Perfect Center

Chapter 178 Goal Line! Second Half!

BayArena.

Leno stared blankly at the football rolling into the goal, and Wendel's footsteps stopped in place.

Leno stood up and wanted to complain to Wendel in front of him, but after hesitating for a moment, he shook his head helplessly.

Facing an explosive speed player like Xia Han, what can Wendel, who is strong on offense but weak on defense, do?
There is nothing to complain about. Leverkusen's defense is at this level. The offense is vivid and colorful, and Leno's high catches and blocks are common on the defensive end.

"There's nothing we can do about it. That's how corner kicks work. It's a chance for us to score, but it's also a chance for the opponent to counterattack. We've scored several goals from corner kicks this season." Toprak patted Wendel's shoulder to comfort him.

Wendell nodded dejectedly.

Courtside.

Schmidt was having a heated discussion with members of the coaching staff. After conceding two goals, there was no time to complain.

"We are already two goals behind. We must attack aggressively and put high pressure on the Dortmund players. I believe their physical strength will gradually be exhausted under this kind of pressure!"

"But, boss, our players seem to be depleting their energy faster." The assistant coach whispered.

Schmidt pretended not to hear and signaled to the Leverkusen players on the field: In the last few minutes of the first half, increase the offensive firepower, attack more fiercely, quickly advance to the frontcourt to find Kiessling, and try to score a goal in the last time of the first half while Dortmund players are slack!
The other side.

Dortmund has ended the discussion.

Assistant coach Michels rushed to the sidelines with Tuchel's instructions and gestured to Piszczek who was nearest.

"It's the last few minutes of the first half, don't let your guard down, stay focused!"

"We can slow down the pace and go into halftime with a two-goal lead!"

The game starts again.

Both teams took their positions and Kiessling passed the ball to Hernandez.

After a series of passes, the football was cleanly intercepted by Bender!

Before the ball reached Bellarabi's feet, Kampl lost the ball under the double-team of two Dortmund players.

"Bend and Xia Han double-teamed and successfully stole the ball!"

"Kampl made a lot of mistakes in this game and lost the ball a lot. They are clearly not in good shape!"

"Dortmund's offensive wave is coming again!"

"Leverkusen is in danger again!"

Leverkusen fans in the surrounding stands booed desperately, trying to disrupt Dortmund's counterattack, but unfortunately the effect was minimal.

Kramer stood in front of Mkhitaryan, but Mkhitaryan had no intention of fighting with him. He just sent the ball forward decisively and then rushed forward himself!
Durm appeared at the landing point of the football and took the ball. Then he made a skillful wall cooperation with Mkhitaryan!
"Durm and Mkhitaryan keep tearing apart Leverkusen's right defense!"

"The right side of the defense line is already in danger!"

At the BayArena, Leverkusen fans stared at Dortmund's rampage with extreme nervousness!
With a snap, the football left Durm's feet and flew straight into Leverkusen's penalty area!
"After a series of cooperation between Durm and Mkhitaryan, he made a cross from the baseline!"

"Jedvaj tried to block Durm's cross with his foot, but unfortunately he failed to intercept it!"

The football passed over Jedvai's outstretched foot and fell straight into Leverkusen's penalty area!

Xia Han jumped high before Leverkusen's defenders, relying on his keen ability to judge the landing point!

"It's not a good idea to head the ball directly." In a flash, Xia Han discovered that Durm's cross was a little high and he didn't have time to think about it.

Xia Han subconsciously chose to head the ball a little to the right, passing the ball to the right side of the penalty area, allowing Aubameyang who was in a better position to make the finishing shot!
"Xia Han! Heading attack...pass!"

"Sent to the right side of the penalty area, Aubameyang and Wendel are entangled!"

boom!
After a fierce melee, it was obvious that Aubameyang had better physical confrontation ability. He sprinted at an extremely fast speed and kicked the football!
The football went straight into Leverkusen's goal!
Leno, standing on the goal line, had a ferocious expression on his face, but he reacted bravely and quickly turned sideways to make a save!

Snapped!
Leno successfully caught the football, which flew high and bounced out of the baseline!

