King of the Zone

Chelsea were not affected by the conceded goals and continued to tenaciously maintain their solid defense.

Even with Cheng Hai's ability, there are not many ways to do it.

Of course, Cheng Hai has too many perfect skills in all aspects and is too strong. After all, he can still find a chance to create danger for Chelsea's goal.

Before the end of the first half, in the 43rd minute, Cheng Hai received a pass from his teammate Gundogan on the penalty area line through his perfect off-ball running and grabbing ability, and almost broke Chelsea's goal.

It's a pity that Cheng Hai was a little bit unlucky. This kind of non-stop emergency shot in the fierce competition is not like a penalty kick that can be [-]% sure where to hit.

When shooting, Cheng Hai pursued too much the angle of the dead corner of the goal. As a result, the ball hit the outside of the upper right corner post and bounced off the baseline.

After all, Cheng Hai still failed to score in the first half.

Of course, Cheng Hai's shot still scared Chelsea's players, coaches and fans enough. Seeing the ball bounced off the baseline by the goalpost, there was a feeling of survival after disaster.

If they fall behind by two goals in the first round, even if they return to home in the second round, it may not be easy for Chelsea to come back.

After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half. The two sides entered the intermission with a score of 1-0. Dortmund, who were playing at home, temporarily led by one goal.

Regarding the score in the first half, the Chelsea people in the away game said they could accept it, but the leading Dortmund was a little depressed.

If you can't lead your opponent by a big score at home, it is a little uncertain whether you can defeat your opponent and advance to the semi-finals in an away game at Stamford Bridge.

This is the disadvantage of first host and second guest on the schedule.

But the score has become like this, and everyone has no choice but to continue to work hard in the second half.

After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and fought again. Dortmund continued to put pressure on Chelsea's defense with better physical fitness, trying to wear down the opponent.

But Chelsea's defense veterans are really hard-working, and the cooperation is also tacit enough.

Cheng Hai can't be defended by himself, but he can always block Cheng Hai's ball through double-teaming and waiting for an opportunity to help defend, or force him to pass the ball.

Although Cheng Hai didn't fall into the trap of fighting alone again, under the strict defense of the opponent, he didn't have much room to play.

Fortunately, in order to defend Cheng Hai, Chelsea not only paid a price in terms of manpower, but also paid a big price in terms of fouls, receiving several yellow cards.

In the 57th minute, when Cheng Hai was about ten meters away from the right corner of the penalty area and was about to break through Essien, nicknamed "Ghana Buffalo", he was tackled by Essien with a side tackle.

Essien received a yellow card and gave Dortmund a free kick in the front right.

It was difficult to shoot the ball directly, so Mario Gotze took the penalty and hoisted the ball into the penalty area. Cheng Hai, Lewandowski, Gundogan, Hummels, Subotic and others competed for the top.

The height and weight are good, and Cheng Hai, who is full of off-ball running, grabbing, physique, bouncing, and heading skills, has naturally become the key target of Chelsea. There are three Chelsea players guarding him.

As a result, the free kick sent by Mario Gotze did not hang near Cheng Hai, who was forward. Several Chelsea defensive backbones who tried their best to mark Cheng Hai did nothing.

When everyone turned their heads and looked back in the direction of the ball's flight, they found that the Dortmund central defender Hummels who rushed up to fight for the top did not know when he ran to the back point, and only one Chelsea full-back Ferreira followed him.

But Hummels is 191cm tall and weighs 88kg, Ferreira is 182cm tall and weighs 76kg, and one is a central defender and the other is a full-back.

So, unsurprisingly, Hummels jumped high from the left corner behind the small penalty area, overwhelmed Paulo Ferreira, and ruthlessly pushed Gotze's free kick towards the near corner of the goal.

Although the goalkeeper Cech found that Gotze did not give the ball to Cheng Hai in the front point, but hoisted it to the back point, he had already moved from the right to the left of the goal line.

However, the angle of Hummels' header was too tricky. When Ferreira couldn't put too much pressure on him, Hummels perfectly played his central defender's precise control of the header and headed the ball into the top left corner of the goal.

After all, Cech still failed to touch the ball, and could only watch the ball fly into the net.

The moment the ball flew into Chelsea's goal, the entire Westfalenstadion exploded.

Because this is the second goal scored by Hummels, and it is also the only two goals scored by both sides so far in this game.

Dortmund's central defender Hummels scored all two goals of the game and scored twice. It was also the first time he scored twice in a single game this season.

Not only Hummels was completely crazy, but even the fans and commentators were crazy.

After seeing Cheng Hai scoring goals has become a habit and it is not surprising, suddenly there is a game where Cheng Hai did not score, but a central defender scored two goals in a row and scored twice. It is strange that everyone is not crazy or excited.

The commentators hoarsely sang praises to Hummels in the commentary booth, and the 7 Hornets fans at the scene also chanted Hummels' name and worshiped him under the leadership of the live announcer.

