"Let's go, Marco."
"Come on! Marco!"
"It's up to you, Marco!!"
"You guys—are you trying to form a wall?" Marco Reus was truly fed up with these tricksters.
Jin Hayes's forceful breakthrough just now had an outstanding effect, not only drawing a yellow card but also creating an excellent angle for a free kick. It was even more perfect than the positions intentionally set up on the training ground.
Slightly to the left, 25 metres out, it allowed Reus to curl a shot around the wall without it flying too high over the crossbar. Jin Hayes had already done what he could; now it was up to him.
The pressure was already high, and Nuri Şahin, Mats Hummels, Neven Subotić, and Jakub Błaszczykowski just had to crowd around and mess with him.
"Fuck off!" Reus hurriedly chased them away.
Jin Hayes just patted Reus on the shoulder from the side, without saying much. He actually wanted to shoulder the responsibility himself, but shooting was his greatest pain point.
His special ability was only triggered under high‑difficulty shooting conditions like bicycle kicks, super long‑range volleys, zero‑degree angle volleys, or backheels; a free kick clearly didn't meet the conditions. It had to be left to Reus; he currently had the highest free‑kick success rate on the team. Jin Hayes was willing to trust his brother.
Turning his head, he sidled up next to the Cologne wall, while Nuri Şahin was on the other side.
"WTF?"
The Cologne defensive players were full of question marks. What were these two doing in the wall?
...
Last season, when Jin Hayes faced Manuel Neuer's Schalke 04, he had used a wall‑dismantling tactic once. At that time, the free‑kick combination was passed into the penalty area and successfully scored.
The tactic had sparked discussion in the football world but wasn't taken seriously. Now Jin Hayes was bringing out the wall‑dismantling tactic again, and Cologne was clearly very unaccustomed to it. And it was a double wall‑dismantle by both Jin Hayes and Şahin; either side could become the target.
...
Just as the Cologne defensive players were in chaos, Reus had already started his run‑up and swung his leg.
"Now!"
Jin Hayes and Şahin ducked simultaneously on both sides of the wall. Reus's free kick had already curled an arc, passing over the top of Jin Hayes's head.
"Damn it!! Playing dirty!"
Cologne's 37‑year‑old veteran Colombian goalkeeper, Faryd Mondragón, had never encountered such a devious free‑kick shot in his 20‑plus‑year career. His line of sight was blocked, making it hard to judge, and combined with Jin Hayes's sudden wall‑dismantling and the perfect quality of Reus's free kick, by the time he reacted in front of the goal, the ball had already smashed into the back of the net.
"Goooooal!! One minute after Borussia Dortmund conceded, they've equalised with a direct free kick! The Bumblebees are showing tenacious resilience! The quality of this shot by Reus is truly high! How are there more and more excellent young players at the Bumblebees!"
"It's mainly because Jin's free‑kick design is very thoughtful," Oliver Kahn noted. He noticed Jin Hayes's secret communication earlier; it was clear that both winning the free kick and the wall‑dismantling tactic were Jin Hayes's clever ideas.
"I remember he also had a free‑kick tactic last season."
"That's right, it feels like this wall‑dismantling tactic is indeed very hard to defend against; perhaps it will become one of the mainstream free‑kick tactics."
During the slow‑motion replay, the director specifically showed the shot of the three of them communicating together, then a close‑up of Jin Hayes's Marseille Turn; his successful breakthrough was also crucial.
"This is the Bumblebees. Even if their defence isn't stable and they are prone to conceding, they have enough margin for error. Because the attacking end can always help the team bounce back; no matter how many goals the opponent scores, the young guys can always win them back."
This kind of dare‑to‑fight, crazy‑charging style of football was tense and exciting. In the new season, Borussia Dortmund had attracted quite a few new foreign fans, and their overseas influence had risen significantly.
Plus, young players like Jin Hayes, Reus, and Hummels were all high‑profile, good‑looking stars; it was hard not to be loved by fans.
Mehmet Scholl learned from the side that more and more overseas viewers were watching the Bundesliga broadcast on ZDF recently. Many fans in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and even the Americas were sending emails, hoping to increase the number of free‑to‑air Borussia Dortmund matches.
