A Great Victory Over Bayern Munich, Advancing to the Finals

Compared to their first encounter, Lahm was much more cautious this time.

His opponent had proven his ability over the course of an entire match, and to still underestimate him now would be nothing short of blind foolishness.

Their previous clash had taught Lahm that this guy was a player with equal skill in both feet—no weak foot to exploit.

He could break through from the left just as easily as from the right.

So Lahm couldn't be fooled by feints or rush into a tackle; that would only let his opponent slip past him with ease.

Against a player like this, the best approach was to call for teammates to double-team him.

But Lahm had no one nearby—his teammates were ten meters behind him, on the edge of the penalty area.

That gap was more than enough for his opponent to get past him!

The only way to avoid being beaten was to drop back.

As long as he matched the man's speed, kept a proper distance, and closed the gap to his teammates, he could use numerical advantage to trap him once they reached the box.

Then, stealing the ball from his feet would become much simpler.

Lahm kept retreating, trying to maintain the right distance to avoid getting bypassed.

How could Lin Quan let him have his way?

Seeing Lahm fall back, he immediately accelerated.

No matter how fast Lahm was, he couldn't keep up with Lin Quan while backpedaling.

So with that burst of speed, the distance between them shrank significantly.

At this rate, a few more strides and he'd shake Lahm off entirely.

Lahm had no choice but to spread his arms and desperately grab at Lin Quan, trying to stop him from overtaking.

Bayern's defender Gustavo, seeing Lahm seemingly lock Lin Quan down, took a risk and stepped up to try and steal the ball.

Lahm was shorter and lighter than Lin Quan, and though he had more experience in physical battles, the raw stats were stacked against him.

He quickly lost the physical duel. Lin Quan shoved his arm aside and, before Gustavo's foot could reach the ball, kicked it toward the center.

There, a young player in a green number 6 jersey sprinted up from behind and received Lin Quan's pass!

Kevin De Bruyne!

Because Lin Quan had drawn Kroos away, De Bruyne was left unmarked.

And the moment the ball was played from their own half, he had already sprinted forward with everything he had.

His effort paid off—at the edge of the penalty area, he received Lin Quan's pass.

"Stop him!"

Bayern's defenders felt their hearts stop. Badstuber immediately rushed out to intercept, leaving only Boateng to mark Arnautovic.

His challenge came to nothing. De Bruyne didn't dwell on the ball; he decisively passed it, sending a diagonal ball to the outer corner of the six-yard box.

There, there was neither a defender nor an attacker.

Had De Bruyne made a mistake?

No!

At that moment, a player in a green jersey slipped through the defense like an eel, reaching the open space to receive De Bruyne's pass.

The instant he caught the ball, Lin Quan locked eyes with Neuer across the gap.

Nothing stood between them—it was a one-on-one!

Lin Quan smiled at Neuer and immediately took his shot.

Neuer saw the direction of the strike and lunged to save it.

But the ball beat him, flying into the net.

The score became 3-1. Werder Bremen led Bayern Munich by two goals away from home!

Lin Quan had completed his first hat trick!

With less than five minutes left in regular time, this goal all but sealed the victory!

For Bayern to equalize within five minutes was nearly impossible!

The stadium fell into a deathly silence once more. Bayern's fans stared in disbelief at the Werder Bremen players celebrating wildly on the pitch.

They simply couldn't accept the scoreline—they were losing at home to a pushover!

This was something they never could have imagined before the match, yet it was happening.

Not just them—Bayern Munich's players hadn't expected this outcome either.

They looked shell-shocked. In the final five minutes, some wanted to keep attacking to salvage the loss.

Others feared pushing too far forward would lead to more goals and turn it into a rout.

Losing wasn't the worst thing, but losing badly at home would be a massive blow to their pride and reputation.

With the players' minds not unified, Bayern's attacks became utterly toothless.

Inspired by Lin Quan's goal, the Werder Bremen players were now riding a wave of high morale, completely reversing their earlier pattern of being besieged by Bayern and instead launching a furious assault on Bayern's half.

If not for Bayern's defenders giving their all to hold the line, they might have conceded another goal in those final five minutes.

The head referee, seeing that Bayern's players had lost their fighting spirit, didn't even add a single minute of stoppage time. As soon as the sixtieth minute hit, he blew the final whistle.

Lin Quan had long heard that the Bundesliga was the league with the least stoppage time among Europe's Top Five Leagues, and even in the world.

Their referees didn't like overtime, so when the outcome of a match was beyond doubt, they often skipped added time.

And Bundesliga players seemed used to this; they generally didn't protest or anything.

As the whistle sounded, Werder Bremen's players, including the young substitutes and the coaching staff, rushed onto the pitch to celebrate wildly with the eleven men on the field.

They had actually beaten Bayern Munich—it was almost unbelievable.

Winning this match meant Werder Bremen had advanced to the final, where their opponent would be decided between Dortmund and Hamburg.

"Coach, did we live up to your expectations?"

The players grinned and asked Schaaf after spotting him.

"Of course you did. You're my pride, and I'm proud of you. Now, after you're done celebrating, go thank the fans who came to support us!"

With that, he led the players to the east stands to express their gratitude to the two thousand Werder Bremen fans who had attended the match.

After the thanks, the players chatted and laughed as they headed back to the locker room.

De Bruyne, however, specifically found the match ball, wiped it clean with his jersey, and stuffed it into Lin Quan's arms.

"What are you doing?"

Lin Quan was confused, not sure what the guy was up to.

"Usually, after scoring three goals in a match, the player who completes a hat trick has the right to take the ball home as a souvenir. This should be your first hat trick in an official match, right? So you can take this ball and keep it!"

"Pretty thoughtful, thanks!"

Lin Quan wasn't about to waste the gesture. He took the ball, borrowed a pen from someone, wrote down the date, time, and opponent, then signed his name.

After that, he handed the ball back to De Bruyne.

"Huh?"

De Bruyne didn't catch on, staring at Lin Quan in confusion.

"This match is the first official game we've fought side by side. I'm giving this ball to you as a memento. When you pull off a hat trick someday, don't forget to give me something in return!"

"Alright, I'll remember that!"

De Bruyne nodded seriously.

Back in the locker room, just after finishing his shower, Lin Quan got a call from Guardiola.

"Hey, Pep, did you watch my match?"

Receiving Guardiola's call at that moment, Lin Quan immediately guessed he'd seen the live broadcast.

What he didn't know was that Guardiola hadn't watched it on TV—he was actually at the match in person.

"Yeah, I watched the game. You played well, and I'm proud of you. But I have one question: when did you end up on the wing?"

When Guardiola saw Werder Bremen's starting formation, he'd sensed something was off.

"Well, I guess our coach has a sharp eye and figured I play better on the wing, so he set it up that way."

Lin Quan couldn't tell Guardiola that he'd gotten Messi's attributes, so he had to pin the credit (or blame) on Coach Schaaf.

"I see. I've long heard that Thomas Schaaf is a legendary coach. I didn't expect him to be so bold and insightful with young players. I still have a lot to learn from him in that regard."

Guardiola, unaware of the truth on the other end of the line, became deeply intrigued by Werder Bremen's head coach after Lin Quan's explanation.

"How about this: after your match against Dortmund tomorrow, I'll come over in person to see you and, while I'm at it, discuss some team tactics with your coach."

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