Of course, Dortmund's players understood this too.
They knew very well that in this situation, the only player who could break the deadlock was Shane Carter.
If they could shut down Shane, they could shut down Atlético's counter-attacks.
The moment the ball reached Shane's feet, two Dortmund players rushed in.
Sven Bender and Reus were almost on top of him the instant he brought the ball under control.
Lewandowski came back to help.
Kuba and Götze blocked the passing lanes to Shane's left and right.
The moment Shane received the ball, he was surrounded.
That was the situation he faced.
But inside the pressure of the encirclement, Shane dragged the ball, turned, and used the outside of his foot to nudge it free.
After those touches, he found a passing lane.
The ball was played diagonally to Raúl García on the right.
After making the pass, Shane kept running forward.
Dortmund began to retreat.
Their whole team dropped back toward the center circle.
Raúl García had no choice but to lay the ball back to Shane.
Shane made a motion as if he were going to control it.
But before the defender could step in, he suddenly used the instep to lift the ball.
The ball sailed over two Dortmund players and dropped to the feet of the retreating Diego Costa.
Costa nudged it with his head.
Shane had already started his run after making the pass.
He beat Reus to the ball, hooked it back down out of the air with his foot, lowered his center of gravity, then pushed it on with the inside of his foot while using his body to absorb Reus's challenge.
In the collision, Shane held his balance.
Reus was the one who stumbled slightly.
Then all Reus could do was watch as Shane hooked the ball away and burst clear from that pocket of pressure.
Shane drove forward, carrying the ball across midfield!
"Shane… through! He's carried it over halfway!"
The Calderón began to roar.
Dortmund's high press had committed a huge number of players forward, even the defenders were pushed up near the halfway line.
In that instant, as Shane escaped the pressure through individual brilliance, Dortmund's back line had no choice but to retreat.
As they dropped back, they formed depth between themselves and the goal.
But Shane had no interest in testing Dortmund's defense head-on.
As soon as he saw them retreat and set up deep, he used the inside of his foot to whip the ball up and across.
The ball flew from right to left.
It bent around Dortmund's defensive line.
That diagonal long pass opened everything up in an instant.
"Griezmann!!!"
The commentators shouted in unison.
Because when Costa dropped back, Griezmann had already pushed up, moving laterally along the defensive line.
He was waiting for exactly this moment.
The moment Shane broke free and had the space to pass, Griezmann was already ready to make the run.
When he saw Shane lift his foot, he actually took two steps back first to make sure he was not offside.
Then the instant the ball came off the boot, he darted straight toward the spot where a shot would feel most natural.
He did not even need to watch the ball's flight.
He trusted Shane too much for that.
If Shane wanted to create danger with a forward pass, it had to be to him.
And if he was going to shoot, that was the perfect zone to do it from.
He believed Shane could deliver.
Just as Shane believed he would arrive in the right place.
The ball traced a beautiful arc through the air and landed in the left half-space.
That trajectory meant two things: it would not be cut out, and Dortmund goalkeeper Weidenfeller could not come out for it either.
Weidenfeller did not dare move rashly.
He stayed on his line, staring at the ball as it floated through the air, his eyes narrowing.
Then a red-and-white figure burst into the box, adjusting his steps.
The moment the ball dropped, his left foot was already lifting...
Weidenfeller's body tensed, ready to spring.
Griezmann, having entered the penalty area, took his final step.
It felt perfect.
His whole body seemed to be cheering.
With a pass this beautiful, it would have been almost disrespectful not to hit it first time.
The ball fell from the air.
Griezmann drove his left leg through it with the instep.
Bang!
A massive sound rang out.
His right-footed equivalent would have done no better.
The instep struck the center of the ball cleanly.
The next instant, the ball flew straight toward the top-left corner, right where the post and crossbar meet.
It kissed the frame and went in.
At the moment the ball brushed the net, the camera caught Weidenfeller lunging across...
"Ah... aaaaaah!!!!"
Mario was ecstatic.
"Griezmann! Griezmann! Beautiful! Beautiful!! Ohhh! A volley! What a goal!"
The entire Calderón exploded.
All the Atlético fans sprang to their feet.
When they landed again, it felt like the whole stadium had shaken with a boom.
The cameras mounted in the stands shook violently too.
The image on screen trembled.
"Antoine..."
The stadium DJ stretched out the name.
"Griezmann!!"
The stands answered with a massive roar.
That sound made Dortmund's fans look grim.
This wild atmosphere was no less intense than their home at the Westfalenstadion.
Amid the deafening cheers, Griezmann sprinted toward the corner flag.
Then he turned, spread his arms, and welcomed the swarm of teammates racing toward him.
Atlético's players came charging in and embraced him in celebration.
This goal was too important.
Right after conceding, if Atlético failed to respond immediately, Dortmund could easily take control of the rhythm of the match.
But now, only three minutes had passed since the goal.
Three minutes.
And Atlético had equalized.
The situation had flipped.
Dortmund were the ones feeling the blow, while Atlético were the ones lifted by the momentum.
And on top of that, it was a world-class goal.
A super world-class goal.
A diagonal long pass from the right side of midfield.
A precise, curling ball that went around everyone and took a route the goalkeeper could not challenge.
It started fast, then slowed at the end, giving the finisher the ideal amount of time to handle it.
Of course, Griezmann's left-footed volley into the net was also crucial.
After all, even the prettiest pass means nothing if the striker cannot finish.
You can create a hundred chances in a season, and if your teammates waste ninety of them, there is not much point in talking about league positions at all...
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