Dortmund's goalkeeper Weidenfeller pulled the ball out of his net, looking a little downcast and clearly unhappy.
But after kicking the ball toward the front, he took a deep breath and steadied himself.
Clapping his hands, he shouted:
"Get your heads up! It's only a draw!"
That was true.
This goal was not the end of the world.
Because Dortmund also had an away goal.
The aggregate score was now 2-2.
If it ended like this,
the two sides would go to extra time.
If no goal was scored in extra time,
then it would go to penalties.
Right now, the two teams were back on equal footing.
And Dortmund's players even felt they had a slight advantage.
If they scored now,
then Dortmund would have two away goals.
In that case,
even if Atlético equalized again, it would not be enough.
Atlético would have to surpass Dortmund on aggregate to advance.
In other words,
if Dortmund scored one,
Atlético would have to score two!
Home advantage was useful, sure.
But sometimes,
home advantage did not necessarily cancel out the opponent's away-goal advantage.
And now it was clear why Dortmund had fought so hard not to let Atlético score more away goals.
So at a moment like this,
Dortmund had no reason to panic.
On the sideline, Klopp also calmed down quickly after the frustration of conceding.
He roared at his players and pointed at his own temple.
Stay calm.
Don't rush.
We haven't lost yet!
....
The TV broadcast replayed Griezmann's goal from multiple angles.
It really was a super world-class strike.
But in the end,
the broadcasters also showed the entire sequence from Shane's pass to Griezmann's shot in slow motion.
Under the high-definition camera's slow-motion replay,
the ball rose into the air, spun, curved, and precisely bent around every possible obstacle before dropping right to Griezmann.
"That is a beautiful bending pass..."
Spanish commentator Mario sighed.
On Chinese social media,
fans were also full of praise for Shane's pass.
"So slick..."
"Too beautiful!"
"With that kind of curve, it would've been a shame not to volley it..."
"Atlético really still has to rely on Shane Carter."
The fans kept praising it.
Mario, the Spanish commentator, analyzed the goal's construction.
He gave most of the credit to Shane.
"Griezmann's finish was beautiful, of course, but against Dortmund's insane press, the key man was Shane Carter—he could wriggle free and deliver the pass. He is an irreplaceable player for Atlético Madrid."
Some professionals were also fascinated by the entire sequence.
"That's master-class handling!"
"So mature!"
.....
When Atlético's players finished celebrating,
and returned to their half,
Dortmund were already ready to kick off.
As back-to-back Bundesliga champions, Dortmund's players had seen plenty.
They did not panic.
As soon as play restarted, their first attack immediately cooled down the feverish Calderón.
Götze cut inside and shot.
Courtois got a hand to it, and the ball then smashed off the post and out for a corner.
That Dortmund attack
sent a cold sweat through Atlético's players and fans.
If Atlético had conceded right there,
the situation would have become extremely unfavorable.
Dortmund's attack also cooled Atlético's players down.
They realized it too:
if Dortmund scored,
they would need two in return...
For them,
nothing had really improved at all.
.....
In the latter stages of the first half,
Atlético and Dortmund both, almost simultaneously, slowed the tempo.
There were many reasons for that.
The most important were two:
First, the 1-1 scoreline made both teams cautious.
Second, after the high tempo of the opening phase, both sides needed to slow down and save energy.
Of course,
the bigger reason was that everyone was watching the final five minutes before halftime.
In football,
there are many important scoring windows.
For example:
the opening minutes, when the opponent is still settling in;
the end of the first half, when attention starts to drift;
or the 70th-minute stretch, when fatigue becomes a bottleneck.
Both teams had the same idea.
Once the 40th minute passed,
both sides prepared to go hard.
The tempo suddenly rose.
But in the end, neither team could change the score before halftime.
When the referee blew for the break,
both sides turned and headed for the dressing rooms.
The TV commentators were busy summing up the first half.
German commentator Schmitz said:
"Dortmund fans should be happy with their team's first-half performance, because they also got an away goal. That cancels out Atlético's away goal, and now both teams are on the same starting line."
...
Simeone saw a lot of problems in the first half.
But he thought the most fatal one was hesitation.
He understood why the players hesitated.
They were afraid of conceding.
They were afraid that if Dortmund scored, they would need two just to catch up.
So at halftime,
he told his players:
"Stop thinking about everything else. This is our home. We need to attack. We need to score. We are not accepting extra time, and we are not accepting a penalty shootout!"
Simeone waved his arms.
Full of fire.
"Push up! Attack! Crush them with attack!"
...
Inside the away dressing room,
Klopp made defensive adjustments.
"Guys, you did well in the first half. Now their away-goal advantage is gone, so the ones who should be anxious are them."
Klopp grinned.
"If we can score, we can kill the game. But we have to be careful of their attack! Our shape must not be too high. We'll drop back, and in the midfield zone, right here..."
Klopp drew a circle on the whiteboard around the center-circle area, then forward, then back again with a marker.
Then he threw the marker to the floor.
"Right here! We fight them right here! Once we win the ball, we play it forward! We counterattack!"
Klopp's exaggerated gestures and roaring voice
set Dortmund's players on fire.
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