The brace from the central defender Hummels is really awesome.

This conceded goal dealt a huge blow to Chelsea's players.

They made thorough preparations and training before the match. During the match, they worked hard and united enough to successfully freeze Cheng Hai, who is known as the number one striker in the world, and let Cheng Hai not score a single goal or even assist.

At the same time, apart from Cheng Haiwai, their exhaustive and tacit defense made Dortmund's other offensive players such as Lewandowski and Shinji Kagawa hardly perform.

Unexpectedly, they defended Dortmund's offensive line, but the opponent's central defender Hummels scored two goals in a row and scored twice, allowing Dortmund to lead Chelsea 2-0.

This is simply too unacceptable.

Their average age is older than that of Dortmund, and they are mainly defensive, and their physical energy consumption is greater than that of the offensive team. By this time in the second half, many people's physical energy is already on the verge of limit.

Unexpectedly, in the end, he still failed to defend the goal, allowing a central defender of the opponent to rush up and score twice.

Both physically and mentally, Hummels' two goals have dealt a huge blow to Chelsea's generals.

However, when the Chelsea players were hit hard and frustrated, the Blues head coach Di Matteo made timely substitution adjustments and conveyed the new tactical instructions to the court.

Di Matteo's level is still very high for being able to adjust Chelsea's defense to the point where Cheng Hai is so frozen when he takes over halfway.

As an assistant coach, the long-term friendship with the players has also made the Blue Army members trust him and obey his tactical arrangements.

Therefore, Chelsea, which lost two goals, did not panic and aggressively counterattack after the game restarted, trying to equalize the score, but continued to defend firmly and wait for an opportunity to counterattack under Di Matteo's tactical instructions.

When there is no chance, resolutely do not press forward to counterattack, creating opportunities and space for Dortmund to counterattack.

This made Cheng Hai's plan to score a goal before the end of the field finally failed.

Because of the increased running and sprinting speed, Cheng Hai's physical energy consumption was also faster than usual.

In the 73rd minute, Cheng Hai was finally exhausted and couldn't even take a walk, so he had to ask Klopp to leave.

Dortmund made substitution adjustments, replacing Cheng Hai with Barrios.

Cheng Hai rarely scored a goal or assisted in this game. This is an extremely rare scene in Cheng Hai's official games so far.

But when he left the field, the fans at the Westfalenstadion still gave Cheng Hai applause.

Fans with a little discernment can see that although Cheng Hai has no goals or assists, his role on the field is still very huge, and it can even be said to be more important than Hummels, who scored twice.

It was his deterrence on the field that attracted Chelsea's most defensive attention, allowing Hummels to get a shot and achieved the rare achievement of a central defender scoring twice.

After Cheng Hai left the field, Chelsea also made substitutions and adjustments. They replaced Terry and Lampard, two veterans who had almost exhausted their physical energy to defend Cheng Hai, and replaced them with two freshmen, and finally started the counterattack.

With two goals behind, Chelsea couldn't really be happy to accept the score. Di Matteo was just concerned about Cheng Hai's existence.

Now that Cheng Hai is off the field, although the other Dortmund offensive players are also dangerous, they are still not as dangerous as Cheng Hai, and the Blues are two goals behind, so it is impossible not to attack.

This is gambling!
But Di Matteo was right.

After Chelsea started to counterattack, more space and gaps were naturally exposed in the backcourt. Dortmund also counterattacked and attacked, but failed to score until the end of the game.

On the contrary, on Chelsea's side, in the 88th minute, Drogba finally made a big kick from the backcourt, and Drogba grabbed the first header in the frontcourt. Torres volleyed sideways and swept the ball into Dortmund's goal.

This goal silenced the entire Westfalenstadion, leaving only a few thousand diehard Blues fans clapping and cheering wildly in the stands.

Torres, Drogba and other Chelsea players on the pitch also celebrated wildly.

This ball made the promotion situation of the two sides suddenly very different.

From 0-2 to 1-2, not only did the total score change from two goals behind to only one goal behind, but more importantly, Chelsea scored an away goal.

In this way, after returning to the home court, they only need a simple 1-0 to eliminate Dortmund and advance to the semi-finals.

This is completely possible for Chelsea, who did a very good defense in this game.

Therefore, not only the players and fans, but also the head coach Robert DiMatteo on the sidelines also celebrated wildly.

This score not only allowed Chelsea to regain the confidence to advance to the semi-finals, but also a great affirmation of Di Matteo's tactical arrangements, which made Di Matteo full of confidence in his own tactics and the return to the home game in the second round.

Even if Dortmund has the world's number one striker Cheng Hai, he is confident to lead Chelsea to eliminate the opponent and advance to the semi-finals.

After the game restarted, although Dortmund aggressively attacked and tried to score another goal, the total score was locked at 3-1.

But there is too little time left.

After 4 minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, and Dortmund ended the first leg of this season's Champions League quarter-finals with a score of 2-1.

