It wasn't really anything.
Jin Hayes thought he had felt a resonance from the depths of his soul, activating a new talent. In reality, it was just his phone vibrating; he opened it to see that Anna was calling. He ran to a quiet place to answer, and a slightly anxious voice came from the other end.
"Are you okay? I sent you a message just now and you didn't reply."
"It's fine, it's just losing one match, no big deal."
"That's good. Actually, you performed great already, don't be sad." Anna didn't seem to know how to comfort people, sounding quite flustered on the other side. Imagining the girl's worried face, Jin Hayes couldn't help but find it a bit funny.
"What are you laughing at?"
"I just think you're quite cute."
"Hmph, I'm not talking to you anymore. I kindly comfort you and you laugh—oh right, I'll give you something when you get back."
"What is it?"
"I'm not telling you, we'll talk when you're back."
Jin Hayes wanted to talk to her a bit longer. When they had just started their relationship, they would have loved to spend an hour or two chatting on the phone. Seeing Jürgen Klopp start his lecture in the dressing room, it wasn't convenient for Jin Hayes to continue, so he had to hang up and return to the dressing room.
"…You've all gotten ahead of yourselves, haven't you? Think a 14‑game winning streak is so amazing? Starting to stop taking the Bundesliga seriously?"
"Nuri, where's your brain? Do you know how to cover positions? Do you know how to defend? You only want to be a hero and ignore the team, right?"
"And you, İlkay! How many times have I said it? Positional awareness, positional awareness! Don't think I won't scold you just because you're young. What kind of football was that today?"
"Mats, is your mind still on the pitch? Is the penalty area a park? Letting the opponent's striker just waltz in? Are you training your muscles into your brain every day?"
Klopp had entered berserk mode, and every player who had been on the pitch didn't escape his in‑your‑face outburst. He was standing right in front of them, roaring.
Mats Hummels' face was sprayed with Klopp's saliva, but he didn't dare reach out to wipe it, only standing there with trembling legs to take the scolding.
To be fair, Klopp wasn't just scolding randomly; he detailed every mistake each player had made. Even if his scolding was justified, being yelled at like that in front of the whole team still felt a bit unpleasant.
The young players' rebellious streak flared up, their faces written with defiance. It was just that Klopp was powerful enough that they didn't dare argue back, but they had no intention of reflecting at all.
After scolding everyone, when it came to Jin Hayes, Klopp sighed. "Jin actually played well today. Forget it, I'm also at fault for today's loss."
Calming down, Klopp began to self‑reflect in front of the whole team. "I also underestimated Stuttgart today. The lineup was a bit ill‑considered, and I didn't provide enough detailed tactical designs to help you. In any match, the primary person responsible for a loss is always the head coach. I was impulsive just now, pushing the responsibility onto you. It's my fault."
When Klopp said this, the players felt even more guilty instead. "No, no, no, Coach, it's my fault. If my defending had been more solid, we could have won."
"No, if I had scored that goal, there would still have been hope."
"It was me, I lost my man. The goal we conceded was a big problem."
The Borussia Dortmund players all took the initiative to self‑reflect, deeply realising their own shortcomings. Klopp just leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, listening to everyone speak in silence. Only Jin Hayes looked over and caught the slight curve of a smile under the brim of the baseball cap.
"Old fox?"
Only then did Jin Hayes realise that Klopp had intentionally been hard first and then soft. The players in the dressing room were being led by the nose by him, starting to seriously review themselves and even encouraging each other, taking the blame upon themselves.
Just now, everyone had been silent, and the temperature in the dressing room had dropped several degrees. Silence meant that everyone was definitely dissatisfied with their teammates, perhaps even harboring grudges. With Klopp's maneuver, the players opened up, and the atmosphere finally returned to normal.
"He's got some moves."
Klopp seemed like the kind of coach full of passion with a very distinct style. Among the fan base, his reputation was mixed—those who liked him and those who hated him would both go to extremes. However, within the Borussia Dortmund team, everyone still preferred their coach.
