Perfect Center

Chapter 168 Confrontation in the first half!
The whole stadium erupted in cheers.

"The ball goes in! Aubameyang shot without hesitation! He broke the deadlock at the very beginning of the game!"

"It's only the sixth minute of the game when Royce's cross assists!"

"Aubameyang is still in the Europa League with the hot form he had in the first half of the Bundesliga!"

"Dortmund have established a leading advantage!"

In the live broadcast room, the barrage was slightly less heated than when Xia Han was on the court.

But there were quite a few viewers who came to watch the live broadcast of this game.
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[Gabonese sheep is still strong! 】
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[This season will be his peak season! Playing as a center with Xia Han is also a good choice! ]
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[Aubameyang has a chance to compete for the Bundesliga Golden Boot! He is naturally strong and is Dortmund's top scorer! ]
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[Porto fell behind by one goal at the start of the game, and the striker also received a yellow card. It was a bad start! ]

Aubameyang patted his chest excitedly and ran quickly towards the corner flag area.

After coming to Dortmund, Aubameyang has always been the team's main striker. His superb shooting skills and strong speed make him a natural counterattack weapon under Tuchel!
When these two meet, the sparks they create are better than anything else in the world!

After running to the corner flag area, Aubameyang performed his classic front flip, and many fans' hearts were lifted as Aubameyang flew high.

It wasn't until the moment Aubameyang landed that I finally felt relieved.

This front flip celebration originated from La Liga, and he hopes to pay tribute to his grandfather’s favorite player: five-time La Liga top scorer Hugo Sanchez!
Gabonese Meow Meow's celebration moves are very creative. In addition to the front flip, he also has a superhero complex. He has worn Spiderman and Batman masks, and there was also a very classic Black Panther mask celebration and Super Saiyan celebration!
After landing, Aubameyang waved his fist heavily, causing the fans in the surrounding stands to cheer, applaud and cheer warmly!

Reus came up to Aubameyang, high-fived him, and whispered, covering his mouth: "That's it, you find the open space, I pass it, and the ball goes in!"

Aubameyang chuckled.

Command area.

Pesero's expression became more and more ugly, and the assistant coach next to him said to him:

"The players haven't gotten into good form yet, and their performance is obviously poor. We need to get them into form quickly!"

"Dortmund's attack will become more fierce with this goal. We must first stabilize our defense, otherwise it will be easy for Dortmund to seize the opportunity after the kick-off, and we will lose another goal and fall into trouble!"

Pesero nodded and said seriously:

"You're right. We can't let Dortmund succeed. We have to stabilize our formation first, let the players move back, shorten the defensive distance in the middle, and pay attention to the gaps directly in the defense line!"

"Just don't let them score the second goal!"

The assistant coach nodded repeatedly, walked quickly forward, and kept gesturing to the players on the field.

The other side.

Tuchel crossed his arms over his chest with a calm look on his face, as if he had expected this goal.

"Aubameyang's last shot lacked a bit of luck, this one was a beautiful shot," said Michels.

"It was a good shot indeed. We just need to play like this from now on."

“It’s just that we still need to make adjustments in the details.”

"We should gradually speed up the pace of our ball passing so that Porto's defense can't keep up with our offensive frequency, and then the next victory will be a piece of cake!"

The game continues.

Porto kicked off again.

"After Dortmund took the lead, they attacked more fiercely!"

"The offensive wave after wave hit Porto's defense like a tsunami!"

"But as one of the top three teams in the Portuguese Super League, Porto is not to be trifled with. Their attack is very concise!"

"That means flying from both wings! Marega and Brahimi are both very fast!"

Time passed by minute by minute, Dortmund and Porto fought back and forth, which made neutral fans exclaim that it was so exciting to watch!
Porto's offense was still strong in today's game, but their style of play was too one-sided, and they only created opportunities through one-on-one situations on both flanks.

