Chapter 641: Pogba's Psychological Bruising, Tang Ye's Excess

Check Dongqiu Di pinned post: The German Football Association's investigation into the bullying incident within Dortmund's squad has made no substantial progress; the matter is most likely a rumor.

Never mind whether it's a rumor or not; Dortmund's next match is just around the corner, and the fans' attention has already been diverted.

In Round 17 of Fan Fan Dejia, Borussia Dortmund travels to face Bayer Leverkusen.

Both Tang Ye and Pogba were included in Dortmund's matchday squad, which came as a huge relief to the fans.

That's acceptable; it seems everything is fine.

Dortmund fans strongly suspect they have been set up.

This season, Dortmund has been absurdly strong, appearing poised to clinch the Fan Fan Dejia title; who knows which capitalist's cake they stepped on.

That's how capitalists are: if you touch their cake, they will set you up.

Tang Ye and Pogba are deeply embroiled in this!

Of course, the ones having the most fun are neither the capitalists nor the tabloids, but the spectators enjoying the drama.

These past few days, apart from Dortmund news, everyone has been studying micro-expression psychology on YouTube; one could say it's been tough for Bayern fans.

Hiss...

But thinking about it carefully, the Bayern fans' perspective is actually quite normal.

This Dortmund team really is acting too arrogant.

Shouldn't we bench Tang Ye from the starting lineup to test their true strength?

What are they pretending at?

"Uh, my expression isn't faked."

At the pre-match press conference, Tang Ye answered every question from reporters truthfully, aiming to prove his innocence.

"If Pogba performs poorly on the pitch, for instance, failing to track back when he should as we mentioned earlier, would you berate him? Just as you did before."

"This isn't targeted at any specific player; I shout whenever anyone makes a mistake, so there's no issue here. I don't have any so-called racial bias; that's all fabricated by reporters."

"But your temper has indeed changed significantly compared to the past few seasons."

"... Forget it, I'm not talking to you anymore."

Unwilling to continue answering reporters' questions, Tang Ye left the press conference venue directly.

Escrivá sat on the chair, watching Tang Ye helplessly.

This is the current situation.

Everyone knows the bullying incident reported by the Munich Times is false and non-existent.

But reporters want to make money, fans want gossip, and the public opinion environment has stubbornly turned something non-existent into a psychological reality.

The environment influences reporters, and in their minds now, Pogba is like a very pitiful, battered child, while the person causing this harm is the little tyrant who just joined the team.

Ggbond!

"China Media Group! Here is the live broadcast for you..."

"The match has begun! Now I will introduce the starting lineups for both teams in this game!"

Bayer Leverkusen (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Hradecky

Defenders: Lars Bender, Jonathan Tah, Tapsoba, Wendell

Midfielders: Wirtz...

"..."

"Hmm, Dortmund is playing a 3-4-2-1 formation today; it seems the Dortmund coaching staff has fully finalized their tactics."

"Haha, it feels somewhat familiar; previously, when Escrivá was in La Liga, he also adjusted tactics midway, and they fully took shape during the season."

"Yes, Coach Zhan, to speak plainly, if Villarreal's tactics had taken shape a bit earlier that season, the La Liga champion that year wouldn't have been Real Madrid."

Escrivá indeed has some substance, but he always likes to hesitate.

The good news is that this season, Escrivá makes decisions much faster.

It is now January of the second season, and Dortmund's tactics have basically taken shape.

The camera cuts to Escrivá on the sidelines.

Compared to the confusion at the start of the season, there is now an extra layer of ferocity in the Dortmund head coach's eyes.

Snap!

Hummels distributes the ball from the back, looking directly for Tang Ye.

However, Tang Ye is currently locked down by Wirtz and Amiri, so he has no choice but to yield position first.

The first point of contact is secured by Amiri!

The next second!

Bang!

With a sliding tackle from the side, the ball in front of Amiri is kicked directly to Bellingham's feet.

"Beautiful!"

"A top-class immediate press!"

"This is an opportunity Dortmund must seize!"

Bellingham rushes toward the front field, while Tang Ye climbs up from the grass.

Dortmund players press forward in force, forcing the opponent to retreat.

"Left, left!"

Prompted by Tang Ye, Bellingham passes the ball to Reus.

Reus stops the ball on the spot, and Bellingham sprints past him.

A familiar feeling.

Jude Bellingham had deeply inherited Tang Ye's teachings and immediately started playing as a winger.

But to be fair, Bellingham's striker attributes were indeed quite good.

He cut inside with the ball, heading toward the penalty area!

Carrying the ball into the box himself, he saw Haaland making a forward run, calling for the pass.

"Shoot directly, shoot directly!"

Tang Ye shouted; Bellingham prepared himself, ready to lift his foot and strike.

Bang!

Bellingham's shot was blocked by a Leverkusen player.

But the incident was not over.

"Penalty, penalty!"

Guerrero and Akanji rushed together to find Du Du Zhaocai: "It hit the hand, it definitely hit the..."

Before the Dortmund players could finish their words, the referee decisively awarded a penalty kick.

"Oh, a penalty opportunity has been given to Dortmund..."

Dortmund's first penalty of 2021!

Reus picked the ball up from the ground.

Just as the fans expected him to hand the ball to Haaland, Reus passed it into Tang Ye's hands instead.

The fans were somewhat surprised, but judging by the reactions of the Dortmund players on the field, this seemed to have been agreed upon long ago.

"This is..."

While the CCTV commentator expressed confusion, the camera cut to Escrivá on the sidelines; the Dortmund head coach stood with both hands in his pockets.

By now, everything was quite obvious.

Escrivá had made his decision, transferring the penalty duty originally belonging to Haaland to Tang Ye.

"That is indeed a pity, because we know Haaland's penalty-taking ability is still quite good, especially at this age when one should be training for penalties."

"Having lost the penalty duties for a season at Dortmund, hmm... actually, I think Haaland's luck this season hasn't been good either. Missing a penalty plus yielding it, followed by an injury absence of nearly a month; especially with Tang Ye still in the team, it was indeed unlikely for him to hold onto the penalty rights in such a situation."

From the perspective of Haaland's development, losing the position of primary penalty taker now was not too good for him.

But in the camera shot, Haaland outside the penalty area was smiling very happily.

In truth, Haaland was glad to give up the penalty duties.

As a player within the Dortmund team, he knew clearly who was the most suitable person to take the penalty.

"Hoo..."

After exchanging a glance with the referee, Tang Ye received the whistle permitting the penalty kick.

"Beep——!!!"

Run-up!

Just like before, Tang Ye took a curved run-up, running with a rhythmic sense of cadence.

Pa!

The shot was gently pushed out, and the leather ball accurately entered the net.

"Goal!"

"1:0!"

"Dortmund opens the scoring!"

"A goal from Tang Ye!"

With Dortmund leading by one goal, at this moment the haters would surely say again that Tang Ye could only rely on penalties to pad his statistics.

However, the fact was that up to now, Tang Ye already had twenty assists to his name.

Twenty assists in seventeen rounds; did he not deserve to score a few goals?

"Here we go!"

Tang Ye jumped up, and after landing, he dragged Bellingham toward the area below the stands.

The two exchanged a glance; Bellingham instantly understood what Tang Ye wanted to do and decisively dropped to one knee.

Bang!

Tang Ye and Bellingham knelt facing each other, one hand covering their own face, the other tucked behind their backs.