Getting scolded was nothing; at least the coach would remember you and care about everything regarding you. In contrast, last season's head coach Thomas Doll had always been polite on the surface and rarely used a harsh tone with players.
But he never had a heart‑to‑heart moment with the players, as if everyone was just colleagues coming to work. The team's cohesion in the two periods was completely incomparable.
A loss today was just a loss; Jin Hayes actually felt more confident about the upcoming matches. He hoped his teammates could truly improve together, so that on the pitch, he wouldn't have to play so exhaustingly.
…
Back at the hotel in Stuttgart, that night, Jin Hayes shared a room with Mario Götze. The kid couldn't sleep and chatted with Jin Hayes for a long time. He was telling stories from his training camp days, when he fought in youth matches alongside his good friends Kevin Großkreutz and Marco Reus.
Later, Großkreutz went to the 2. Bundesliga, and Reus was called up to the first team. Götze had thought he was being left behind by his companions. He didn't expect that he would actually make it to the first team at 16.
"Jin, to be honest, I was very jealous of you before."
"Ah? Why?"
"You're clearly younger than me, so why could you play in the Bundesliga? Why did you get the coach's favour? Why couldn't I?"
"It was only after I actually got onto the Bundesliga pitch that I understood the pressure on one's back is unimaginable. I'm afraid it'll take me another two years to truly adapt to the pitch… I really don't know how you held up." Götze thought it was terrifying just thinking about it.
In today's match against Stuttgart, when Jakub Błaszczykowski and Alexander Frei went quiet one after another, the burden of scoring was placed on the 16‑year‑old Mario Götze. He was almost crushed to the ground, and several shooting opportunities were missed wildly.
Last season, when Jin Hayes was only 15, he had actually single‑handedly led Borussia Dortmund to a 4‑3 comeback against Bayern. Götze only then truly realized the gap between himself and Jin Hayes.
"Don't think too much. Your talent is definitely top‑tier. Just train hard, improve your physical strength, and focus on your performance on the pitch. Do you know what I think every time I try to dribble past someone?"
"What?"
"I only have one thought: this time, I can definitely break through."
Götze nodded thoughtfully. He didn't even realize he was being misled by Jin Hayes. Jin Hayes had exceptional abilities from his unique gifts, so of course he was full of confidence when dribbling.
Mainly, Jin Hayes found that Götze tended to overthink. Thinking too much on the pitch makes one hesitant, and hesitation leads to defeat. Better to let him try being a bit more reckless; just go for it.
If it were a normal schedule, Jin Hayes generally wouldn't interfere with his teammates' mental adjustments. But for Borussia Dortmund, who had just lost to Stuttgart, the next opponent was none other than the defending Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich.
The big boss is still the big boss, after all.
No matter how turbulent Bayern's results were, they remained a powerhouse in the Bundesliga that could not be ignored. Losing one game was fine for Dortmund, but if they suffered two consecutive losses, the team's morale would inevitably take a heavy hit. The more these young people doubted themselves, the more hesitant they would be on the pitch, and they could easily fall into a vicious cycle.
Even if Jin Hayes were at his best, it would be hard for him to help the team win on the pitch. The hard‑earned points advantage could collapse in an instant, just like a team losing its grip on the title race. The next clash against Bayern must be won.
....
"The next one, we must win!"
Inside the Bayern Munich training base, in the tactical meeting room, the head coach had changed from the handsome blonde Jürgen Klinsmann to a silver‑haired elder, the sharp‑eyed legendary coach Jupp Heynckes.
The "coach killer" Jin Hayes had struck again.
The 5‑1 humiliation of Bayern at the Allianz Arena last time had already laid the fuse for Klinsmann's dismissal.
Klinsmann had been called in for talks by both Uli Hoeneß and Karl‑Heinz Rummenigge; the young coach had made a pledge to reclaim a top‑two spot before the winter break. As it turned out, Bayern Munich was ranked 5th at the winter break, their worst ranking in recent years.