In distant China, online streaming platforms were also negotiating to purchase Bundesliga broadcasting rights. It could be said that Jin Hayes and Borussia Dortmund were expanding the Bundesliga's audience base, giving other Bundesliga teams besides Bayern Munich a chance to appear.
This was a good thing. It is unhealthy for any league to be dominated by one team. The new Bundesliga season might present a situation of contending heroes.
...
After equalising, the game quickly entered Borussia Dortmund's rhythm. The second and third goals followed one after another. By the time the final whistle blew, Cologne had lost 2‑4 to Borussia Dortmund. Jin Hayes had two assists, racking up 19 assists in 10 rounds of matches. He also created one free kick and one penalty, fully maximising his impact.
"That's right, this is the Bumblebees. We aren't the most perfect team yet, but we are the most united and the bravest team. Offence is in our blood."
After the match, Jin Hayes's interview also made Borussia Dortmund fans very excited. Everyone liked watching heated matches, not matches where teams parked the bus in front of the goal and played a dull 0‑0 game. Defence can win championships, but offence wins victories and popularity.
With two matches back‑to‑back, the team left Cologne directly and headed to Marseille, France.
...
On the bus, the Borussia Dortmund players were sleeping like dead pigs, sprawled in every direction.
"Is it necessary for us to give up one front?" assistant coach Željko Buvač asked quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"With our current bench depth, it's clearly not enough to support fighting on three fronts. Cup competitions and the Champions League—I don't feel it's very necessary. Let's focus on the league and strive to win the title."
Jürgen Klopp took off his black-rimmed glasses and rubbed his brow. "I know, a dense schedule easily leads to problems in the mid-to-late stages, but with the opportunity right in front of us, if we don't fight for it, are we just going to waste it for nothing?"
"What if we lose the bet?"
"What if we win the bet?"
"Fine, you really are a madman." Buvač felt he was already aggressive enough, but Klopp was even more aggressive than he had imagined.
"No, no, no..." Klopp shook his finger, smiling a bit grimly. "Our whole team is a bunch of madmen."
...
"Be careful, don't get your wallet stolen."
"No, the bus is only a few steps away from the hotel."
"That's already enough for them to commit the crime." Alexander Frei, a veteran who had played in Ligue 1, hurriedly warned his teammates.
Coming to France, especially the even more "enthusiastic" Marseille, one must be on guard against rampant thieves. Frei had personal experience; he had lost two mobile phones in Marseille, had his wallet snatched on the street once, and had his car window smashed to steal a bag he left inside. The local customs here were as notoriously challenging as any big city.
As it turned out, the next day, Marseille's home ground also gave Borussia Dortmund a blow to the head, letting this German team feel the ferocity of the French.
...
"Ben Arfa!!! A left-footed curling shot into the far corner! Marseille lead by one goal!" Hatem Ben Arfa, one of the four highly touted French youngsters, dribbled horizontally in front of the penalty area, tricked three players in a row, and scored a long-range shot past Roman Weidenfeller's goal. The Marseille fans were jubilant, and enthusiastic cheers rang out throughout the Stade Vélodrome.
The French fans closest to the Borussia Dortmund away stand even made a 3‑0 gesture to mock the visiting supporters. "We are going to beat you 3‑0, 3‑0! Get ready to go home!"
The French thought such chanting would break the German fans. The angrier the Germans became, the more excited the home fans would be. Unexpectedly, the away fan stand was unusually calm and was even smiling back at them.
This wasn't right, was it? Marseille scored, so why were both sides smiling?
The "Yellow Black Prussia" die‑hard fans weren't forcing a smile; they were genuinely happy from the heart. Starting from behind? That was the right vibe. This bunch of lads on the pitch only knew how to play when they were behind.
Sure enough, the Bumblebees' fierce offensive surged forward.
On the pitch, Ben Arfa had heard of Jin Hayes's reputation, and his gaze remained locked on the young‑faced teenager. Before the match, his national team teammate Samir Nasri had sent a text message to remind him: "You must be careful of that Chinese player. I hope you can shut him down."
