69 Ending the Winning Streak of the Bundesliga Giant
"Ribery!"
"He stood up for the team in adversity and helped them equalize!"
"The game isn't over yet. Bayern still has enough time to take the lead!"
"Things are not looking good for Werder Bremen."
Beckham felt sorry for Werder Bremen, but there was nothing to be done. Bayern was stronger.
"Werder Bremen's players are exhausted."
Marco, Werder Bremen's former star, said with concern. As a former professional player, he knew the extent of physical exertion in such intense games.
With the team facing difficulties on the field and encountering physical crises, this game was very challenging for Werder Bremen!
They needed someone to step up at this time. Marco looked at Lin and De Bruyne and could only hope for the two of them!
Gerd Muller was very satisfied with Bayern's goal; it should have been kicked like this a long time ago!
Like Marco, Muller also watched Lin closely. He was curious to see if this kid could step up when the team was in trouble!
On the field, Lin was not easily deterred by the opponent's goal. He retrieved the ball from the goal, brought it back to the kick-off spot, and waited for Bayern's players to finish celebrating.
Defending against Bayern's attack was a miracle for them. Not defending would have been normal. And the team wasn't even behind, they had only been equalized.
Winning this game would be difficult, but it wasn't impossible either.
At this moment, Lin remembered what Guardiola had told him: "Cut off Ribery's connection, and you can reduce Bayern's frontcourt attack by at least half!"
Without Ribery, the threat posed by Robben alone would be limited. But how could they restrict Ribery's connection? They had already tried and couldn't defend against Ribery, let alone add Robben to the mix!
Since that was the case, they might as well not defend!
"After the kickoff, pass the ball to me!" Lin said to De Bruyne.
"Okay!" Without further questions, De Bruyne readily agreed to Lin's request.
After the referee's urging, Bayern's players quickly finished celebrating and reorganized their formation.
They had only equalized and were not leading. Bayern's players did not want to waste time.
The game resumed, Werder Bremen passed the ball to Lin on the right side after the kickoff. Lin, upon receiving the ball, faced off against Bayern's left midfielder Ribery.
With a series of attacks after that, Lin's face could not be seen with any expression of disappointment when his offense was disrupted.
He took a look at Dante on the ground;
his hand on his knees seemed uneasy. This made him think of the intelligence Guardiola had told him: Dante's knee had old injuries, his cruciate ligament had broken once, and this was a big hidden danger in Bayern's defense!
Thinking of this, Lin became more determined in his next moves.
This attack gave Werder Bremen a corner kick opportunity, allowing the players to catch their breath and relieve the physical bottleneck.
Ribery's position was almost at the back line due to Lin's attack on the right. Robin was still in Werder Bremen's half on the other side.
Upon seeing this, Coach Schaaf called Schmidt and replaced the exhausted Junuzovic with him to strengthen the midfield and increase passing ability while using his last substitution to bring Füllkrug in to support Lin.
In Lin's previous attacks, the lack of support and pressure sharing from his teammates had caused the failures. If there was one more teammate in the front, merely passing the ball to Lin could lead to a goal!
With no more substitutions left, Coach Schaaf could only watch the players' performances on the field.
In the 84th minute, Lin continued his strong attack on the right side.
Knowing that he would charge here, Ribery, Badstuber, Gustavo, Dante, and others laid a net to prevent him from advancing.
But Lin didn't choose to force his way through, instead passing the ball to Füllkrug in, an extremely perilous attempt. Füllkrug managed to receive the ball despite the interception attempts by several Bayern players along the passing route.
After receiving the ball, Füllkrug made a diagonal run, created some space, and then passed the ball back to Lin.
Lin, backing into Dante, tried to move around him. Dante managed to keep up with him, surprising both of them.
However, before Dante had a chance to relax, Lin did a dribble move and attempted to bypass him!
Dante urgently turned around, but heard a cracking sound from his knee, followed by excruciating pain.
He screamed in pain, falling to the ground and clutching his knee.
Even before intercepting Lin, Dante's body was already under strain.
And with Lin's repeated ball handling, his knees finally gave way when he tried to exert further pressure just now!
After bypassing Dante, Lin surged into the penalty area.
Only the Bayern goalkeeper was left in front of him!
This wasn't the first time Lin had faced Neuer; he had already learned from facing him before.
When facing Neuer, he calmly chose to shoot it into the far corner.
Right after kicking the ball, Boa Teng's tackle came from the side. If he had been a second slower, the ball might have been destroyed by Boa Teng.
At the moment he fell, he heard the deafening cheers of the fans.
Hearing the cheers, Lin knew the ball had gone in.
Excited, he tried to stand up, but his injured right leg caused him excruciating pain. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and for a moment, he couldn't stand up.
Werder Bremen's players rushed over, and so did the team doctor.
At the same time, Bayern's team doctor also rushed onto the field to treat the fallen Dante.
A strange scene appeared on the field. The two teams' doctors checked their respective players and simultaneously signaled to the coaches to make substitutions.
Bayern immediately substituted Alaba for the injured Dante. But Werder Bremen had no more substitution spots left.
Lin originally struggled to get off the stretcher and return to the field to continue playing.
But Coach Schaaf looked at his swollen ankle and refused his request, saying, "Believe in your teammates; they won't let your hard work go to waste!"
Lin refused to go to the medical room for treatment, sitting on the bench applying ice packs while continuing to watch the game.
Playing with 10 men, Werder Bremen fought fiercely in the final minutes of the game.
Bayern, obviously not content with a draw, launched one attack after another in the remaining time.
After enduring a long four-minute injury stoppage, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game.
Ultimately, Bayern Munich, with a winning streak, had to accept a draw at the Weser Stadium as a result of the game.
Bayern's winning streak came to an end after this game.
