadium erupted into a sea of celebration.
Over 80,000 Dortmund fans celebrated wildly in the stands.
Down on the pitch, the Dortmund players also joined in the celebration.
1-1!
In the 35th minute of the first half, Valdes had scored a penalty for Dortmund.
But in the 69th minute of the second half, Dzeko equalized for VfL Wolfsburg.
In the end, the two teams settled for a 1-1 draw.
After the match, a brief ceremony was held on the pitch to present the championship shield.
Although the team’s captain, Sebastian Kael, who was still recovering from an injury, was present, it was Weidenfeller who went up to receive the championship shield on behalf of the team.
"One, two, three!"