After the winter break, Bayern Munich first lost 1‑0 to Hamburg, then 2‑1 to Hertha Berlin, and then 2‑1 at home to Cologne. A three‑game losing streak. Their rank plummeted directly from 5th to 7th.
The Bundesliga overlord was about to become a bystander.
Just before the match against Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich officially announced that Klinsmann, who had only joined this season, was dismissed. The veteran Heynckes was appointed in the hour of need as Bayern's interim coach.
Unlike the laughing and joking of the "Joga Bonito" era under Klinsmann, Heynckes was a representative of iron‑fisted discipline, and the atmosphere in the tactical meeting room was quite serious.
"Do you know what the secret to winning is? Someone tell me." Old Heynckes' voice wasn't loud; his throat was even a bit raspy. But his authority still made the Bayern stars tense up, like elementary school students afraid of being called on.
"Philipp, you tell me."
Captain Philipp Lahm, having been called upon, could only stand up weakly: "Is it unity?"
"Unity isn't wrong, but it's not the focus of this match. The focus of winning this match is just one word—space. Whoever can utilize space well can control the game."
"Then are we playing possession football?"
The young man who had just been promoted to the first team this season, Thomas Müller, raised his hand and asked. As the joker of the Bayern dressing room, the "Raumdeuter" clearly wasn't afraid of Heynckes.
Heynckes raised an eyebrow and asked back: "Then do you think the current Bayern is a strong team?"
"Of course it's a strong team!"
"But we are ranked 7th in the league. Where is the strength?"
"Uh—" Thomas Müller was left speechless.
"Forget last season's double, forget the past glory. Looking at this season, we can only be considered a mid‑table Bundesliga team. So, none of you should think of yourselves as stars! We are the challengers of the Bundesliga. Facing the top‑of‑the‑table team, Borussia Dortmund, what should a challenger do?"
The meeting room was silent once again; no one dared to respond to Heynckes. The old coach fixed his gaze on Thomas Müller. Müller looked left and right, but everyone was keeping their heads down without a sound. He had no choice but to brace himself and stand up: "Counter‑attack?"
"Exactly!" Heynckes clicked the presentation, and the tactical formation on it revealed a clear message. In this match against Dortmund, Bayern was going to proactively show weakness and use counter‑attacks to deal with the Bumblebees' youth storm.
…
"Losing just one game and they act like the sky is falling. These media outlets are really—"
After daily training ended, Jin Hayes was about to leave the base to go to school for his new semester's subjects. The school was very close to both the base and his home, and since the Lamborghini was too flashy, there was no need to drive it over. He still liked walking, but he didn't expect to be blocked by a group of reporters as soon as he stepped out. He should have driven if he'd known.
Reporters from the German media shoved microphones in Jin Hayes's face, asking for his thoughts on the recent reports in the newspapers. Jin Hayes said he didn't read the newspapers, so they held the papers in front of his eyes, eager to stir up trouble.
"14‑Game Winning Streak Ends, Exposing Fatal Flaws—Dortmund Locker Room Crisis Emerges, 11‑Point Lead May Be a Flash in the Pan?" —Bild
"Heynckes' First Match to Decide the Fate! Bayern Sets Sights on Westfalen—Bumblebees' Decline Evident, Bundesliga Throne Will Eventually Return to Munich!" —Münchner Abendzeitung
"League Leaders Lost in Stuttgart! 11‑Point Lead ≠ Champion—Klopp's 'Experiment' Bears Bitter Fruit, Bundesliga Title Suspense Reignited!" —Kicker
"The media is like that."
Generally, Jin Hayes was rarely affected by the media, his mindset as steady as an old dog. But he was a 16‑year‑old boy after all, and moments of showing his sharp edges were inevitable. Losing one match and facing so much doubt, even questioning whether Dortmund would lose at home. Jin Hayes finally couldn't hold back.
"First of all, I have maintained a perfect winning record against Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. They haven't taken a single point from me yet. Secondly, Bayern Munich is currently ranked 7th. Are they really delusional enough to think they can compete for the title with the league‑leading Dortmund? Very well, in this showdown in two days, I will knock them back to reality."