Joan Laporta's face was ashen.
"Mr. Laporta, that was truly an exciting match, don't you think?"
"Heh heh heh, very good, very good indeed."
Exciting my ass! This is... unbelievable!
He had thought the penalty would completely crush Borussia Dortmund's morale, or infuriate the Borussia Dortmund players and make them go crazy. Unexpectedly, that young player went crazy, dribbling the ball all the way to the front. Laporta was initially watching the show, thinking, 'One person trying to break through? Is he looking down on my Barcelona?'
What the hell? He actually broke through! How is that possible?! Damn it!
Laporta even thought he was dreaming. It wasn't until Jin Hayes scored that Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke deliberately cheered loudly, startling Laporta. He had done his best to make all the arrangements, practically acting like a dutiful son. Could they still not win? How could Laporta have known that the young player on the field was something else entirely?
The most infuriating thing was that Jin Hayes even took off his jersey and taunted them face-to-face.
"Since you don't play fair, I'll just have to use unconventional methods to retaliate! Let's see whose methods are more ruthless!"
Laporta's vision went black.
...
On the field, the Barcelona players were in despair. They hadn't recovered from the goal they just conceded, and Xavi's jaw still couldn't close.
What... what just happened?
The whole team couldn't stop that guy?
Did he really just break through all by himself?
Everyone at Barcelona was doubting their lives, especially Jin Hayes's domineering celebration afterward, which was truly soul-crushing. The team's morale instantly plummeted.
After finishing his celebration, Jin Hayes returned to his own half. After calming down, he felt regret. He had vented a belly full of grievances, but Jin Hayes, who rarely received cards, overlooked one problem. Taking off a jersey earns a yellow card. Especially with chief referee Tom Henning Øvrebø. Sure enough, as soon as he walked back to the centre circle, the referee raised his hand and gave Jin Hayes a yellow card warning.
"Good thing. I wouldn't have been surprised if this guy had shown a red card."
This was a blessing in disguise, perhaps. Jin Hayes felt a chill in his heart; no matter how he retaliated afterward, he still had to consider the subsequent impact. Otherwise, if he got another card and was sent off, it would be a bit of a loss.
"Jin, it's okay, you did great just now!"
"Yeah! Look at Barcelona's faces, Andrés Iniesta's face is pale."
"Is it possible that his complexion is naturally very fair?"
"It doesn't matter. Young people should be passionate when they need to be, otherwise, it makes us look easy to bully."
Even the usually calm captain, Sebastian Kehl, spoke to comfort Jin Hayes. As an attacking midfielder, his defensive duties were not heavy, so getting a card wouldn't have too much impact. If the whole team helped Jin Hayes share some defensive pressure, he wouldn't have a chance to get a card.
The morale boost from Jin Hayes's celebration was more important. Now every Borussia Dortmund fan was full of fighting spirit, no longer affected by the misjudged penalty. With the score tied 1-1, everyone could re-enter the battle in excellent condition. On the other hand, Barcelona was clearly hit hard.
"He's truly a born leader." Looking at Jin Hayes, Kehl was very glad to have such a teammate.
...
After the restart, Barcelona's offensive organisation was significantly weaker. Many opportunities that could have been created were not seized by Barcelona due to hesitation; they kept passing the ball back and forth on the flanks, afraid to make direct through balls to change the tempo. Borussia Dortmund's defensive pressure was not great, and they stood united to withstand Barcelona's siege in the first half.
Fifteen minutes quickly passed, and Øvrebø blew the whistle for the end of the first half.
Both sides drew 1-1, with an aggregate score of 6-6.
Barcelona still held the initiative to advance to the final due to their away goals advantage. But Borussia Dortmund fans were also full of anticipation. They only needed one more goal to eliminate Barcelona—and return to the Champions League final after 12 years.
...
In the Barcelona dressing room, Lionel Messi was a bit dejected. He wasn't upset that the team conceded a goal; he just couldn't understand how Jin Hayes had managed to do what he did. One person starting from the centre circle, dribbling all the way through? And this was with Barcelona's defensive line fully intact. Is this even possible?
Messi thought to himself that if it were him, even with optimal physical condition and mental state, it would be very difficult to break through his own teammates alone. It would be hard to say if he could succeed even once in 100 attempts. But from Jin Hayes's handling just now, it seemed theoretically achievable.
To prevent Borussia Dortmund's favoured kickoff blitz, Barcelona's positioning was relatively spread out, with the two full-backs pulling wider to defend the threats on both sides. And the defensive midfielder maintained a sufficient distance, leaving Jin Hayes enough space to sprint, as the overall defensive formation had not yet been activated.
