Chapter 756: The Heated Game Goes On!

Fortunately for him, no supporters came for today’s game, or the referee would never have been able to come out alive. It was clear that the supporters’ presence on the stand wasn’t just to show their unwavering support for the team, but also to intimidate the referee and the opponent’s players for the whole game.

Yeah, the home ground advantage was real, as 60,000 people cursing at you would be enough to make your knees buckle.

Still, now that the punishment had been given there, the game had to be continued. Tomasz Waldoch, the Polish assistant coach, took over the command immediately, and the first thing he did was to put Jonas Hofmann, a defensive midfielder, in to replace the injured Rabbi Matondo.

It wasn’t just a decision coming from him, but the man had already received an instruction from Frohling before the man left the pitch.

"Don’t forget, Tomasz, we are still in the lead. They are the ones who should be anxious right now, so add more resistance in the midfield! Send a tough defender or midfielder to add more numbers in the penalty box, and make sure that you will frustrate them to death!"

Not that Tomasz Waldoch would disagree, as right now, the priority should be to maintain the lead. Even though right now, they had a one-player advantage on the pitch, that didn’t mean everything would be easy. After all, Dortmund was also one of the best offensive teams in the world, so they should be able to adapt to this situation quickly.

True enough, their head coach moved fast. Two players were warming up on the sideline, Mario Götze and Marco Reus. Those two were among the best German players in their generation, and while they had grown quite old by now, that didn’t mean they had lost all of their magic.

Then, as a cherry on top, they also came in to replace Thomas Delaney and Mahmoud Dahoud, the two players who were holding the midfield for the team. The intention was clear here. They wanted to overload Dortmund’s territory with an all-out attack, not even caring about the defense at all.

Waldoch realized that things could be dangerous from now on, but it was also a chance to seal the deal. So, before Hofmann entered the pitch, he didn’t forget to whisper to the boy quietly. "Relay this message to Morita. If he sees a chance to send a through ball to Nassim or Cali, don’t hesitate and don’t hold back to waste time. We are going to search for the decisive strike right now."

Jonas Hofmann nodded quietly before he ran to the pitch, getting ready to join the game.

After this, just as the referee had already expected beforehand, the situation got worse. More physical contact was made, and an argument also broke out quite easily. It was as if every single clash that happened on the pitch could be the trigger for a bigger incident, which put everyone on edge.

In the 60th minute, Jonas Hofmann made a rough move by charging at Marco Reus when Dortmund’s captain was trying to sprint, enough to throw the man a few meters away. This resulted in him getting a yellow card immediately.

Then, in the 66th minute, it was Matt Hummels’ turn to make a commotion. During the aerial duel against Caligliuri, the man inserted his elbow to strike against the striker’s face. As a result, Caligliuri’s nose was bleeding, and he had to be put down on the sideline to receive treatment from the medical team.

More accidents happened back and forth between two players, and Schalke was more than happy to indulge Dortmund in this tough contest. After all, they were already in the lead, and the more they wasted time, the better their chance to win this game.

This also cut off any attempt from Dortmund’s side to create momentum, enough to make them frustrated.

Of course, not everything went quite smoothly. The appearance of both Marco Reus and Mario Götze also put some danger on the defensive line, as those two were creative players who could create their own threat easily.

At one point, a pass from Götze arrived at Reus’s feet, and with a quick step-over move, the man got over Todibo’s defense easily before sending a through ball to Raphael Guerreiro on the other side of the flank, who was trying to insert himself into the channel area. It was fortunate that Juan Miranda arrived in time, blocking the Portuguese’s attempt to shoot with his block.

Then, Higo was also forced to work when a cross came from Jadon Sancho and somehow, Ozan Kabak was getting beaten once again by Erling Haaland. Fortunately, even without relying on his clairvoyant ability, the boy still managed to anticipate it easily, letting the ball fall onto his chest before he clutched it tightly.

Still, with Dortmund players becoming more anxious as time went by, their offensive quality also declined further. They started to launch more long shots from beyond the penalty box, trying to test their luck.

Higo himself was happy when he faced that. After all, that meant Haaland, who was the target man in the penalty box, would be quite useless in this scenario, so he didn’t have to worry that much about the Norwegian striker.

It also helped that Dortmund players were not that good at shooting from distance. Out of them all, only Mario Götze and Jadon Sancho probably had a better chance to strike from afar, and yet, it seemed that those two were not in their best form today.

It couldn’t be helped, since today itself was the very first game after a break that lasted for more than two months. It would take time for some players to adapt to the current situation, so a decline in their performance was understandable.

Then, once the game entered the 76th minute, a chance finally fell for Schalke.

It all started with Todibo, who managed to strip the ball off Hakimi’s foot, and the French defender didn’t even blink. He passed the ball to Morita, and with a quick glance to the front line, the Japanese midfielder fired a long pass immediately.

BAM!

"COME ON, NASSIM!"