"The Wolfsburg are constantly tearing at the Borussia Dortmund's body. The game has reached the 70th minute of the second half. Is Klopp still not going to do something? There's only defense, no counterattack! Has Borussia Dortmund even lost their familiar defensive counterattack!?"
Watching the team's performance, the fans in the stands began to express their dissatisfaction with boos.
In the 72nd minute of the match, Klopp finally made a change, with Kirch replacing Gündoğan.
This was like a signal; the Borussia Dortmund, who had been patient for nearly 20 minutes, now revealed their venomous stinger.
Three minutes later, as Perisic's shot from cutting in on the left wing hit the crossbar, Borussia Dortmund sounded the charge for a counterattack!
With Reus and Mkhitaryan injured, no one expected Borussia Dortmund's first step in their defensive counterattack to come from their goalkeeper.
Langerak launched a long kick directly from the goal, sending the ball far ahead to Aubameyang, who had been making a mad dash forward even before the kick.
Aubameyang, who had already crossed the midfield, stopped the ball and immediately passed it to Kirch, who had just come on. Kirch, taking advantage of Wolfsburg's disorganized defense, lofted a pass to Immobile, who was charging into the penalty area.
Immobile, who had been struggling this season, finally recalled the feeling of scoring 22 League goals for Torino in Serie A last season. Without stopping the ball, he hit a volley, and the ball flew into the top right corner of Wolfsburg's goal.
"GOAL!!!! A volley, a world-class shot from Immobile! This is the best he's played all season! Borussia Dortmund equalize!"
At this moment, the boos inside the Westfalen Stadium turned into waves of cheers. Klopp also excitedly performed his signature "Farmer's Three Punches" on the sidelines!
After the restart, the awakened Borussia Dortmund and the determined Wolfsburg, ready to fight to the end, resumed their back-and-forth struggle!
The game gradually drew to a close, and both teams' tempo, affected by fatigue, slowed down slightly.
"Kirch controls the ball in midfield, a long pass sends the ball to Aubameyang, Aubameyang goes directly to the byline, but this cross is too strong. The ball is intercepted by Naldo and passed to De Bruyne."
"A long pass, De Bruyne sends an incredibly long pass from the right side of his own small penalty area. The ball flies over the halfway line, and Snuffy, starting from the center circle, collides with Hummels! Both rush towards the ball's landing spot, constantly battling! Hummels misjudges, he mis-headers it!"
"Just outside the penalty area line, Snuffy shoves Hummels, who was tracking back, and he stops the ball! He's one-on-one with the goalkeeper, a chip shot, and the ball sails over Langerak!"
"GOAL!!!! An incredible goal! A sixty-meter long pass! Snuffy absolutely dominated Hummels! Hummels had no resistance whatsoever against him! "
"A hat-trick! A winning goal scored with less than 5 minutes left in the game! Five goals in two matches! He's not just Wolfsburg's super rookie! He's already the Bundesliga's super rookie!"
The live commentator's throat was already hoarse from shouting.
Lineker, the commentator for Sky Sports in the UK, which was broadcasting the match, shouted loudly from the studio.
"Torres!! This goal is exactly like Torres's famous moment when he dominated Vidic!"
"Who would have thought that Germany National Team's starting defender, the world-class Hummels, would be completely outplayed by a youngster under 17! It's unbelievable! Absolutely the best goal of this Bundesliga matchday!"
After scoring, Snuffy ran to the corner flag, kissed the camera and the Wolfsburg crest. He was then surrounded by his swarming teammates, who celebrated wildly!
Head coach Hecking on the sidelines also mimicked Klopp by performing the "Farmer's Three Punches"!
After the restart, the entire Wolfsburg team retreated to their own half, and Hecking also appropriately used substitutions to waste some time.
Finally, the match ended, with Wolfsburg narrowly defeating Borussia Dortmund three-two! Snuffy, who scored his first career hat-trick, was also successfully named the Man of the Match.
After the match, Snuffy again did not attend the post-match press conference. He took the match ball and ran back to the locker room to celebrate the hard-fought victory with his teammates.
After resting for a night at the hotel, the entire team returned to Wolfsburg the next day. In two days, they would face the challenge of FC Köln at home.
Upon returning home, Snuffy did not rush back but continued his extra training until he was completely exhausted. Only then did he go to the team shower room, take a bath to wash away the fatigue that was almost overflowing from his body, and then eagerly checked the rewards he had received from the previous match.
Looking at the 18 skill points and the six accumulated lottery chances, Snuffy beamed with joy. Indeed, matches were the fastest way to earn rewards! Coupled with the two skill points gained from training, it could be called an overnight fortune.
