บท 57: Promoted teams
Lucas's teammates didn't seem to expect him to score directly from a free kick, so they froze for a moment after the ball flew into the net, then rushed over to celebrate with him.
"My boy, that curve with the outer instep is truly impressive!"
"Haha, isn't the cooperation between Lucas and De Bruyne the most exciting? Look at the Dortmund players, they are completely deceived!"
"Haha, if I were Weidenfeller, I'd be blown away!"
"Hahaha..."
The away game is equalized, and the teammates became happy.
They thought they would lose this game, but to their surprise, it is a tie now, this exceeded their expectations!
"But we can't relax yet. Including injury time, there are still about five minutes left. We must defend these five minutes and not waste the opportunity that Lucas worked so hard to create!"
"That's right, in the last five minutes, we cannot let them score!"
"Hey, why don't we pass the ball to Lucas after we regain possession and let him take another free kick like that? We might even get all three points!"
The Werder Bremen players chatted and laughed, discussing the next tactics.
However, the Dortmund players are dejected and speechless.
Every time they equalized the lead, they wondered why Werder Bremen is so difficult to deal with.
Weren't they a weak team last season?
And it had only been a summer, how did they evolve into this?
Could it be because of those two boys?
...
The game resumed, and with time running out, Dortmund intensified their attack, attempting to score a winning goal in the closing stages.
However, faced with the united defense of the Werder Bremen players, their efforts are in vain.
During this period, Lucas tried to draw fouls and take free kicks as before, but the opponents are now prepared.
While closely marking Lucas, they also kept a close eye on several passing options in Werder Bremen's frontcourt, especially De Bruyne.
After De Bruyne's marking, no one passed the ball to Lucas.
Although his teammates had such ideas, their execution wasn't delicate enough, making it difficult to deliver accurate passes, and Lucas couldn't reach the ball.
He considered dropping back to receive the ball, but whenever he did, the opponent immediately fouled him. The fouls are too far from the goal to take direct shots.
As a result, neither team managed to change the score, and the match ended in a 2-2 draw, with each team earning a point.
This result is completely acceptable for Werder Bremen, but it's a bit disappointing for Dortmund fans to accept.
For Dortmund, they couldn't secure all three points against a mid-table team, which meant they would fall behind Bayern at the start of the new season.
Bayern's opening match is against the newly promoted Fürth. It is unreasonable to expect them to lose to a team that had just been promoted from the Bundesliga.
As expected, on the second day of the league, Bayern Munich defeated Fürth 3-0, extinguishing Dortmund's last chance.
On August 26, with Hannover's 2-2 draw against Schalke 04 at home, the first round of the Bundesliga concluded.
In addition to Werder Bremen's away draw with Dortmund, which was a small upset, the biggest surprise of this round came from the newly promoted Frankfurt.
They defeated Bayer Leverkusen, who finished fifth in the Bundesliga last season, with a 2-1 victory at home.
Leverkusen was a seasoned Bundesliga team, while Frankfurt only finished 2nd last season in Bundesliga 2.
Their victory over Leverkusen surprised many.
However, the newly promoted teams this season seemed to be quite strong. Besides Frankfurt, another newcomer, Dusseldorf, won 2-0 against Augsburg away.
Among the three promoted teams, except for Bundesliga 2 champion Fürth, the other two teams had won their matches.
...
After the game ended, Werder Bremen didn't stay overnight in Dortmund but returned to Bremen.
Since the next round of matches wouldn't be until September, the head coach gave the players a day off.
By the time Lucas returned to his host family, it was already past 2 o'clock in the morning.
Quietly opening the door, he tiptoed back to his room so as not to disturb the others who were asleep.
Lying on the bed, sleepiness washed over him, and he fell asleep in less than a minute.
He slept until 10:30 the next morning. After getting ready, he went to the living room and found that Mrs. Anna had prepared breakfast for him.
As he touched the food, he could feel its warmth.
"Hehe, you're awake. Eat it while it's hot. I made your favorite bacon bread!"
Mr. William is reading the newspaper, and the smiling face shows he is in a good mood.
"Mr. William, did something good happen today? You seem to be in a good mood. Have you closed a big deal?"
William Victor smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm happier than business matters, Lucas. Look at this!"
He then handed Lucas the newspaper he was reading.
Curiously, Lucas took it and noticed that there were three newspapers: Bremen Citizens Zeitung, Bremen City Zeitung, and Bremen Daily News.
