Capítulo 88: The Retention of Werder Bremen
After three days of rest, on October 20th, Werder Bremen hosted Borussia Monchengladbach at home.
Borussia Monchengladbach is a peculiar team. As the local fans say, they are like DGL in the Bundesliga—killing the big shots and doing good deeds by robbing the rich and aiding the poor.
They play well against Bayern Munich, often beating or drawing with them in unexpected ways, leaving Bayern embarrassed.
However, against other teams, they don't perform as well.
In this game, Werder Bremen's offense was relentless, with the in-form Lin and De Bruyne scoring goals one after the other.
Before the first half ended, the score was already 3:0, with Lin scoring 2 goals and De Bruyne scoring 1.
In the second half, Werder Bremen continued to deliver a goal show for the home fans.
De Bruyne scored another goal in the 67th minute, making the score 4:0.
Seeing the outcome set, Schaaf began making substitutions.
Goal heroes Lin and De Bruyne were substituted, as they had also played international matches and needed rest.
With the outcome decided, there was no need to keep them on the field. If there was an accidental injury, it would be a big loss.
Although Werder Bremen's attacking duo was replaced, the substitutes who came on didn't disappoint the fans.
In the 77th minute, substitute Füllkrug scored another goal, making the score 5:0.
Borussia Monchengladbach was defeated!
In the end, Werder Bremen won 5:0 at home against Borussia Monchengladbach, dispelling the haze of the previous three winless rounds.
In this round of the league, Bayern won 5:0 away against Fortuna Dusseldorf, achieving two consecutive victories and maintaining their lead.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund lost 1:2 at home to Schalke 04, increasing the gap between them and Bayern to 12 points, and dropping their position on the leaderboard to 12th place.
Although the season is not even halfway, the number of people who believe in Dortmund's defense is diminishing.
It's clear to everyone that this season Dortmund's team is facing some problems.
After the match against Monchengladbach, the next round of the Bundesliga will be held in a week.
As Werder Bremen doesn't have any European matches, they have a week without any games.
Therefore, after the match, Schaaf gave the team three days off, so that the players who were traveling back and forth for national team matches could have time to rest and improve their condition.
Upon hearing the news of the break, the club's players cheered.
Some unmarried players suggested going to a nightclub to have a good time and wanted to invite Lin to join them.
Lin wasn't fond of such night spots and was about to refuse when the team captain, Fritz, spoke up:
"Don't spoil the kid, Lin is still underage. Don't take him to that place. How about coming to my place this weekend? My wife and I have prepared an outdoor barbecue party. If any of you are interested, you can come together!"
Lin had to give face to the captain, and he didn't have much to do on the weekend anyway.
By the weekend, Lin called De Bruyne to invite him to the captain's house for a visit.
As a result, that kid De Bruyne had gone back to Belgium to pick up his girlfriend and live together.
After cursing them for not valuing friendship, Lin had to head out alone.
On the way, he bought a small gift and soon arrived at Fritz's house.
After ringing the doorbell, it was Fritz's wife, Alena Gerber, who opened the door.
Alena is only 24 years old, eight years younger than Fritz.
The age gap isn't very big, but Fritz looks a bit anxious, while Alena is a former model who maintains her skin and figure very well, giving off a feeling of an older husband and younger wife when they are together.
"You must be Lin that Clemens often mentioned!"
Lin's East Asian appearance was easily recognizable, and Fritz had informed her in advance.
After Alena opened the door, she immediately recognized him.
"Hello, Captain's wife! Is the captain at home?"
Lin was very surprised. He hadn't expected the captain's wife to be so young and beautiful, which made him hesitate and not want to go in.
If by chance the captain wasn't home, it would be rather awkward.
"He's in!" Alena saw Lin's hesitation and, with a smile in her eyes, shouted to the back before glancing at her husband to suggest he come forward.
Lin didn't expect the captain to be a family man who enjoys cooking. He felt that he had deepened his understanding of the captain.
