Free Web NovelChapter 532: Chapter 106: One Step Away! Poaching Wang Shuo
In Matchday 14 of the Bundesliga, Dortmund hosted Borussia Mönchengladbach at home.
From the opening whistle, Dortmund leveraged their home-field advantage, immediately putting Borussia Mönchengladbach under pressure with a barrage of attacks.
Just three minutes in, Kuba and Reus interchanged positions in the attacking third. Kuba then unleashed a long-range shot from the left side that went just wide of the post.
Shortly after, Piszczek made a run down the right flank and sent a cross in from the byline. Wang Shuo met it with a header, but the goalkeeper parried it away.
The sustained attack finally led to a goal in the 13th minute.
After an attack down the right flank fizzled out, the ball was passed back.
Hummels played a straight pass forward to Götze.
Götze controlled the ball, turned, and threaded a through ball directly behind the defensive line.
As for Wang Shuo’s positioning, he first feigned a run back toward Götze.
The instant Götze trapped the ball, Wang Shuo abruptly spun around and burst into a sprint.
Götze’s pass landed perfectly in Wang Shuo’s path. In that same instant, Wang Shuo had shaken off the two central defenders. He latched onto the pass and found himself one-on-one with the keeper.
For Wang Shuo, the rest was second nature.
He took a touch to round the goalkeeper and then coolly tapped the ball into the empty net, putting it into the back of Borussia Mönchengladbach’s goal.
1-0!
The goal sent the Westfalen Stadium into a frenzy.
Dortmund continued to relentlessly pressure Borussia Mönchengladbach on the pitch.
In the 21st minute, another series of quick passes down the left flank created an opportunity.
Schmelzer, Shahin, Götze, and Reus executed a series of one-twos on that side of the field. Reus broke into the left side of the penalty area and slotted the ball into Borussia Mönchengladbach’s goal with his right foot.
2-0!
Just before halftime, Subotic capitalized on a corner kick, scoring with a powerful header to further extend their lead.
3-0!
Just seven minutes into the second half, Wang Shuo, now playing with complete freedom, found an opportunity in the final third.
A long ball from Subotic flew straight over the top, landing behind the right side of Borussia Mönchengladbach’s defensive line.
Wang Shuo made a quick diagonal run in behind the defense. Despite being under tight pressure from a defender, he got to the ball first. He brought it down with a single touch, and just as Kuba was making an overlapping run, Wang Shuo executed a sudden backheel.
The ball went straight through the legs of Borussia Mönchengladbach’s center-back, Anderson, rolling perfectly into the path of a sprinting Kuba.
The Polish winger latched onto it, took a touch into the right side of the penalty area, and, facing the goalkeeper, coolly smashed his shot into the net for another goal.
4-0!
Kuba was absolutely ecstatic. He never would have imagined Wang Shuo would set him up with such a brilliant assist.
With the match well in hand, Klopp began to make a series of substitutions.
In the 77th minute, substitute Antonio Da Silva played a mid-range chipped pass straight over the defense. Another substitute, Lewandowski, timed his run perfectly, beat the offside trap, and scored on the one-on-one.
5-0!
Even then, Dortmund continued their relentless assault.
In the 83rd minute, Lewandowski even had another chance, nearly poaching a goal right in front of the net.
Unfortunately for him, the Polish striker’s shot went straight at the goalkeeper, who smothered it easily.
In the end, Dortmund crushed Borussia Mönchengladbach 5-0 at home.
In the same round of matches, Mainz secured a convincing 3-0 home victory over Nuremberg.
Bayern routed Frankfurt 4-1.
The biggest upset of the week was Kaiserslautern’s stunning 5-0 home victory against Schalke 04.
Who would’ve believed it?
I mean, Schalke 04 is Magat’s team!
Everyone in the world knows Magat is famous for his conservative tactics.
And yet, they got hammered 5-0 away at Kaiserslautern!
After the match, Magat claimed the team’s disastrous defeat was due to their efforts in the Champions League group stage. "We gave our all to advance from the group, and that’s why we slipped up in the league."
The problem, however, was that after this loss, Schalke 04’s league position plummeted to 15th.
That wasn’t just bad.
It was an unmitigated disaster!
Meanwhile, Dortmund was on a roll, racking up their 14th consecutive win.
They were now just one win away from matching the 15-game winning streak Magat had set with Bayern years ago!
...
The match had started at 4:30 PM.
After the game, he had plans to get dinner with his teammates.
As usual, Wang Shuo was the one picking up the tab, unless one of his teammates specifically asked to pay beforehand.
They chose a place in the Hombruch commercial district in the south. During dinner, he got a call from Thomas Essien, so Wang Shuo didn’t join his teammates for the after-party, heading to his personal office instead.
It was a house Wang Shuo had rented specifically for his management team.
It was quite large, with two floors.
The upstairs had living quarters, while the downstairs served as an office space.
When Wang Shuo arrived, Thomas Essien was in the office area, chatting with Shen Qinghe.
It was Saturday, a Dortmund match day, so Wang Shuo wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Shen Qinghe there.
"Where is everyone else?" Wang Shuo asked, glancing around and noticing they had all gone home for the day.
"They finished up what they were working on and headed home," Shen Qinghe said with a smile.
Wang Shuo didn’t mind.
He wasn’t some heartless boss.
"Thomas, what’s up?" Wang Shuo asked, turning to Thomas Essien.
Although Essien was in charge of Wang Shuo’s football-related business, he didn’t actually live here.
Incidentally, thanks to Wang Shuo, Thomas Essien had become a fairly well-known figure in the German Football Scene.
"Both Dortmund and Volker Strus have contacted me."