"Dortmund once again showed their sharp fangs after scoring a goal! For them, the best time to score is within a few minutes after they score a goal!"

"Got a corner kick opportunity!"

"Dortmund did not invest too much in this corner attack. Obviously, they also know that the corner kick opportunity is also an opportunity for the opponent to counterattack!"

"Mkhitaryan takes this corner kick!"

Mkhitaryan looked up and observed Leverkusen's defensive position in the penalty area. After observing for a while, he raised his hands high and took a corner kick directly!
The football drew an extremely graceful arc in the air!

He fell straight into Leno's arms.

Mkhitaryan looked helpless and annoyed.

Leno, who was holding the football, was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. If he hadn't reacted quickly enough, Mkhitaryan's corner kick might have gone straight into the goal!

"It looks like Mkhitaryan noticed that Leverkusen's defense in front of the goal line was not strong enough, so he wanted to shoot directly from the corner kick! Unfortunately, Leno was in good shape today and took the ball directly!"

With only a little time left, the ball changed several times and Dortmund's attack was blocked by Leverkusen's crazy tactical foul, for which Bellarabi paid the price of a yellow card.

Leverkusen's attack was unable to create much threat. Today, Hummels, Papastathopoulos and Bender were like a solid wall, directly cutting off Leverkusen's offensive opportunities in the 30-meter area time and time again.

Under Tuchel, Dortmund's defense cut off the connection between Leverkusen's midfield and frontcourt, making it difficult for Leverkusen's midfield and frontcourt players to perform skillful cooperation and passing.

Three minutes of injury time.

In the last minute of the second minute, Bellarabi forced the ball from the wing, but was still disturbed by Piszczek when he kicked the cross.

The quality of the cross was not high, but Papastathopoulos' header failed to clear the ball, but instead slightly moved back, giving Kiessling a good opportunity to bomb from the air! Bang!
Cannonball header!

Kisling was in mid-air, and he slammed his head hard on the door!
The football bounced off the ground and hit Dortmund's goal!
Burki was tense, but facing the cannon-like header so close to him, he could only use all his strength to stretch out his hands and feet to try to block the header!
The football was slightly touched by Burki.

With a bang, the ball hit the crossbar and bounced back to the vicinity of the goal line. Burki was quick-eyed and quick-handed, and pressed the football under him in the first time.

On the sidelines, Schmidt and Leverkusen's coaching staff all jumped up!
"It's in! It's in! This ball must have gone in!"

Schmidt was very excited. With the team trailing by one goal during the half-time break, he had more room for adjustment.

Seeing that the referee was still standing there indifferently, Schmidt was so anxious that he almost rushed into the field and lifted up the referee's collar.

He stood in the command area and shouted, "It's across the line! The ball must have crossed the line! It's a goal! It's a good shot!"

The referee listened to the linesman and the video referee's decision and found that the ball did not cross the goal line but was stopped in place by Burki with extreme pressure.

Schmidt rushed to the fourth official, yelling and complaining, but was only met with indifference from the fourth official.

"The referee and the video referee both think this is not a goal." The fourth official said coldly, "You'd better calm down now. If you can't calm down, I can help you calm down!"

The assistant coach rushed over and pulled Schmidt back to the command area.

Schmidt also headed for insults to the referee several times and was suspended for this. He could only stay in the stands and give instructions to the coaching staff.

"How blind!" Schmidt cursed under his breath as he returned to Leverkusen's bench.

Tuchel on the other side was smiling happily.

Beep! Beep! Beep!
The football was pressed under Burki's body. When he slowly got up, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half of the game!

"The first half of the game is over! The two teams brought us a fierce offensive battle like a rainstorm! The offensive scene was very intense!"

"In the first half of the game, the score was 2-0! Dortmund had a two-goal lead. Leverkusen attacked fiercely but failed to score in the first half!"

"The first goal Dortmund scored brought us a brief visual enjoyment. The beautiful and smooth cooperation allowed us to see another side of this youthful yellow and black army!"