Their central axis seemed to have taken the wrong medicine today and was unable to maintain the fluency of the Portuguese Super League in the past.

Dortmund's fierce pressing in the frontcourt made it difficult for Porto's central players to move.

Once Dortmund launched an attack, Porto's out-of-form defenders found it difficult to withstand Dortmund's powerful offensive firepower.

"Porto has been qualified for the Champions League for many years, and they also created a miracle in European football in 2004!"

"They won the UEFA Champions League that year, becoming the first team from outside the top five leagues to achieve this feat in history!"

"But times have changed. It is already the 15/16 season and Porto's overall strength is no longer as good as before!"

"The Cameroonian striker played well in the Portuguese Super League, but unfortunately he performed mediocrely in the Champions League."

Abubakar also has a famous incident: he scored the winning goal against Brazil in the group stage of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

In the last minute of injury time, Abubakar headed the ball into the right side of the goal from the center of the penalty area, defeating Brazil!

However, after scoring the goal, Abubakar took off his clothes to celebrate and was sent off with two yellow cards. This also made Abubakar the first player after Zidane to score a goal and receive a red card in a single World Cup game. Zidane had the same experience in the 06 World Cup final against Italy.

In the end, Cameroon defeated Brazil 1-0 thanks to Aboubakar's header, but was still eliminated.

The game reached the 35th minute after repeated offensive and defensive transitions.

"Both sides had a lot of shots, but no goal could change the score."

"Most of Porto's shots went wide of the goal, perhaps because their forwards were too impatient! Dortmund players' shots were saved many times by Casillas. Casillas showed good competitive form in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16!"

"He proved to the fans that he is still as good as ever!"

Reus received a pass from his teammate in the frontcourt and looked up at Porto's defensive players.

Varela looked at Reus rushing towards him, feeling extremely bitter. He didn't know how many times he had been passed by Reus in this game.

"Reus dribbled the ball forward at high speed! It's Varela again! He was completely seen through by Reus in today's game!"

Varela complained bitterly, as he was not fooled by Reus's fake move this time.

Because Reus's move was not a fake at all, he simply accelerated and broke through Varela's weak defense.

Varela had no choice but to move his feet and chase back, trying to disrupt Reus' next move.

"Beautiful!"

"This time Royce accelerated and broke through. While Varela was still adjusting his center of gravity and guarding against Royce's fake moves, the Little Rocket was already preparing for the next move!"

Reus observed the defensive situation in Porto's penalty area and then swung his leg. Varela failed to chase back in time and the ball left Reus' feet.

Snapped!
The football flew off the ground and passed over the Porto defender in an instant!
It passed over their heads and fell straight to the other side, which was Porto's weak side!
Dortmund players' ability to switch between the strong and weak sides is not weak to begin with, and with Tuchel's deliberate tactical training, their ability to switch between the strong and weak sides is so terrifying!
"This is Dortmund's strong and weak side conversion!"

“Hiss! It’s so scary!”

Mkhitaryan was on the weak side, taking small steps.

Looking at the football falling from mid-air, Mkhitaryan quickly adjusted his position and pace.

"Wow!"

"Mkhitaryan chose to volley directly!!!"

Mkhitaryan faces the football and looks at the goal!

With a bang, a volley!

The football shot out like an arrow!

"Saint Cassie!"

Casillas kept adjusting his position when the ball left Reus' feet.

Looking at the trajectory of the football, Casillas focused his attention on Mkhitaryan.

Before the Armenian shot, he judged the opponent's shooting tendency!

"Isn't that right!" Casillas' eyes became sharp, and in a flash, he quickly adjusted his pace and moved his feet to get as close to the far post as possible!

With his hands clenched into fists, Casillas was like a fish out of the ocean, making an extremely smooth saving move in mid-air.

With a bang, Mkhitaryan's volley was knocked out by Casillas's punch!

"Nice save!"

"Excellent performance! Mkhitaryan's shot was very powerful!"

