Facing Bayern Munich

"CCTV, CCTV, dear viewers, this is CCTV bringing you the 2012 German Telekom Cup semifinal, Bayern Munich versus Werder Bremen."

"I'm commentator He Wei!"

"And I'm Xu Yang!"

"Today, the team in red is the home side, Bayern Munich, and the team in green is the away side, Werder Bremen.

For this match, Bayern Munich's formation is 4-2-3-1, with the starting lineup:

Number 1 Neuer, 30 Gustavo, 28 Badstuber, 17 Boateng, 21 Lahm, 39 Kroos, 36 Emre Can, 11 Shaqiri, 25 Müller, 10 Robben, 33 Gomez.

Werder Bremen, on the other hand, is using a 4-3-3 formation, with the starting lineup:

Number 1 Mielitz, 13 Schmitz, 15 Prödl, 22 Sokratis Papastathopoulos, 23 Serey, 16 Junuzovic, 8 Fritz, 6 De Bruyne, 11 Elia, 10 Lin Quan, 7 Arnautovic.

Both sides have very young lineups. Notably, Werder Bremen's starting list includes a player of Chinese descent."

Xu Yang chimed in beside him:

"That's right, his name should be Lin Quan, a loanee from Barca's youth team to Werder Bremen. This is his first official match representing them!"

Commentator He Wei stared at the starting lineup sheet in his hand, checking data as he spoke with a smile:

"This player is very young, only 16 years and 167 days old. That should make him the youngest starter in Telekom Cup history. Coach Schaaf seems quite bold in his personnel choices; he's likely focused on developing young players in this match."

Xu Yang nodded: "Indeed, for Werder Bremen, drawing Bayern Munich in their first match is rather unlucky."

Clearly, neither of them held high hopes for Werder Bremen, both believing Bayern would win this game.

With the referee's whistle, the match officially began.

After kickoff, Bayern immediately launched a fierce attack into Werder Bremen's half.

Playing in the same league, both sides knew each other's strengths well, so there was no need for probing—just go all out.

In this match, Heynckes didn't field his full-strength squad.

Bayern's left winger Ribery, midfielder Schweinsteiger, and forward Mandzukic were all on the bench.

Still, with this starting lineup, beating Werder Bremen didn't seem too difficult—the gap in paper strength was enormous.

Although Lin Quan had mentally prepared for this match beforehand, once the game actually started, he clearly felt the difference.

Compared to Werder Bremen's previous warm-up opponents, Bayern Munich's strength was a cut above.

Their teamwork, passing speed, and individual player abilities far exceeded those of the teams they'd faced before.

This made the match's tempo extremely fast; one slip-up could let the opponent seize an opening for a lethal strike.

In the first three minutes, possession stayed entirely with Bayern, and Werder Bremen's players didn't even touch the ball once.

Fortunately, Coach Schaaf had prepared for this. After kickoff, aside from Lin Quan, the rest of the team dropped back, shifting Werder Bremen's formation to 4-1-4-1.

In midfield, they had five defenders, with one sweeping behind and four in a diamond shape to widen interception range, cut off passing lanes, and quickly press the ball carrier, denying them time and space to organize attacks.

This tactic temporarily stifled Bayern's offense, and the two sides got locked in fierce midfield battles.

On the sidelines, Heynckes frowned slightly at the opponent's strategy.

This setup couldn't hold back Bayern's attack forever—at their current pace, scoring was only a matter of time.

But what was that old fox Schaaf up to, putting a sixteen-year-old up front?

Was he really counting on that kid to breach Bayern's goal?

Or was he planning to exploit Neuer's tendency to roam far out of his box?

Thinking this, Heynckes glanced at his goalkeeper.

Sure enough, Neuer had already wandered outside the penalty area, turning into his beloved sweeper-keeper.

Still, Heynckes didn't call him back. Neuer did this often in the Bundesliga and even the Champions League, and Heynckes trusted his abilities.

Seeing the opponent's dense midfield making it hard to break through, Bayern's players quickly adjusted tactics, focusing attacks down the wings.

In the seventh minute, Kroos spotted space on the flank and passed to Robben on the wing.

To give Robben a chance to break free from his marker, Kroos cleverly added some lead to the pass.

Robben understood immediately, sprinted into position, and got to the ball ahead of the defender.

With his speed already up, the Flying Dutchman took off dribbling.

Robben was lightning-fast; Werder Bremen's defenders chased desperately but couldn't catch him.

Junuzovic tried to intercept but fell for a feint, lunging in and missing the ball, only to get dribbled past.

After beating the second defender, Robben cut inside.

As a left-footed player, he had no weak-foot issues, and cutting in let him either shoot or pass to a teammate, making him extremely dangerous.

Seeing Robben cut into the edge of their penalty area, Werder Bremen's captain Fritz rushed over to cover.

With Fritz pulled away, a brief defensive gap opened right in front of Werder Bremen's box, as De Bruyne hadn't tracked back in time.

Bayern Munich's attacking midfielder Thomas Müller was unmarked. If Robben passed now, Müller could feed the ball to the advancing Saric for a one-on-one chance or take a shot himself.

With Werder Bremen's defensive formation already pulled out of shape by Robben, passing the ball to an unmarked teammate would have created a much better chance.

But unfortunately, Robben isn't exactly a team player—he's got a nickname: the Lone Ranger.

If he creates the chance himself, he's definitely going to be the one to take the final shot!

So even though he could see Werder Bremen's captain closing in to block, Robben still dribbled laterally, shook off just enough angle, and fired straight at goal.

Fritz immediately lifted his leg to intercept, but didn't touch the ball.

Luckily, Werder Bremen's goalkeeper was well-prepared, tracked the shot's trajectory, and collected it cleanly.

Seeing the keeper snuff out his shot, Robben shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with that attempt.

Meanwhile, Muller shrugged at his buddy Kroos, obviously frustrated with Robben's choice.

Just as Bayern's players were stewing over wasting that golden opportunity, the goalkeeper sprinted out and, near the edge of the penalty area, launched a hand-throw to De Bruyne.

De Bruyne knew there was no time to waste—they had to move fast.

So after controlling the ball, he pivoted and, before the opposing defender could interfere, sent it to the right-forward area.

"Lin, go!!"