Chapter 407: Chapter 88: King of Iduna! Battling Atletico Madrid and Seizing the Opening! Wang Shuo’s First Long Shot

On April 22nd, for the home game against Atletico Madrid, Westfalen Stadium was once again packed to the rafters.

For this match, Klopp once again went with his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation.

Goalkeeper: Weidenfeller;

Defense: Schmelzer, Hummels, Subotic, and Owomoyela;

Midfield: Shahin and Sven Bender in holding roles, with Reus, Götze, and Kuba further forward;

Forward: Wang Shuo.

Shahin had been substituted early in the weekend league match as a precaution, and his injury was not serious.

The referee for this match was Klaus Bo Larson from Denmark.

Dortmund, kicking off first, had Wang Shuo and Götze standing in the center circle.

Reus and Kuba were positioned on the wings.

When Götze passed the ball to Wang Shuo, Wang Shuo immediately kicked it back to Shahin.

Aguero immediately charged toward Shahin.

But the Dortmund holding midfielder sent a direct long ball, lofting it over the left side of Atletico Madrid’s defensive line.

Right behind Uyfalusi.

Reus made a high-speed forward run, charging into the space behind Uyfalusi. After catching up to Shahin’s pass on the left, just outside the penalty area, he brought the ball to a stop, halted his own momentum, and then laid it off to the center.

Wang Shuo followed up and, without taking a touch, unleashed a furious shot.

Just nine seconds in, the first shot of the match had been taken!

Unfortunately, the shot went just over the crossbar.

Wang Shuo turned and jogged back, extending his right hand to an approaching Reus. The two clasped hands briefly before returning to their positions.

For Dortmund, this attack was more of a probing move.

The main goal was to keep the ball in Atletico Madrid’s half.

Wang Shuo’s long shot was not only meant to seize the initiative and quickly build momentum.

It also served to get a feel for the rhythm of the game and his own kicking.

In a high-level match like this, there are always numerous small variables in every game.

These include differences in the football itself, the wind direction, the temperature, and so on.

By taking a swing, he could get a measure of things and be more confident next time.

The Dortmund fans understood this as well, which was why their cheers from the stands were especially loud.

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De Gea took the goal kick, but Subotic beat him to it, heading the ball back to midfield.

The ball quickly returned to Atletico Madrid’s half.

Götze once again sent a diagonal pass, again targeting the space behind the left flank.

Reus made another high-speed forward run, chased down the ball, and raced toward the byline before sending a cross into the box.

Receiving the ball on the left side of the penalty area, Wang Shuo came to a sudden stop. After feinting past Pereira, he took a lateral step and immediately unleashed a furious shot with his right foot.

The entire sequence was as smooth as flowing water, executed in one seamless motion.

Moreover, the quality of the shot was extremely high.

Unfortunately, De Gea was completely focused and made a diving save to parry the ball out for a corner.

’This goalkeeper is pretty good!’ Wang Shuo muttered to himself.

In the space of just over a minute, Dortmund had taken two consecutive shots.

But this was only the beginning of their offensive blitz.

After winning the corner, Dortmund launched a set-piece attack, earning three consecutive corner kicks and putting Atletico Madrid under so much pressure they couldn’t fight back.

The Sheet Army’s defense was truly impressive.

Despite completely losing the initiative, they still managed to defend their goal, neutralizing Dortmund’s attacks one by one.

But Dortmund’s assault was too ferocious!

After three consecutive corners, Dortmund soon won a free kick in the attacking half.

It was a long way from the goal; Raul Garcia had committed the foul while defending against Götze.

It was also the first foul of the entire match.

Shahin took the free kick, looking to send it directly into the penalty area.

However, Domingos got there first, clearing it with a header and knocking it out of play.

Dortmund was awarded a Throw-In on the left side of the attacking half.

Schmelzer quickly ran up, picked up the ball, and immediately threw it with both hands to the deeper-lying Shahin.

At this moment, all three of Atletico Madrid’s defensive lines had retreated into their own 30-meter zone.

Fran immediately came out to chase down Shahin, who in turn quickly passed it sideways to Sven Bender.

Sven Bender dribbled toward the right flank before passing it off to Owomoyela.

After passing, Owomoyela took off, looking to play a one-two with Sven Bender.

But Sven Bender’s return pass was intercepted by Paulo Assunção.

Owomoyela was closest to Assunção and was the first to close him down.

Götze also rushed over, forming a pincer from both sides.

Wang Shuo shouted to Reus as he himself quickly tracked back.

He was being clever, waiting for Assunção to pass to Raul Garcia.

Raul Garcia saw Wang Shuo as well and immediately took a couple of steps back to create some distance.

But Assunção couldn’t get the pass off at all.

The Brazilian midfielder had just controlled the ball when he was hounded by Owomoyela. Pinned by Götze from the other side, he tried to break through on the dribble and push forward.

In the end, he ran right into Sven Bender.

Three players pressing one—the result was predictable.

Sven Bender got to the ball first and poked it back.

The ball landed in an undefended area.

Wang Shuo was the first to react. He quickly chased after it and brought the ball under control with one touch.

Hadn’t Raul Garcia just backed away to receive a pass and avoid Wang Shuo, creating all this space? 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Now, as Wang Shuo won the ball, there was no one around him.

After controlling the ball with his right foot, Wang Shuo looked up.

In front of him, inside the arc at the top of the penalty box, stood Atletico Madrid’s two center-backs, Domingos and Pereira.

One was left-footed, the other right-footed.

This was a center-back pairing favored by many head coaches, like Van Gaal, for example.