On the front page of the city newspaper, the headline read, "Werder Bremen's Away Draw with the Defending Champions: New Star Shines with Two Goals!"
Below the headline is a close-up picture of him wearing the No. 10 jersey and scoring the free kick.
The German reporters seemed to have quite a lot to say.
The citizen newspaper's headline read, "Night of Records: Werder Bremen's Rising Star Breaks Two Bundesliga Records!"
The article went on to provide a detailed introduction of his youngest appearance record and youngest goal record.
It also mentioned that he had broken these records within the Werder Bremen team itself.
However, compared to the Bundesliga records, Werder Bremen's records seemed less significant.
The Bremen Daily's report is slightly more favorable compared to the previous two newspapers, but it still praised him.
No wonder Mr. William is so happy in the morning.
It turned out he had read these newspapers that are filled with praise for Lucas!
"Ahem, these newspapers are affiliated with our team, so naturally, they will speak positively in their own ways..."
"Take a look at this as well!"
Just as Lucas is about to explain a few words, William handed him another newspaper.
Which unknown tabloid is making random reports again!
Lucas glanced and saw the prominent name of the Bild newspaper.
Well, as they say, there's no smoke without fire.
Being the newspaper with the largest circulation and influence in Germany, Bild isn't some third-rate tabloid.
Lucas is curious about their evaluation as well.
He opened it and saw the headline, "Six Goals in Three Games: The Future Champion Rises at Werder Bremen!"
...
It turned out that being praised by Bild had its consequences.
In the second round of Werder Bremen's home game against Hamburg, Lucas found himself the target of intense marking by the opponent.
No matter where he went on the field, even in his own half, a defender is assigned to closely shadow him, treating him like a superstar.
However, despite the opponent's focus on defending Lucas, the Hamburg team is unable to contain his teammates and ended up conceding goals.
In the 52nd minute, with the opponent's marking on Lucas being too tight, De Bruyne made a smart decision to pass the ball to winger Aaron Hunt on the other side of the field.
Hunt swiftly entered the penalty area after receiving the pass but fouled by a defender just as he is about to shoot.
Werder Bremen is awarded a penalty, and Hunt converted it to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Five minutes later, in a similar position, Arnautovic received a pass from De Bruyne and managed to score from a tight angle, extending Werder Bremen's lead to 2-0.
After conceding two quick goals, the Hamburg team is left bewildered.
They wondered why they focused so much on freezing Lucas, only to be outplayed by his teammates.
As a result, they relaxed their defense on Lucas and instead concentrated on guarding other Werder Bremen players.
Lucas, who had been closely marked for most of the half, finally found an opportunity to shine.
In the 88th minute, he received a pass from Elia and skillfully dribbled his way into the penalty area.
Facing the entire Hamburg defense line, Lucas displayed exceptional skills near the edge of the penalty area.
He changed directions, evaded opponents, and moved from the right side of the penalty area to the left, almost bypassing the entire defense line.
Breaking into the penalty area, he calmly shot past the goalkeeper, adding a third goal to Werder Bremen's tally, making it 3-0.
This goal left the Hamburg players questioning Lucas's human capabilities.
They wondered if there was anyone else like him.
Their defense line seemed as fragile as paper against him, and Lucas dismantled it with the precise shot and extraordinary display of his abilities.
The demoralized Hamburg team failed to pose a threat to Werder Bremen in the remaining time, and the final score remained 3-0.
Lucas continued his impressive goal-scoring form, maintaining his streak of scoring in every game.
Werder Bremen secured their first victory of the season.
In another surprising result in the second round of the Bundesliga, defending champions Dortmund were held to a draw by Nuremberg, earning only 2 points in two rounds and finding themselves in 13th place, dangerously close to the relegation zone.
On the other hand, Bayern Munich comfortably defeated Stuttgart 6-1 at home, accumulating 6 points from two rounds and securing the top spot in the standings.
It is worth noting that the three newly promoted teams continued to showcase their dark horse qualities in this round.
Fürth secured a 1-0 away win against Mainz, Frankfurt defeated Hoffenheim 4-0 on the road, and Dusseldorf held Borussia Mönchengladbach to a 0-0 draw.
Frankfurt, with two consecutive victories, sits second in the standings, trailing only Bayern on goal difference.
In contrast, Dortmund, the reigning champions, seem to be falling behind after just two rounds of the league.
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