The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 169 - 54: Major Upgrade! Secret Weapon! Winter Transfers and a War of Words! Klopp Syndrome! The Championship Dream is Shattered

Chapter 169: Chapter 54: Major Upgrade! Secret Weapon! Winter Transfers and a War of Words! Klopp Syndrome! The Championship Dream is Shattered

...

On the afternoon of February 21st, at the Munich Allianz Arena.

Bundesliga Matchday 21: Mainz played away against Bayern.

In the 83rd minute of the second half, the score on the board was 0-1.

The visiting team, Mainz, took the lead in the 22nd minute of the first half. Wang Shuo went on a brilliant run, a Breakthrough that saw him dribble past Demichelis and Van Bitten in succession to open the scoring.

After that, Mainz had held onto that lead.

Until now.

Ribery cut in from the left flank and took a long shot, which deflected off a defender and went out for a corner kick.

Altıntop, who had come on as a substitute, stood at the corner flag on the right side of the pitch.

With the exception of Wang Shuo, every Mainz player had retreated into the penalty area to defend.

"CLAP, CLAP, CLAP! Be careful! Everyone, focus!"

Klopp shouted loudly at his players from the sideline.

Uncle Mustache wanted to walk away from Allianz Arena with a victory!

"Nico! Nichols! Mark your men tightly! Stay focused!"

"Milorad, watch out for that Dutch guy!"

Klopp called out the Mainz players’ names one by one, signaling for each of them to mark their man.

Van Bitten, Demichelis, the Dutch Van Bommel, the towering Italian forward Luca Tony, and Germany’s best header of the ball, Klose...

All these threats made the Mainz defenders feel as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Wang Shuo didn’t hear the head coach call his name.

But he had exchanged a look with Klopp.

He knew his mission.

He was to stay upfield.

As soon as a teammate headed the ball clear, he had to be ready to counter-attack at a moment’s notice.

"Everyone, focus! Let’s hold them off!" Wang Shuo also shouted.

It was already the 83rd minute. They just had to get through this last stretch.

The head referee, Rafati, quickly blew his whistle.

Altıntop quickly took the corner kick.

The football traced an arc through the air, dropping into the Mainz penalty area.

By now, the penalty area was already a chaotic mess.

Wang Shuo, positioned at the bottom of the center circle in his own half, kept a close watch on the situation in the box.

The moment he saw the ball dropping and a powerful figure in red leaping into the air, he knew: ’It’s over!’

Immediately after, the entire Allianz Arena erupted!

Nearly 70,000 fans cheered wildly.

An ecstatic Van Bitten charged out of the Mainz penalty area, running straight to the sideline to celebrate his goal.

1-1!

In that instant, Wang Shuo felt as if all the strength had been drained from his body.

They had held on for 83 minutes, led for over an hour, and still conceded in the end.

At this point, there was little sense in arguing over who had failed to mark Van Bitten.

...

In the end, Mainz had to settle for another draw.

Four consecutive draws!

The Klopp Syndrome continued!

Everyone could see clearly that after the winter break, the performance of Klopp’s team was a far cry from what it had been in the first half of the season.

Whether it was the players’ form, morale, or mentality, there was a clear difference from the first half of the season.

Wang Shuo was the only exception.

Because he had been consistently stable and outstanding!

In the match against Bayern, he once again received a high rating of 2.

Bild commented, "Playing on the same pitch as Ribery, Wang Shuo was by no means outshone."

What was even more interesting was that even after four consecutive draws, and with 21 matches played, Klopp’s team was still at the top of the Bundesliga table!

Yes, that’s right.

With 42 points, Mainz was still in the top spot.

But Hoffenheim and Hertha Berlin were closing in from behind.

Both teams now had 40 points.

Bayern, meanwhile, had 38 points.

Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg both had 36 points.

Who would have thought?

This was this season’s Bundesliga!

But Mainz’s championship dream was about to come to an end.

In the following Bundesliga Matchday 22, a home game against Bielefeld, a team fighting to avoid relegation, Wang Shuo opened the scoring for Mainz in the 15th minute of the first half off an assist from Hainauer.

1-0!

Mainz maintained their lead, while Bielefeld waited, well-prepared, for an opportunity.

During halftime, Hainauer reported muscle soreness and was replaced by Amri.

In the 65th minute of the second half, Klopp substituted Schürrle for Helle on the right wing to strengthen the attack on that flank.

But to everyone’s surprise, just three minutes later, the veteran Kalhan was injured again.

Kirschhoff came on as a substitute.

Before the 70th minute, Mainz had already used up all their substitution slots.

Less than two minutes after Kirschhoff came on, Bielefeld’s Zambian forward, Kantongo, got the ball at the edge of the penalty area, made a Breakthrough into the box, and scored the equalizer for Bielefeld.

Then, in the 84th minute, a clearance error from center-back Bungert gave the veteran Polish forward Wójcik an opportunity inside the box, and he scored another for Bielefeld.

2-1!

Mainz suffered a bitter comeback defeat at home!

The score remained the same until the final whistle.

Mainz was now winless in five matches!

In the same round of matches, Hertha Berlin defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 at home, staging a comeback of their own to claim the top spot!

Bayern drew 0-0 away against Werder Bremen.

After the match, Klinsmann was hit with a tidal wave of criticism.

This was because Werder Bremen’s center-back, Naldo, had been sent off with a red card just 15 minutes into the first half.

Who could have imagined that despite having such a massive advantage, Bayern still couldn’t break through Werder Bremen’s defense.

Meanwhile, Hoffenheim drew 0-0 away against Dortmund.