"Lin, you're here! Come on in!" Fritz eagerly greeted Lin and took him to the backyard.
Before Lin could even sit down, he saw the club manager, Allofs and the team coach, Thomas Schaaf, chatting on the opposite side.
When Allofs saw Lin, he stood up and shook his hand.
"Lin, how's your time at Werder Bremen?" Allofs inquired.
"It's been good. The weather here is nice, not as dry and hot as in Spain. My teammates at the club have been very supportive, especially the captain," replied Lin, unsure of the other's intent, so he politely engaged in small talk.
"Heh, as long as you like it here, Werder Bremen might not be an international metropolis, but once you've lived here for a while, you'll definitely fall in love with it," Allofs said warmly, then gestured at his old partner to speak up.
Schaaf, unable to avoid it, coughed and said, "Lin, the team is aiming to qualify for the European competition next season."
It was the first time Lin had heard the club discussing next season's goals.
At the beginning of this season, the club's main goal was to avoid relegation. But now, after eight rounds of matches, they were ranked fourth on the points table, far from the relegation zone and even had a chance to secure a Champions League spot.
This change in Werder Bremen's position led the club to consider aiming higher. They believed that with Lin and De Bruyne's twin star combination, this season's performance would definitely be better than the previous one. Setting the goal solely on avoiding relegation seemed too conservative.
An overly conservative goal could not inspire the players' fighting spirit. Once the players saw that they had completed the task of avoiding relegation, their motivation on the field would decrease, becoming indifferent. But if they set the goal to enter the European competition area, perhaps the players could maintain their momentum and strive for it all the way.
Perhaps, in the end, they could really break into the European competition area. Even if they could not make it to the Champions League area, they could at least go to the Europa League.
The Bundesliga is one of the top five leagues and their performance in European competitions is only behind the Premier League and La Liga.
Hence, they could secure seven spots in European competitions each season, including four Champions League spots and three Europa League spots.
Considering that the German Cup is dominated by top teams, it means that the top seven teams in the point standings have the qualification to represent the Bundesliga in the next season's European competitions.
Werder Bremen's poor performance in the previous season was disappointing as they failed to qualify for European competition.
However, this season, if they maintain their current form and position on the points table, they have a very good chance of achieving their European competition goal.
"If we can make it into the European competition area, whether it's the Europa League or the Champions League, it will increase our income and playing high-level European matches will also help us attract even better players to join us!" the club manager Allofs said sincerely.
UEFA is relatively considerate towards small and medium-sized teams; as long as they qualify for the Champions League, they can receive a substantial bonus. If the performance improves further, they will receive even more money.
Of course, big clubs, especially some giants, have higher broadcast revenue, something that small clubs cannot compete with.
In the era of commercial football, successful and commercially developed giants are in a completely different league from ordinary teams in terms of income.
More money means they can offer higher wages and have more funds to buy their desired quality players in the transfer market.
The main reason why small teams in major leagues cannot retain stars is because of low wages, fewer European matches, and their weaker appeal to the stars, making it difficult to compete with the giants.
Players are very practical; professional football is just the pursuit of money and honor.
At giants, they can achieve both. Therefore, between giants and normal clubs, they will definitely choose giants!
If Werder Bremen wants to revive, it must increase the team's income and reputation.
With broadcast fees from the European matches and prize money, along with sponsorship income from sponsors, the team will have the money to improve its strength and performance by purchasing capable players.
Improving performance can help them further enhance their reputation and commercial value, thereby attracting more fans and better sponsors. It's a virtuous cycle!
Werder Bremen used to thrive; at that time, they not only competed with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga but also clashed with other league giants in European competitions.
But now, Werder Bremen has fallen to a point where they have no European matches to play and are even close to relegation.
If they want to revive and rise, just keeping the current main players is not enough. They need to spend money to bring in more high-level players.
The current players of the club, except for a few national players, are mostly average in skill, and are practical players with little fame and not high salaries.