"But Casillas' save was even better!"

"What a great shot, and a beautiful dive!"

"Eh! Even though we successfully saved the ball, Porto's crisis is not over yet!"

The ball was hit high by Casillas.

Where the football lands.

Herrera and Aubameyang were competing for the first point and both jumped up at the same time.

In the end, the Gabonese striker was one step ahead and headed the ball to the side before Herrera could reach it.

Weigl received the ball and touched it directly without much adjustment!
The football left Weigl's feet and flew straight to Shinji Kagawa who was standing on the other side!

"Shinji Kagawa catches the ball, adjust it!"

"Another lob pass!"

"This season, this little Japanese genius has created many scoring opportunities with his lob passes!"

"Before Porto's defense could react, Shinji Kagawa directly kicked the ball into the penalty area!"

"This is the right way to attack! Don't give Porto's defense too much reaction time!"

The situation in Porto's penalty area was tense and shaky!
After Aubameyang headed the ball to Weigl, he immediately rushed into the penalty area. Mkhitaryan and Reus also rushed into the penalty area, causing chaos and great threat to Porto's defense!
"Dortmund's front three directly entered the penalty area!"

"Unreasonable thrusting!"

"It makes it difficult for Porto's penalty area to defend!"

Snapped!
Mkhitaryan, who was near the penalty spot, squeezed through Layun's defense and successfully took the first point of the football.

He accelerated forward, pushed the grass hard, rushed forward, and smashed the football hard with his whole body!
This header carried an unstoppable momentum!
Mkhitaryan's attack again was extremely threatening!
Although Casillas was already in a good defensive position, he was still unable to face Mkhitaryan's powerful header from close range!
He still felt a little helpless!
When the football hit the goal accompanied by the fans' cheers like a landslide and tsunami.

Casillas reluctantly made a save gesture, but it was too late. He could only watch the football pass by his nose, penetrate his last line of defense, and lift Porto's net high again!
2-0! ! !

"Mkhitaryan's domineering header! It blew open the goal guarded by Casillas!"

“Saint Cassi can’t stop the Armenians who are on the rise!”

"Mkhitaryan continued his extremely hot form, making several breakthroughs and exquisite passes, which made the fans cheer for him! In this game, he and Reus dribbled past the opponent on both sides, ignoring Porto's defense!"

"Varela and Kurt were helpless against their dribbling. These two defensive players were as relaxed as walking on a main road in the morning in front of Dortmund's two wings!"

"Under Tuchel's rule, this Armenian has fully unleashed his offensive talent!"

"Will Dortmund's players score a dazzling big score in front of tens of thousands of fans at the Westfalenstadion tonight?"

Inside the Westfalenstadion.

The cheers of the fans are like a surging wave!

Overwhelmed the Dortmund players on the field.

Mkhitaryan quickly ran to the corner flag area, jumped high, punched hard, made a heart gesture to the fans, and accepted their applause and cheers.

There was little time left in the first half.

The morale of Porto's players gradually declined. Peseiro stood on the sidelines and kept yelling. He was very dissatisfied with the performance of the players on the field today.

"Can you play with fighting spirit? I need your passion, I need you to unleash your offensive ability!"

"Don't be like a lost dog. Players without fighting spirit are like losing their souls!"

On the other side, Tuchel gestured the next tactical arrangement.

Although the situation on the field seemed to be winning, Tuchel still noticed the team's shortcomings and mistakes on the defensive end.

Under Tuchel's instructions, Michels gestured to the players on the back line, signaling them to pay attention to their defensive concentration, not to be distracted, and not to leave space, so that Porto's offensive players could find opportunities for threatening shots.

Beep!
With the referee’s whistle, the first half of the game officially ended!
"The first half of the first leg of Dortmund's Europa League round of 16 home match against Porto is over!"

"Let's look forward to what kind of sparks the two teams will create for us in the second half!"

(End of this chapter)