He continued to add twelve skill points to the Shooting attribute and eight points to Long Shots, maxing out both attributes. Good shooting is always one of the most important fundamental skills for a striker!
"View detailed panel (values in parentheses are growth limits):
Strength: 90 (90) Acceleration: 85 (92) Speed: 85 (92)
Dribbling: 80 (88) Ball Control: 80 (88) Short Passing: 70 (88)
Shooting: 94 (94) Shot Power: 88 (88) Heading: 75 (86)
Long Shots: 88 (88) Positioning: 70 (88) Penalties: 60 (84)
Long Passing: 70 (84) Free Kicks: 60 (88) Vision: 80 (92)
Agility: 80 (95) Jumping: 70 (86) Tactical Awareness: 70 (92)
Stamina: 80 (90) Pressing: 65 (70)
Height: 184 cm Weight: 75 kg
Overall Rating: 77"
Looking at the overall rating on this panel, which had risen to 77, Snuffy couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion. This process of watching his strength increase little by little was truly addictive.
The next step was to also raise all his speed attributes. Compared to his Strength, which was already maxed out, his speed still needed improvement.
After dealing with the system rewards, Snuffy returned home and announced good news to his parents: due to Dost's unexpected injury, Snuffy had earned a starting spot in the next match against FC Köln!
As it was his first start, and at Wolfsburg's home stadium, he wanted to invite his parents to watch his first start live at the stadium.
Snuffy, thinking about his parents cheering for him in the stands, even though it might be a bit disrespectful to FC Köln, was already imagining what kind of performance he should deliver to meet his parents' expectations!
Of course, Snuffy's parents gladly agreed to their son's request. They also planned to invite close colleagues to cheer for their son.
At 5 PM on December 21, 2014, Wolfsburg hosted FC Köln, their opponent for the 17th round of the Bundesliga.
Before stepping onto the field, Snuffy, standing in the player tunnel for the first time, was exceptionally excited, constantly sizing up his opponents. The FC Köln players were also curiously looking at this Wolfsburg super rookie who had recently become incredibly popular in the German media.
"At Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg welcomes FC Köln, their opponent for the final match of the first half of the Bundesliga season. It's worth mentioning that the recently in-form youngster, number 49 Snuffy, will start in place of Dost today! Let's look forward to his performance."
"Wolfsburg's starting lineup is the same as the previous match, only the center-forward position has changed from Dost to Snuffy."
"FC Köln starting 4-1-4-1:
Goalkeeper: Horn.
Defenders: Hector, Wimmer, Maro, Olkowski.
Defensive Midfielder: Matthias Lehmann.
Midfielders: Halfa, Svento, Marcel Risse, Yannick Gerhardt.
Forward: Ujah."
"Let's enjoy this League match together!"
Standing at the center circle, Snuffy started today's match with a classic weak-foot kickoff.
FC Köln was somewhat similar to Paderborn from two rounds ago; both were teams with weak offenses that prioritized defense. Of course, FC Köln was much stronger than Paderborn, currently four points above the relegation zone.
Although FC Köln's offensive threat was insufficient, their aggressive pressing and zonal marking in defense surprisingly allowed them to take control at the start, forming a strong suppressive force in midfield.
Matthias Lehmann and the slightly advanced two center-backs provided defensive intensity in midfield. Halfa, Svento, Marcel Risse, and Yannick Gerhardt tirelessly pressed quickly, forming a tight defensive line in the center circle and along both touchlines.
Wolfsburg's midfield formation was cut off, and the connection between their two defensive midfielders and the four players in the attacking third was severed.
Seeing this situation, the four attacking players began to drop back. The circumstances dictated their positions; staying in the attacking third and waiting for passes from the back was like relying on luck, and as professional players, they wouldn't be passive and stroll around on the field.
Snuffy dropped back to about five or six meters in front of the center circle to act as a pivot, while the remaining players returned to the midfield line and began to break the blockade with active running.
At the very least, it prevented Wolfsburg from always resorting to direct long balls to De Bruyne when organizing attacks from the back. With several more options for linking up play in midfield, they had more choices for distributing the ball.
While Wolfsburg was suppressed, FC Köln's attack was as simple and direct as ever: pass the ball directly into the penalty area, and as long as they received the ball, regardless of whether the chance was good or not, if there was space, they'd take a shot!
Even if it didn't go in, if it was saved by the goalkeeper or deflected off a defender, they could still get a corner kick, which was a good option for FC Köln if they could earn a corner kick opportunity.
Soon, FC Köln's simple tactics yielded results. In the 11th minute, from a corner kick, Halfa delivered a high-quality cross. The ball arced high through the air and found Maro at the far post.
Maro leaped high to meet the ball, heading it into Wolfsburg's goal!