It was like in a film, where an ancient tomb has multiple traps perfectly sealing all escape routes, but the protagonist can, at the very moment the traps are activated, with lightning speed and the most rational decisions, break through one by one. And, he was able to ensure that every single touch of the ball was perfectly executed. If there was any deviation, even by a millimetre, the attack would have no chance.
On the training ground, Messi might be able to replicate it, but in a match, with high-intensity confrontation and the immense pressure of reaching the final, how could one avoid making mistakes?
The young player, in addition to his excellent ball skills, also needed an unyielding belief in victory and the confidence to shoulder everything alone.
"Can I do that?"
Messi asked himself. If it were him at that moment, he probably wouldn't have had the courage to just charge all the way through—at most, he would dribble past one or two people, and then, encountering stubborn defence, pass to a teammate to organise the attack. If Messi had previously viewed Jin Hayes as an up-and-coming talent, at this moment, Messi already considered Jin Hayes his greatest rival in this life, with a threat level comparable to that of Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Why the long faces?"
Pep Guardiola's voice broke the silence in the dressing room. Everyone looked up at Guardiola in confusion, realising that the manager of the dressing room was actually smiling. Huh? They had just been humiliated face-to-face, how could the head coach still be smiling?
"Who's leading now? I mean, in aggregate score."
"Uh, us?" Captain Carles Puyol automatically chimed in.
"Exactly, we're leading on away goals. Five away goals, five!" Guardiola held up a palm. "Even if they're strong again and score another, are we incapable of scoring? We can keep equalising. Even if it's 2-2, 3-3, and taking it a step further, 4-4—we're still the ones advancing to the final. Don't you have the confidence to score? Don't you have the confidence to always draw with them? Don't you have the confidence to exceed the score and win at home?"
Barcelona players understood such simple logic. They had just been stunned. Now Guardiola's expression was relaxed, repeatedly emphasising Barcelona's advantages, and the players' mentality relaxed a lot.
That's right! Barcelona scored five goals against them in the first leg; coming to Camp Nou in the second leg, why couldn't they score?
Borussia Dortmund had many defensive gaps, and their stamina would decline in the second half, creating breakthroughs everywhere. All Barcelona needed to do was be patient, patiently pass and control, patiently maintain possession, and patiently wait for opportunities.
So what if the young player equalised the score, 1-1?
On the contrary, Borussia Dortmund needed to be careful; their centre-back Mats Hummels, key player Jin Hayes, and left-back Marcel Schmelzer all had yellow cards.
With several key players on cards, coupled with a disadvantage in physical fitness and an overall lineup inferior to Barcelona's, the home side's chances of winning seemed greater no matter how you looked at it.
After Pep Guardiola's reminder, the eyes of the generals in the dressing room quickly returned to normal, and their disappointment and self-doubt gradually faded. They were all seasoned professional players who had seen many ups and downs. Their self-regulation abilities were very strong.
"Very good, maintain patience, maintain vigilance, maintain confidence—I believe that ultimately, we will be the ones in the final."
"Next, I will add some tactical points—" Guardiola wrote and drew on the tactics board, listing all the problems he had observed in the first half. The second half would be Barcelona's counterattack. Borussia Dortmund was very strong, full of fighting spirit, and resilient. But this was Camp Nou.
Compared to the calm analysis in the home team Barcelona's dressing room, the away team Borussia Dortmund's dressing room was much more chaotic. The players had just returned, and it was like a bustling market.
"Damn it!! It was clearly a biased referee! Biased referee!"
"Exactly! I didn't even touch that guy! But he said I fouled! That damn—"
"Watch it, Mats, watch your language, we have teammates from diverse backgrounds too."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to, no offense."
"It's okay, I understand, the referee is definitely not right!" The right-back Patrick Owomoyela, didn't blame Hummels. Owomoyela himself was also furious and wanted to curse.
Before Jin Hayes's goal, if there was a protagonist on the pitch, it must have been the officiating referee, Tom Henning Øvrebø.
In a Champions League semi-final, which should be a clash of tactics and skills between Europe's best teams, and a high-level duel between star players, the referee's influence should be as minimal as possible. Whenever a referee garners all the attention in a match, it usually doesn't bode well.
"Alright! Stop arguing!" Jürgen Klopp quickly stopped the players from chattering. His head was about to explode. It wasn't that he forgave the referee; Klopp would definitely appeal to UEFA after the match, demanding a thorough investigation of the referee and appealing his erroneous decisions. If Øvrebø was found to be at fault, he would certainly be punished. The important thing was, what about the current match?
