The Ultimate Showdown is Coming
On May 1st, the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals began.
Dortmund withstood Real Madrid's offense at the Bernabeu. Although they were beaten 2-0, they advanced to the Champions League final with a total score of 5-3.
This result didn't surprise the public, given how badly Real Madrid had lost in the first leg.
After the loss, there seemed to be a conflict in Real Madrid's locker room that Mourinho couldn't control. Real Madrid's president, Florentino, was seen by reporters entering the locker room to calm the players.
This news deepened the impression that Mourinho's departure was imminent.
This season, Real Madrid failed to win any major trophies. In the league, they were 11 points behind Barcelona, missing out on the title.
In the Champions League, they were eliminated by Dortmund.
Real Madrid hired Mourinho at a high cost, hoping he would bring them trophies and suppress their league rivals, Barcelona.
However, it appeared he had failed at both tasks.
Sources within Real Madrid indicated that the club's patience with Mourinho had run out.
After the end of the La Liga season, Mourinho would surely leave.
The only question was whether he would resign or be fired.
If he resigned, he wouldn't get the remaining salary in his contract.
But if he was fired, he would receive a hefty severance package.
Mourinho, despite the large compensation, valued his pride more.
So, after the Champions League match, Mourinho announced at a press conference:
At the end of this season, he would no longer be coaching Real Madrid.
This announcement caused a stir among the reporters.
Even though they had speculated this might happen, hearing it confirmed was still shocking.
Objectively speaking, Mourinho's performance at Real Madrid wasn't bad.
Under his leadership, Real Madrid won a league title and a Copa del Rey.
Additionally, he led the team to two Champions League semi-finals and one quarter-final, helping them shed the "Round of 16 curse."
This record might have allowed him to continue at other clubs, but this was Real Madrid…
After Mourinho announced his departure, people speculated about his next club, with Chelsea being the favorite.
Before the reporters could digest this big news, trouble hit Barcelona as well.
In the second leg of the semi-finals, Barcelona faced Bayern Munich at home. As the world awaited a potential comeback, Barcelona suffered another crushing 0-3 defeat.
Over two legs, Barcelona lost 7-0 to Bayern!
This was an extremely lopsided score, especially for a team like Barcelona, known as one of the best in the world.
A top club, boasting Messi and the world's best midfield, was swept aside without scoring a single goal.
This result shocked the football world and surprised many.
In their minds, Barcelona was still the invincible team under Guardiola.
How did they fall so far just a year after his departure?
With Vilanova's worsening illness confirmed to prevent him from continuing as coach, and this humiliating defeat, many Barcelona fans began longing for Guardiola's return.
Some fans even went to Guardiola's social media accounts, asking him to come back and take over.
Guardiola felt both pleased and saddened.
Pleased because Rosell's actions finally bore negative fruit; saddened because seeing his former team lose so badly and the sadness of his former colleagues and players, especially Messi, made him very uncomfortable.
Because of these mixed feelings, he didn't respond publicly to questions about the match.
He only called some colleagues and familiar players privately to offer comfort.
---
Some rejoice while others mourn.
Unlike the grieving La Liga fans, Bundesliga fans were ecstatic after the second leg results.
Their two teams reached the Champions League final, setting a record for the Bundesliga.
It also made the Bundesliga the fourth league in Champions League history to achieve this feat.
This meant that no matter who won, the Champions League trophy would belong to the Bundesliga this season.
Encouraged by this, many German media began to praise their league.
They believed that the Bundesliga's excellent performance in the Champions League this season was enough to surpass the declining Serie A, ranking third among the top five leagues, just behind the Premier League and La Liga!
Some media even boldly speculated that if they maintained their dominance in the Champions League, surpassing La Liga and even the Premier League to become the top league wasn't impossible.
Dortmund and Bayern Munich, the heroes of the Bundesliga, were highly praised.
Dortmund earned the title of "Young Guards," while Bayern was dubbed "Galactic Bayern," a title taken from Barcelona.
After this match, Barcelona's "Galactic Team" title became history.
Their 0-7 defeat to Bayern would forever be a stain.
As Barcelona's biggest star, Messi naturally faced criticism after the humiliating defeat.
Failing to score in both matches was hard to excuse.
People began to doubt whether the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo could continue its past
glory.
In the face of external criticism, Messi didn't make any public statements.
Instead, he chose to train harder, putting in more effort to improve his skills.
If Lin could lead his team to beat Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, why couldn't he do the same?
Messi increasingly pondered this question, wondering if he was inferior to Lin.
Prideful as he was, Messi didn't believe he was any less talented than anyone else.
Thus, he concluded that the reason for the loss must be his own insufficient effort!
Consequently, every night, he spent more time studying Lin's match videos on his computer…
---
Achoo!
Far away in Bremen, Lin couldn't help but sneeze.
Was someone bad-mouthing him behind his back?
Why had he sneezed several times this morning?
"Lin, are you feeling unwell?"
Schaaf noticed and called Lin over, asking with concern.
"No, thank you for your concern, coach. I'm fine!"
Lin waved it off. This was his last month at Werder Bremen, and he didn't want to miss any training.
"Alright, take care of yourself. We still have an important match coming up, so stay healthy and avoid injuries."
Lin nodded, indicating he understood.
The important match Schaaf referred to was the final of the German Cup.
Whether Werder Bremen ended the season with no trophies or walked away with a championship depended on their performance in this final.
After a brief chat, Schaaf sent Lin back to training.
Meanwhile, Schaaf began pondering the team's tactics for next season.
Werder Bremen was too small a club to keep Lin and De Bruyne.
