Lewandowski and Shane Carter fought for position.
Both jumped at the same time.
But neither of them got a touch, and the ball flew over their heads toward the left side.
Großkreutz received it and smashed a left-footed cross across the box.
Reus took advantage of the moment Shane was tied up with Lewandowski, burst into the box, and attacked the delivery!
The ball was deflected slightly off Godín's challenge.
But the roar that erupted from Westfalenstadion at that moment struck everyone in the chest.
Under that astonishing atmosphere,
Dortmund did not retreat.
They stayed high up the pitch.
They launched an aggressive high press.
"This is Dortmund's attack!"
The German commentator roared.
Spanish commentator Mario, on the other hand, sounded worried when he saw it:
"This kind of high-intensity pressing, raising the tempo and physicality of the match, is exactly what German teams do best right now. Yesterday, Barcelona were crushed by Bayern in exactly this way... And now Atlético Madrid are facing Dortmund, who may be even better at this style of aggressive pressing. They have to be extremely careful..."
"If necessary, they should just launch the ball long and keep it in their own half. This is too dangerous," the analyst Hierro added.
Atlético Madrid's supporters were starting to feel anxious.
Barcelona had been beaten so cleanly that many Spaniards now had a kind of PTSD when it came to Bundesliga sides.
The camera cut to Simeone on the touchline.
Simeone looked calm.
He did not seem surprised by the situation.
He was still sitting there steadily, unmoved.
By contrast, Klopp not far away was extremely animated.
The German kept waving his arms,
roaring and urging his players into the press.
Courtois placed the ball on the kickoff spot.
With one glance forward, he could see that the Dortmund players were packed densely upfield.
So he waved his hand.
He signaled that he wanted to play it long.
Then he also backed up to create a run-up.
In this kind of situation,
Dortmund kept pushing up to the edge of the box because they were waiting for the long ball into Atlético's half.
So they had to drop back a little.
From the camera behind the goal, you could see that
players from both teams were tightly clustered around the left side of midfield.
Everyone knew that if Courtois used his right foot, the ball would most likely land in that zone.
In this situation, most teams would just lump it long and be done with it.
But just then,
Shane Carter suddenly ran back toward his own half.
Lewandowski noticed Shane's movement.
He immediately followed.
Dortmund's press was never an isolated action.
One man's press was not really a press at all.
That's just letting someone take you for a walk.
Pressing had to be a group operation.
Lewandowski went up,
and the players behind him—Reus, Kuba, Großkreutz, even Gündoğan—had to move up together as well.
"Give me the ball!"
Shane waved.
He knew someone was on his back, of course.
But he didn't care much.
As the team's core player,
if he were afraid to take the ball just because someone was behind him,
then what kind of core would he be?
Courtois quickly played the ball toward Shane.
Shane ran toward it.
Lewandowski behind him saw the chance and decided to step in.
The Pole accelerated and charged forward.
The stands erupted, cheering him on.
"Take it off him! Take it off him!"
Dortmund fans shouted excitedly.
The atmosphere they were creating served two purposes:
first, to excite Lewandowski and lift his level of play;
second, to disrupt Shane as he prepared to receive the ball.
But Shane did not care about the noise in the stands.
He met the ball, planted his right foot on it, pulled it back and turned,
then lightly flicked it with the top of his foot.
The ball slipped through Lewandowski's legs as he lunged in.
"Whoa... beautiful!"
Even the German commentator could not help but gasp.
Shane's dribble looked incredibly smooth.
Lewandowski had rushed in too aggressively and was beaten instantly.
But Lewandowski didn't care.
He still had help coming up behind him.
You can beat one man.
Can you beat them all?
He turned around—
and found that Shane had already raised his arm.
"He wants to pass!"
Lewandowski shouted at once.
Reus, who had sprinted up, had not reacted yet.
Whoosh.
The ball suddenly flew up and over his shoulder.
"Shane... a long ball from the back..."
Mario on commentary locked onto the ball in flight.
And when his eyes reached the attacking end,
he shouted in delight:
"Griezmann and Costa are making runs! They're moving very quickly!!"
Until that moment,
all the players had been crowded around the left side of midfield.
Shane's sudden drop to receive the ball had also pulled a large part of Dortmund's team forward.
Then, after receiving it, turning, and beating Lewandowski,
Dortmund still had not reacted in time.
The long pass was already on its way.
The ball arced through the air like a rainbow and dropped perfectly in front of Diego Costa.
"Costa!!!"
Amid the commentators' gasps,
Dortmund goalkeeper Weidenfeller came rushing out.
He seized the moment when Costa slightly overhit his first touch
and slid in fiercely, poking the ball out for a throw-in.
On the commentary box, Mario could not help putting both hands on his head.
"Costa... a missed one-on-one!"
"Weidenfeller!!" the German commentator shouted Weidenfeller's name.
Less than two minutes into the match,
both sides had already produced one dangerous chance apiece...
Read ahead with 70+ chapters now with daily updates!
@patreon.com/Authorizz