Relying on these players to play in the league and maintain the team's position is acceptable. However, expecting them to make further progress and achieve breakthroughs in European matches is not sufficient.
So, they really want to keep Lin and De Bruyne, these two young players. If they can keep them, it may lay the foundation for Werder Bremen's revival.
Lin feels that the club doesn't need to explain so much to him. Coach Schaaf could have announced this matter in the dressing room, without needing to send both the club manager and the head coach to do his job.
Unless, their goal is not just as simple as setting targets! It seems that news about his contract from Spain has already reached Germany.
"Coach, you can rest assured. I will definitely give a hundred percent effort and play well in every match."
The other party didn't clarify, so Lin had to play dumb as well.
"Lin, I want to make you the core and build Werder Bremen's attacking system!"
Coach Schaaf earnestly said, "With your attacking ability in the front, together with De Bruyne's assisting ability, our front-line attack is basically established. The remaining task is to continue to improve the strength of the midfield and backline, and bring in a group of strong players!"
Schaaf attempted to portray the club's grand vision to attract Lin to stay. But Lin knew that neither De Bruyne nor himself could stay at Werder Bremen.
Coach Schaaf's grand vision was destined to be unattainable!
"Coach, you can rest assured. Before the end of the loan contract, I will fulfill my duty as a professional player, scoring more goals for the team and winning every match as much as possible!"
After saying this, Lin stood up and bid farewell to the two.
It turned out that the captain calling him was not just for a barbecue party. Lin sighed. He had actually understood the implied meaning, but had been avoiding discussing the matter directly.
He had been doing well at Werder Bremen, but this couldn't be his final destination. Sooner or later, he would leave Werder Bremen for somewhere else.
As long as the topic wasn't made explicit, it would be good for both sides to maintain this kind of cooperation. But once the topic was made explicit, it would be difficult for both sides to return to their original state.
So, he couldn't give the other party the opportunity to make the topic explicit. He had to leave here immediately.
"The barbecue will be ready soon. How about staying for dinner before leaving?"
Fritz tried to hold Lin back after seeing him about to leave.
"No, Captain, I have something urgent and need to leave. Thank you for the hospitality from you and your wife!"
Seeing Lin decisively leaving, Schaaf and Allofs looked at each other and wryly smiled.
Indeed, they can't keep him!
"Disappointed?"
Allofs asked his old partner.
Schaaf shook his head, "There wasn't much hope to begin with, so how can there be disappointment?"
He seemed very open-minded, without any sighing.
There wasn't much hope to begin with. They only heard the news about Lin's contract being left with six months and a not expensive penalty, which gave them a little hope.
"Werder Bremen's stage is too small. Staying here is a kind of fetter for him. It would be better to let him go and soar freely!"
"What about De Bruyne?"
"The same as him. There isn't much hope. In fact, De Bruyne's loyalty to Chelsea is far greater than Lin's loyalty to Barcelona."
After working with Lin for a long time, Schaaf found out that Lin didn't really have any thoughts of returning to Barcelona. It was precisely for this reason that they had a little bit of hope to poach him.
Unfortunately, even if he didn't return to Barcelona, he probably wouldn't stay at Werder Bremen. Allofs also understood what Schaaf said was right, but he still harbored a little hope.
You won't know if you don't try, right? If you try and fail, at least in the future, there won't be any regrets.
"After De Bruyne comes back, I'll try to contact him. He's different from Lin. There may not be a spot for him at Chelsea."
Allofs sighed. Even if the hope was slim, he had to give it a try to know if it would work.
For the revival of Werder Bremen, even if there's only a one in a million chance, he wouldn't let it slip away.
...
Lin guessed that the club might also try to persuade De Bruyne to stay, but he didn't ask De Bruyne about it.
These days, he's been training seriously and actively preparing for the upcoming matches.
He calculated his points and found that he was not far from 20 points, which means he could soon purchase a 20-point talent.
And without a doubt, for his next talent, he would definitely choose something related to reducing injuries.
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