Barcelona's five away goals meant that Borussia Dortmund had to win today. If the players' mentality was affected, the more anxious they became, the more opportunities they would give away. With Barcelona's ability to seize opportunities, let alone defending a one-goal lead, Borussia Dortmund had a high probability of being completely broken through.
Klopp could have given up right now; Borussia Dortmund had already reached the Champions League semi-finals, exceeding their season's goal, so what more could they ask for? The Champions League broadcast revenue made owner Hans-Joachim Watzke ecstatic. But now, with the Champions League final just one step away, who could easily give up?
"In the second half, our primary task is still defence, trying our best to withstand Barcelona's fierce attacks."
"Then—Jin, try not to track back, stay at the very front, ready to counterattack at any time."
"And Marco, you also try to assist Jin Hayes."
"Jakub, I'm sorry to put you in this position today, but when they go forward, we need you to try your best to help the team defend—"
"Alexander, I'm truly sorry today, we need to strengthen our midfield depth, so you might need to come off and rest for a bit, thank you for your hard work—"
According to Klopp's tactical adjustments, the team effectively transformed into a 4-4-2 formation more suitable for defensive counterattacks. Striker Alexander Frei was substituted, replaced by the 27-year-old in his prime, a physically fit and defensively aggressive German defensive midfielder, Florian Kringe.
Marco Reus and Jin Hayes formed a dual striker partnership responsible for counterattacks. Nuri Şahin, Kringe, Sebastian Kehl, and Jakub Błaszczykowski formed the midfield barrier. Schmelzer, Hummels, Neven Subotić, and Owomoyela remained the unchanged back four.
As Klopp continued to explain the tactics, Jin Hayes felt an increasing sense of familiarity. Defence shifting to 4-4-2, offence shifting to 4-2-3-1.
Several keywords quickly popped into Jin Hayes's mind—a tactical approach that had proven effective against possession-based teams. Klopp, unexpectedly, had drawn inspiration from a famous tactical blueprint. In any case, Klopp's adjustment meant sacrificing other players' attacking opportunities and completely entrusting the attacking core to himself. Whether Borussia Dortmund could score next, whether they could completely turn the tide in this unfair match, the heavy responsibility rested entirely on his shoulders.
"Jin, you understand the current tactics, right?"
"Of course."
"So—"
"Coach, I have a feeling we can win!"
"Good!"
The halftime break ended, and before leaving, Jin Hayes's confident smile reassured Klopp quite a bit. It wasn't until Jin Hayes left the player tunnel that Klopp's expression became serious again.
"Still worried about the referee? In the latter half of the first half, the referee's calls were already quite normal."
"No, it's not that simple." Klopp grinned menacingly. "Definitely not that simple!"
"So, this is your solution? Pinning your hopes on a teenager?"
"Otherwise? He's not just any teenager—he's the kind of player who defies logic on the pitch."
"Huh?" Željko Buvač was baffled; he didn't immediately understand Klopp's remark.
...
"Here, here, your beer! Honestly, you never stock up, and then at crucial moments, you make someone run errands!"
"Oh, you're my daughter, it's only right for you to help run errands."
"The second half hasn't started yet, has it?"
"No, you're just in time."
At the Heinrich home, the whole family was watching the most important match on TV. Uncle Hans had run out of beer and had been itching with anticipation throughout the first half. He finally managed to ask his daughter to buy him a pack during halftime. The nearest supermarket was 3 kilometres away, and since Uncle Hans's Volkswagen Golf was in for maintenance and inspection, the only car left in the parking space was Jin Hayes's Lamborghini.
This car was too flashy; Uncle Hans didn't dare touch it. He thought that only if his daughter drove this car would Jin Hayes not have any objections. So he could only entrust his daughter, who had just gotten her provisional driver's licence, to buy him beer. The owner was an acquaintance, who turned a blind eye and sold it to Anna.
Anna was truly fed up with her unreliable dad, frantically grabbing Jin Hayes's spare key, racing to the store, and then racing back. The neighbourhood near the Heinrich home would soon have an urban legend about a crazy female driver.
In any case, Anna made it back, not missing Jin Hayes's second-half performance. On TV, Jin Hayes was still so handsome, Anna's eyes were full of infatuation.
"Come on! You must win!"
Ten minutes later, the infatuation in Anna's eyes completely turned into anger.
"How can this be? They're not blowing the whistle on this?!"
Her sixth sense told her that Borussia Dortmund wouldn't have an easy time in today's match. She watched as another questionable call went against Dortmund, and her fists clenched. But through the frustration, she saw Jin Hayes on the screen, his expression unreadable, his focus absolute. He was still fighting. And as long as he was on that pitch, Anna knew there was still hope.