"The extremely skillful wall-to-wall cooperation and the touch of the ball like a sharp blade tearing through the defense line, we can also see the tactical drills and cooperation of Dortmund players in their daily practice! The running positions between the players are also very tacit!"

“In the end, Durm swept across the middle, Xia Han made a clever assist, and Aubameyang finished it!”

"The second goal was even simpler! Dortmund counterattacked from a corner kick, and Xia Han finally scored with a single shot into the empty net!"

In the live broadcast room.
-
[18-year-old Xia Han sat there, looking over with deep affection, and found that he was not yet 18 years old! ]
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[Dortmund's top striker! No doubt about it! Incredible first year in the Bundesliga! In front of Xia Han, there seems to be no such thing as the rookie wall! ]
-
[So, every time Xia Han debuts, he can burst out with huge energy! Incredible! Does he have a system that can cheat in his debut? ]
-
[Kiessling's last header didn't go in? I thought it went in! To be honest, the Bundesliga's reputation as a header monster is well-deserved. He was the biggest threat in the first half. As long as his teammates passed the ball, he had a chance to grab the first point, and he was very strong in ground confrontation and aerial confrontation! ]
-
[From the slow-motion replay, you can see that it was just a little bit off. Fortunately, Burki reacted quickly and held the ball down immediately, otherwise it would have slowly rolled into the goal! ]

The Leverkusen players were a little frustrated. In the first half, they had quite a few chances compared to Dortmund, but they just failed to seize the opportunities and could not finish the ball. They lacked a bit of luck!
Especially in the last attack, Kiessling's cannonball header mysteriously hit the crossbar and bounced before the goal line, just a step away from scoring a goal.

"Wipe the sweat and drink some water. Although we are leading now, we have to be careful of Leverkusen's fierce counterattack in the second half!" Tuchel patted each player on the shoulder and said.

Inside Leverkusen's locker room.

Schmidt looked unhappy, obviously not very satisfied with the performance of Leverkusen players, and the referee ruled Leverkusen's goal invalid at the last minute.

He stood among the players and began to yell:

"You need to attack faster in the midfield and frontcourt!"

"We must seize the opportunity! We had a lot of opportunities in the first half, but finishing is the biggest problem we face now!"

Hearing this, the Leverkusen players nodded in agreement. There were many opportunities, but none of them were completed.

"In the second half, I need you to speed up the offensive rhythm and let Dortmund follow our rhythm. Then the players in the midfield and frontcourt can cross and run more to stretch their defense line!"

"Kislin, you can pass the ball to your teammates properly in the second half. We still have the whole second half. I believe you don't want to lose the game in front of tens of thousands of fans!"

Finally, Schmidt clapped his hands and said, "Let's cheer up, we can win the game!"

"We can win!" Leverkusen players shouted.

On the other side, in the Dortmund locker room.

Tuchel quickly arranged the tactical adjustments for the second half. After assigning the players their tasks, he asked the players to take a rest. There was still a whole second half left, and the two-goal advantage could not be said to be a sure win!
"In the second half, I need you to defend on the line. Leverkusen will definitely speed up their offense in the second half. Don't fall into the opponent's rhythm!"

The fifteen-minute halftime ended quickly.

Players from both sides returned to the green field.

"Good evening, audience friends! Welcome back!"

"Now we are broadcasting live for you the second half of the 22nd round of the Bundesliga, Leverkusen's home game against Dortmund!"

"The score in the first half is 0-2! Dortmund has a two-goal lead! Leverkusen urgently needs to launch a counterattack in the second half!"

"Both coaching staff used their quota for substitutions!"

"Schmidt used two substitutions at once! Papadopoulos, or Red Papa as the fans call him, replaced Toprak! This is a positional substitution!"

"On the midfield line, Kampl, who had a yellow card, was replaced by Andre Ramalho!"

"Tuchel has once again used his substitute, Pulisic replaced Aubameyang. The Gabonese cheetah will be needed in the Europa League in a few days!"

"In the second half, both sides will switch sides and fight again!"

"Let's hope that both teams will give us a more exciting game than the first half!"

Beep!
Accompanied by the referee's whistle!
The second half of the game officially begins!
(End of this chapter)