Without their offensive firepower, Werder Bremen's attacking capabilities would undoubtedly decline significantly.
Fortunately, Füllkrug had made significant progress this season, and Petersen expressed his desire to stay with the team.
Petersen was initially brought in by Bayern for over 2 million euros as a backup forward, intended to serve as a substitute for Gomez.
However, Mandzukic's outstanding performance at Bayern displaced Gomez from the starting position.
With Mandzukic solidifying his spot, Bayern no longer needed many backup forwards.
Especially not someone like Petersen, whose play style suited the role less than Mandzukic.
Thus, Bayern essentially abandoned Petersen, showing little interest in his development.
Petersen celebrated wildly at the Allianz Arena after scoring against Bayern in the German Cup, forgetting he was still technically a Bayern player.
This earned him the disdain of Bayern fans, who didn't want him back.
With no place in the team and no support from the fans, Petersen didn't want to return to Bayern.
He enjoyed his time at Werder Bremen, and with Lin and De Bruyne leaving next season, no one would challenge his spot in the starting lineup.
Here, he could secure a starting position and even play in the Champions League.
If he performed well against some big teams in the Champions League, he might catch their eye and get transferred.
With Füllkrug and Petersen, Werder Bremen's attacking power would decrease but still be adequate.
However, who could replace De Bruyne's role?
Fritz was already 32 and couldn't play much longer. Moreover, he wasn't exceptionally talented.
Expecting him to deliver precise, surgical passes like De Bruyne was unrealistic.
Thus, the club needed to focus on strengthening the midfield during the summer transfer window.
Like before, Werder Bremen planned to use loans, aiming to borrow young players from other teams, especially from big clubs.
Players good enough to be noticed by big clubs generally had decent skills, but fierce competition at such clubs often limited their playing time.
Many young talents from big clubs were loaned out to gain experience.
With Werder Bremen playing in the Champions League next season, this would attract these young players.
Perhaps this opportunity could attract high-quality foreign players.
However, it was unlikely they would find another phenomenon like Lin and De Bruyne this season.
After years of coaching, Schaaf had a clear understanding of their talent and potential.
These two were destined to leave their mark on football history.
---
On May 4th, the third-to-last round of the Bundesliga season began.
This round featured a highly anticipated match—Dortmund vs. Bayern Munich.
As these two teams had just demolished the top two La Liga teams to reach the Champions League final, this match was seen as a preview of the Champions League final.
To capitalize on the excitement from the Champions League semi-finals, the Bundesliga invested heavily in promoting this match, scheduling it for 7:30 PM.
To avoid competition with other leagues and maximize viewership, Werder Bremen's match against Hoffenheim was scheduled for 3:30 PM.
Hoffenheim was currently second from the bottom in the standings. Unlike already-relegated Fürth, they still had a slim chance of survival.
With 27 points, Hoffenheim trailed Augsburg and Düsseldorf by three points.
If they could pull off an upset against Werder Bremen in this round, they might close the gap and keep their survival hopes alive until the final round.
With this in mind, Hoffenheim attacked Werder Bremen right from the start.
Since their last match was against Dortmund, a draw here wouldn't help them much.
Thus, Hoffenheim went all out!
Surprisingly, their aggressive tactics worked.
In just the third minute, their striker Schipplock accidentally scored a goal.
Schipplock's long shot from outside the penalty area was initially harmless, but it deflected off a defender's leg, changing direction.
Mielitz, Bremen's goalkeeper, was caught off guard and couldn't react, resulting in a goal.
This boosted Hoffenheim's morale.
They swarmed around Werder Bremen, launching attack after attack. Unexpectedly, they scored again in the 10th minute.
Once again, it was Schipplock. As he entered the penalty area, he fell. The referee, positioned far away, mistakenly awarded Hoffenheim a penalty.
Replays on the big screen showed it was a misjudgment—Schipplock had slipped.
But he wasn't going to admit that. Seeing the referee's decision, he grabbed the ball and prepared for the penalty.
Werder Bremen's players protested briefly but stopped when the referee stood by his decision.
Despite trailing by two goals within ten minutes, Werder Bremen's players remained calm, neither nervous nor anxious.
After consistently defeating strong opponents, they had developed a sense of composure and confidence.
They believed in their strength. What if they conceded two goals?
After Hoffenheim converted the penalty to make it 0-2, Werder Bremen began to fight back.
In the 24th minute, Werder Bremen executed a seamless series of passes in the front field.
After five players exchanged seven passes, De Bruyne effortlessly tapped the ball into the net.
Hoffenheim's players couldn't even keep up with the ball, let alone touch it.
This goal gave Hoffenheim a sense of being outmatched.
They realized the significant gap in strength between them and their opponents.
Only now did Hoffenheim's players understand that Werder Bremen had been holding back, not showing their true strength.
But it was too late for them.
In the 35th minute, Werder Bremen displayed another smooth play. Lin broke into the penalty area and chipped the ball into the net.
Within half an hour, Werder Bremen had equalized, bringing the game back to square one.
But that wasn't all. When Werder Bremen went full throttle, they were unstoppable!
In the 38th minute, Werder Bremen launched a quick counter-attack. Lin assisted Petersen, who scored, turning the scoreboard to 3-2, putting Werder Bremen ahead.
In the 56th minute, Werder Bremen scored again. De Bruyne's free-kick, clocking 128 km/h, flew directly into the net, making it 4-2.
Ultimately, Werder Bremen came from behind to win 4-2, pushing Hoffenheim closer to relegation.
Hoffenheim's players and fans experienced the agony of falling from hope to despair.
After the match, the team didn't disperse but gathered in the lounge to watch Dortmund's home game against Bayern Munich.
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