Although they won the game, Dortmund's players, coaches and fans were not too happy after the game.

Because the score of 2-1 is too dangerous.

With the fighting spirit and strength shown by Chelsea in this game, no one is really sure whether Dortmund can defeat their opponents and advance to the semi-finals in the second round.

After the game, when the media reported the game, they also expressed their amazement at Chelsea's strength and fighting spirit at the Westfalen Stadium.

Being able to seal Cheng Hai at Dortmund's home court is something that most teams cannot do. Even AC Milan failed to do it, but Chelsea did it.

The media expressed surprise and appreciation for the performance of Chelsea players and Di Matteo's coaching, while they expressed disappointment for the performance of Dortmund and Cheng Hai.

Especially Cheng Hai, without a goal or an assist, this is his most disappointing game in the Champions League this season.

Even if Cheng Hai didn't score a goal in the away game against AC Milan in the quarter-finals, he still had an assist.Unexpectedly, at his own home court, not only was Chelsea prevented from scoring a goal, but he also didn't get an assist.

It is indeed somewhat surprising and somewhat disappointing.

But Cheng Hai didn't think so.

In an interview with reporters, Cheng Hai said:

"Chelsea's strength is indeed great, but it is us who won in the end. We have the advantage of the total score and the initiative to advance to the semi-finals."

"In the next round at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea must take the initiative to attack. This will definitely provide us with a lot of opportunities to counterattack."

"As for myself? So what if I don't score or assist? As long as the team can advance to the semi-finals, what if I don't score a single goal?"

"What's more, the UEFA Champions League is the club competition with the highest technical and tactical level in the world. It gathers the highest level coaches and players in the world. Isn't it normal to have no goals or assists in a certain game in such a competition?"

"What's more, so far, I am still the person who scored the most goals in a single season this season, and even in the history of the Champions League. It is not the end of the world to not score in this game."

"If anyone thinks that I have let him down, he can try it out and see how many he can score in the Champions League in a season!"

After Cheng Hai's answer was published in the newspaper, no one said strange things anymore.

Because what Cheng Hai said made sense, with the technical and tactical level of the Champions League and the strength of Chelsea, why is it strange that Cheng Hai didn't score?

Whoever thinks he is better than Cheng Hai can try it out and see if he can score more Champions League goals than Cheng Hai after a season.

Obviously, this is something no one can do.

Not to mention now, in the entire history of the Champions League, no one has scored more goals in a season than Cheng Hai.

Besides, the season is not over yet!
Cheng Hai may even increase the number of goals scored in the UEFA Champions League to 20 goals in a single season. With ten goals, it is possible to win the Champions League Golden Boot. This is a record that can only be sighed.

Of course, it is unavoidable that Cheng Hai's domineering response will make him lose some popularity with passers-by, and feel that he is too proud.

Many people on the Internet are waiting cynicically for Chelsea to knock out Dortmund in the second round. It will be seen whether Cheng Hai will be crazy or not.

But Cheng Hai doesn't care.

Although Dortmund's performance in this game was a bit disappointing, and Chelsea's performance was unexpectedly strong and outstanding, but after the game, Klopp privately summarized the game for the whole team and said that as long as Dortmund goes all out in the second round, their probability of advancing is still much higher than that of Chelsea, which is not as good as Chelsea's chances are thought by the outside world.

No matter what, Dortmund is always ahead in the total score. Chelsea want to eliminate Dortmund, they can only attack. For Cheng Hai, who has perfect skills, extremely fast speed and full value of off-ball movement, it is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to fight back.

In addition, just like this game, even if Cheng Hai is nailed to death by strict defense, he can create space for other teammates to attack and score goals.

The last point is the physical advantage.

Although no one from Chelsea was completely dragged down by Dortmund in the first round, such as cramps, but at the end of the game, it can be seen from the performance of Chelsea people who collapsed to the ground that in fact most of them were squeezed to the limit.

The second round of the competition is only a week away from the first round.

For young people, a week's rest is enough.But for Chelsea's veterans over the age of 30, it may not be enough.

If Dortmund continues to play like this in the second round, there is a high probability that Terry, Cole, Ferreira, Lampard and other Chelsea defense veterans will not be able to withstand it physically.

Klopp's analysis gave the Dortmund players great confidence. At the end of the game, the gloomy confidence was swept away. Instead, they began to look forward to the second round of the game.

The semi-finals of the Champions League is definitely a desirable place.

In the anticipation of countless people for the second round of the Champions League, on March 2012, 3, Dortmund ushered in the 31th round of the Bundesliga with Stuttgart at the Westfalenstadion.

Because the next game is the crucial second round of the Champions League quarter-finals, and it is still an away game.

Therefore, Klopp has carried out a large-scale rotation in this league, allowing the main players to accumulate physical strength to cope with the away game against the Blues Chelsea.

Of course, Cheng Hai was not in the rotation.His physical fitness and energy recovery ability that can enter deep sleep at any time, so that Klopp does not have to worry about him.