"Is he really as strong as the media hypes him up to be?"
"He is, brother, he is."
Nasri knew quite a lot about Jin Hayes. Even if he hadn't seen him with his own eyes within the Arsenal team, legends of the young player still circulated. Every time in training matches, whenever someone pulled off a fancy dribble, everyone would unanimously comment: "Not good enough, nowhere near as good as Jin."
Nasri was very curious; how could a newcomer who had only been on trial at Arsenal for a short time leave such a deep impression on everyone? It didn't make sense. He had once asked Theo Walcott and Cesc Fàbregas, and both of their expressions were a bit strange.
"You're talking about Jin? He might be the one with the best footwork I've ever seen."
"That's right, although I really don't want to admit it, if we're only talking about technique, no one in this world surpasses him."
Fàbregas's words made Nasri understand even less. It just so happened that Ben Arfa was facing Jin Hayes, and he really wanted his friend to experience it firsthand.
Judging from the first fifteen minutes of the match, it was unremarkable. Jin Hayes had some technique, but every time he passed the ball immediately, he didn't dare to dribble deep at all. Ben Arfa mused that his technique was at most on par with his own; it was highly likely that he was just overhyped.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, Borussia Dortmund's quick counter‑attack materialised. Nuri Şahin passed to Marco Reus, and Reus cut back and crossed to the middle. The ball was slightly deflected by Marseille's midfielder Mathieu Valbuena, who stuck out a leg and altered its trajectory. The ball popped up and darted toward the back.
Jin Hayes was originally in a posture to rush forward and receive the ball, but the sudden change meant he could only handle it with his back to goal, which would trap him in Marseille's encirclement.
"Opportunity!" Ben Arfa still wanted to go up and participate in the pressing, but in the next second, he was frozen in place.
Jin Hayes had no intention of turning around at all. He lifted his left heel lightly and simultaneously turned quickly to the right. Marseille's defensive midfielder Modeste M'Bami was still sticking close to him, trying to prevent him from stopping and controlling the ball, but he didn't see Jin Hayes's subtle flick at all. By the time he realised it, the player had already turned and slipped away.
"Wait, Jin? Huh?"
Another defensive midfielder, Benoît Cheyrou, rushed up, wanting to bump Jin Hayes and steal the ball, but Jin Hayes beat him to it with a glancing header, bypassing him and continuing to advance. Throughout the entire sequence, the ball never touched the ground, Jin Hayes never slowed down, and he bypassed two players while maintaining his forward momentum. Marseille's seemingly solid midfield line crumbled in an instant.
Centre‑back Ronald Zubar was anxious and rushed over frantically to stop Jin Hayes; he didn't care if it was the player or the ball, he had to stop at least one. Jin Hayes, however, waited for the moment the ball naturally landed, tapped it lightly with his right foot, and completed a nutmeg to glide past another defender.
By the time Marseille realised the danger, Jin Hayes had already dribbled the ball into the penalty area. Borussia Dortmund formed a four‑on‑one situation in front.
"Checkmate."
"Oh, f*** me..." Ben Arfa was in hot pursuit behind, watching the whole process of Jin Hayes casually bypassing three players. It seemed like there were no fancy dribbling moves; every touch only required one contact, but that crucial touch created the only possible path out of an impossible situation. Ben Arfa admitted that this player was indeed even stronger than what Nasri had said. "What a monster."
Jin Hayes then laid the ball off for Alexander Frei to tap into an empty net, and Marseille's lead vanished completely. Now it was the turn of the away Borussia Dortmund fans to counterattack.
"So much for 3‑0? Oh no, your goal has already been breached! Breached!"
The Marseille fans had thrown a boomerang, but it was they themselves who got hit. The French in the home stand were left unable to cry or laugh.
"Someone, please sanction Borussia Dortmund! They're too arrogant!"
The Vélodrome roared with frustration as the Bumblebees celebrated, their relentless attacking spirit once again proving that no deficit was too large for this young, fearless team.