Chapter 252 - 66: Magician Wang Shuo: "Marco, Do You Want to Score Tonight?

The other teams played their matches on August 1st and August 2nd.

Because of the UEFA Europa League qualifiers, Dortmund’s match was scheduled for August 3rd.

Their opponent wasn’t strong—Weiden, a fourth-tier team.

But it was a hassle, because the opponent was located to the southwest, near the Czech Republic.

They were currently in Denmark to the north, and traveling southwest three days later would be a test of endurance due to the long journey.

So, during halftime, after praising the team’s overall performance, Klopp also reminded the players to be careful, try to avoid injury, and just secure the win.

In the 53rd minute of the second half, Wang Shuo once again dropped back. After a series of quick one-twos with Foyelner and Shahin in the center, he sent a diagonal through ball behind the defense.

Kuba made a quick diagonal run into the box, received the ball, and smashed it into the net, scoring another goal for Dortmund.

3-0!

With the outcome more or less decided, Klopp substituted Valdes on for Wang Shuo.

In his words, Wang Shuo was now Dortmund’s precious treasure!

He then made a series of substitutions, using up all his slots as early as the 66th minute.

And in the 80th minute, Reus scored another goal for the team off a brilliant pass from Kuba.

In the end, Dortmund thrashed Landes 4-0 away from home, securing a resounding victory to kick off the new season.

However, the forward Valdes, who came on as a substitute, played for half an hour and had several chances but was unable to score.

...

After the team returned to Germany from Denmark, Klopp had the main players stay in Dortmund to rest.

He himself took the reserve squad to the away match to challenge Weiden.

And this time, Valdes finally scored.

In the 24th minute, he opened the scoring for the team, assisted by Shahin.

After switching sides for the second half, Tinga had a brilliant performance, first assisting a goal for Shahin.

After Weiden equalized, he then assisted a goal for the substitute, Reus.

It was worth noting that Reus had come on as a substitute in two consecutive matches and scored in both.

This one came in the 2nd minute of stoppage time.

...

The evening of August 6th, Dortmund, Germany.

Tonight, Westfalen Stadium was brightly lit and completely sold out.

All 66,000-plus seats were filled with Dortmund fans.

The stands of the entire stadium were a surging sea of people.

In the home team’s locker room before the match, Wang Shuo was finishing his final preparations.

All that was left was the head coach’s pre-match pep talk.

Klopp’s pep talks were always quite interesting.

Especially given his tall, burly, and powerful presence.

But Reus, standing to the side, looked a little nervous.

"What’s wrong?" Wang Shuo reached out, put a hand on Reus’s shoulder, and asked with concern.

Reus looked down at the yellow jersey he was wearing, then lifted the club crest on his chest, examining it over and over.

"It just feels... like a dream!"

"Why?"

"I don’t know." Reus shook his head.

But he immediately added, "My whole family are Dortmund fans. I have been my entire life."

"When I was four, I joined the biggest local sports club near my house in Dortmund, called PTSV Dortmund. It had a lot of sports groups, like basketball, table tennis, badminton, and so on."

"But I only ever loved football."

The last time he’d helped Wang Shuo look for a house, Reus had mentioned that he lived near Phoenix Lake.

It was a famous landmark in Dortmund, northeast of Hodder.

"I moved from PTSV to the Dortmund youth academy when I was six and stayed until I was sixteen, when I went to Red White Allen."

"I still remember it to this day. The ’01-’02 season was Dortmund’s last period of glory. Back then, under Sommer’s coaching, we beat out Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern to win the Bundesliga title."

"Even though we lost to Feyenoord in the UEFA Cup final, everyone was still ecstatic."

"At the first home game of the ’02-’03 season, we even held a special ceremony to unveil the Bundesliga championship shield and show the trophy to all the fans."

"At the time, I was thirteen, and as a representative of the club’s youth team, I carried the championship shield onto the pitch with my teammates."

"Back then, I made a secret vow to myself that one day, I would help Dortmund win more championships—even all of them—and then personally carry that championship shield onto the pitch at the first home game of a new season!"

Wang Shuo couldn’t really understand this kind of sentiment Reus had for the club; he didn’t resonate with it at all.

But he could tell that Reus truly loved Dortmund.

They hadn’t known each other for long, but Wang Shuo had a good impression of Reus.

So, he didn’t mind giving him a helping hand.

"Marco, this is the season premiere, and your first appearance at Westfalen Stadium, right?"

Reus nodded. "My first time as a professional player."

The answer was delivered with a characteristically German precision.

"Want to score a goal?"

Wang Shuo’s smiling question seemed to carry a kind of magic.

Reus was completely captivated, nodding without hesitation. "You’ll help me?"

"During the match, watch for my hand signals."

Reus nodded eagerly.

"Those two Danish center-backs aren’t very fast. I’ll draw them out, and you make a diagonal run in behind them. The rest is up to you."

Wang Shuo left it at that, patting Reus on the shoulder with a smile. "Hey, man, no pressure. Even if it doesn’t work the first time, I’ll keep trying to set you up."

"Tonight, you will definitely score!"