Chapter 688: The Top-Tier Teams, The Greatest Match

Before the final began, special guests on the pitch were performing, while the stadium filled with drumbeats and cheers from the fans.

"cesontlesmeilleuresequipes! (French: These are the best teams!)"

"essinddieallerbestenmannschaften! (German: These are the top-tier teams!)"

"themainevent! (The Greatest Match!)"

"diemeister! (German: The Champions!)"

"diebesten! (German: The Strongest!)"

"..."

As the Champions League anthem played in various languages throughout the Dragon Stadium, the flags of Dortmund and Chelsea unfurled diagonally before the player tunnel, with the UEFA Championship logo positioned in the center.

The camera focused as the head referee walked out first to retrieve the match ball placed on the pedestal.

Following closely behind the referee were the players from both teams.

"We can see that leading the Dortmund lineup is their goalkeeper Bürki, followed by the team captain Reus!"

The camera panned, quickly focusing on Tang Ye's face.

This was Dortmund's number 10!

【Front-row spectators!】

【Staying up late, staying up late; no sleep tonight, just watching my Tang Tang Qiuwang work his magic.】

"How does a luck-based team like Chelsea deserve to play against my Dortmund in the final?"

"Laughing my head off; Chelsea reached the final far more easily than Dortmund, who nearly busted their heads just to make it this far."

"Chelsea seems to be playing a 5-4-1 formation today; are they being this cautious?"

Reus and Haaland stood in the center circle, ready for kickoff.

From the moment they entered until now, the fans in the stands had not stopped making noise.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Beep——!!!"

Crack!

"Alright, this is China Media Group, China Media Group, bringing you the live broadcast of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League Final between Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea."

"The venue for this match is the Dragon Stadium located in Porto, Portugal!"

"Now, allow me to introduce..."

"Eh, Dortmund is launching a quick counterattack!"

Receiving Haaland's back-pass, Pogba immediately flicked the ball backward to Hummels.

At the same time, the Dortmund players began pushing forward en masse.

Hummels!

Werner and Jorginho rushed up together to press.

"Hurry up!"

Bürki urged, while at that moment, Hummels found a suitable passing lane.

Crack!

He played a long pass outward, aiming directly at Reus on the left flank.

"Come on, come on!"

Tang Ye moved toward Reus.

Facing the incoming long pass, Reus adjusted with small steps.

Getting ready.

Thump!

He headed the ball to Tang Ye, who effortlessly controlled it.

Havertz charged over!

Feinting a pass to Reus, Tang Ye immediately cut inside with the ball,

Crack!

Playing a long pass to find Piszczek advancing on the right flank.

"Oh!"

"Dortmund's determination to play quick attacks today is extremely resolute!"

"Right flank, Piszczek, passes to Sancho!"

The entire sequence unfolded exactly as initially designed, with every player's execution being quite perfect.

Haaland made a diagonal run toward the right flank near the baseline.

Receiving Sancho's through ball!

"Wow!!!"

"Get him! Steal his ball, steal his ball!"

The Chelsea fans were already starting to panic!

Tang Ye was drifting toward the center, together with Pogba who was surging up from behind.

Dortmund now had two receiving options in the center!

"Something bad might happen!"

"Kanté!"

"Wow! Beautiful!"

Kanté kicked away Haaland's pass to Tang Ye, drawing continuous shrieks from the fans.

"Fuck!"

Tang Ye waved his hand.

"Your pass was too slow!"

Haaland's pass was indeed not very good.

But there was no helping it.

The Dortmund striker simply hadn't expected Kanté to return so quickly.

"Kanté handled that interception very well!"

"Yes, eh, hehe, if it weren't for Kanté, I think Dortmund would have basically scored this goal. Because as we all know, this player Tang Ye, his long-range shooting ability is ridiculously exaggerated. Taking the ball from this position, the Dortmund goal would mostly be in trouble, hehe!"

"Mm... now let's supplement with an introduction to the starting lineups for both sides in this match. First, for Dortmund: they still chose a formation with four attacking midfielders—Tang Ye, Bellingham, Reus, and Sancho. These are all first-class frontline attackers!"

"..."

Chelsea (5-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Édouard Mendy

Defenders: Chilwell, Rüdiger, Thiago Silva, Azpilicueta, Reece James

Midfielders: Mount, Jorginho, Kanté, Havertz

Forward: Werner

Head Coach: Tuchel

Whether due to cowardice or not, Chelsea's lineup today was extremely conservative, to the point that many Dortmund fans in the commentary section had already begun their mockery.

Five defenders and four midfielders—is this what a Premier League team looks like!

However, many Dortmund fans didn't know that this season, Chelsea relied precisely on this formation to advance all the way to the Champions League final.

You could say Chelsea is conservative.

But if you call them weak, that's simply going too far!

Escrivá paced along the sideline.

Good news: the suspension had ended, and today he could be present to direct from the sidelines.

Bad news: a nearly perfect opening fast break he had designed was kicked away by a single strike from Kanté.

Damn it!

The perceived temperature at the venue was pleasant, but Escrivá was no different from the players on the field.

He was also drenched in sweat!

Bang!

"Beep beep beep!!!"

His whole body flew up, finally crashing onto the grass.

Okay, very classic.

In the 7th minute of the first half, Tang Ye suffered his first fall.

This was a foul from Mount.

"Yellow card!"

Reus signaled to the referee: "He stuck his foot out; if he hadn't, we could have sent the ball into the frontline!"

Reus meant that Mount had stopped Dortmund from launching an attack, so he must be punished.

But the referee showed no intention of issuing a yellow card.

Tang Ye shook his head, grabbed Haaland's arm, and suddenly exerted force to stand up.

He was already used to it.

According to Tang Ye's experience, for every four times he fell, the opponent would receive only one yellow card.

Today he had only fallen once.

No rush!

"When you push up, do it faster."

Tang Ye placed one hand on Bellingham's shoulder, quietly instructing his teammate: "Best to help me mark Kanté."

While speaking, Tang Ye deliberately glanced in Kanté's direction.

As expected, the Blue Army's defensive midfielder was also looking at him now.

Just like during the group stage, Kanté had come into this match with a mission.

The Frenchman's most important task was to mark Tang Ye!

"..."

Havertz played a through ball out!

Right flank, baseline.

Reece James!

Slap!

A fierce cross from the byline was delivered.

The target was Werner inside the penalty area!

Jump up!

At the first point, Werner failed to reach the ball.

Watch for the second point.

Mount!

Trap the ball, quick adjustment, Mount is ready.

He lets fly straight away!

Crack!

The long-range shot fires off, the ball smashes straight into Akanji.

The ball rebounds out.

Just outside the arc, players from both sides ready to contest it!

Up they jump!

Azpilicueta gets to the dropping ball.

Header!

Thud!

"Oh!!"

The power behind it was plenty, but thankfully Bürki is no pushover either — he swats the ball away with one hand.

That was a bit scary!

Hiss…

We're now at the 18th minute of the first half.

Not much time has actually been played, but Tang Ye has already realized something is off.

Chelsea's starting XI has a market value of less than 300 million euros — looks like nothing on paper.

But if you judge Chelsea's strength by their starting market value, you'd be absolutely wrong.

This Chelsea starting lineup, worth under 300 million, is fully capable of producing the effect of a 500-million-plus side!

"I feel like Dortmund today isn't playing very comfortably."