On this day, people in Dortmund may have felt a slight tremor. The epicentre was the Westfalenstadion, located in the south of the city. The cameras inside the stadium were shaking violently from the 80,000 fans in the stands, whose frenzied screams and cheers were almost deafening. Regardless of skin colour, nationality, or gender, fans in the stands were completely absorbed in their own world, embracing strangers around them and singing and dancing.
"Heja BVB! Heja BVB!"
"Heja Heja, Heja BVB!"
Before the game, everyone thought that today's match would be very difficult and that they might be beaten by Barcelona. They were down 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, and the whole team could only watch Barça pass the ball around, unable to get it back. Let this farce end in humiliation and helplessness. Who would have thought that these young men would do it in just 13 seconds at the start of the match. Barcelona's doors were so easily opened.
It was like a dream scenario—against all expectations, the impossible had suddenly become possible. Happiness came so suddenly. Borussia Dortmund fans who had just turned on the TV thought they were seeing things: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Barcelona.
"This is Borussia Dortmund, this is the youthful storm of the Bumblebees!"
"The opening attack was decisive and resolute, with a group of young people charging forward fearlessly against a strong enemy!"
"When the whole world had no confidence in them, they proved with their actions that there is no enemy they cannot defeat!"
Go BVB!
Commentator Mehmet Scholl was extremely excited, his passion ignited at the very beginning of the match. No setup was needed—they reached a climax in one second. The Borussia Dortmund players in the video were full of vigour. Jin Hayes, Marco Reus, Jakub Błaszczykowski, and Nuri Şahin rushed towards the South Stand together, forming a bomber formation as they dived and glided across the grass in celebration.
"My God! We did it!!"
"Are you dreaming?"
"No!! I'm not dreaming!!"
"Hey guys!! Don't get too excited yet! There are still 90 minutes of tough battle ahead!"
The advantage of having veterans on the team is that they can bring everyone back to their senses when everyone is getting carried away. Captain Sebastian Kehl quickly poured cold water on the celebration after joining in.
"The captain is right, we must hold on!"
Jin Hayes also calmed down.
Barcelona was still Barcelona; a one-goal lead was far from secure, and the most difficult moments of the match would come later. The celebrations didn't last long; the Dortmund players quickly returned to their own half.
Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o were already standing in the centre circle, ready to kick off. Judging from Messi's expression, he didn't seem to care about the goal conceded at the start of the game.
Barcelona's entire team remained expressionless; they were only down by one goal, and they continued playing as usual. Everyone was confident enough to tie the score and then completely crush their opponents. This was the source of the team's confidence.
The game resumed, and Barcelona gradually began to control the ball. Jin Hayes intended to team up with Alexander Frei and Błaszczykowski to press Barcelona's midfield and defence, limiting their fluid passing combinations. Barcelona's three lines always maintained a sufficiently close distance. Furthermore, Barcelona players could form triangles in any corner of the pitch. There would be at least one ball release point in all directions.
Jin Hayes and Błaszczykowski pressed left-back Éric Abidal, who was backed by goalkeeper Víctor Valdés, up front by Thierry Henry, and on the right by Sergio Busquets and Carles Puyol. In certain areas, Barcelona always had the numerical advantage, easily neutralising the pressing from Jin Hayes and Błaszczykowski. Busquets even tried to exploit the gap behind Jin Hayes to create a threat.
"Busquets, Xavi — Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Dani Alves, Xavi — hand them over to Messi!"
At the Westfalenstadion, besides the continuous singing from the stands, the only sound on the pitch was the continuous passing of balls: thump, thump, thump, thump.
Barcelona's smooth operation was like a well-oiled machine, with every player's movement and passing decisions perfectly timed, constantly stretching Borussia Dortmund's defence on the outside. Everyone at Dortmund was on edge, running and fighting hard to get the ball. But it was always just a hair's breadth off, unable to control Barcelona's operation, and they were being pulled around like a dog on a leash.
Fortunately, the team's defensive coordination was tight enough, with someone covering the gaps behind each player, making it difficult for Barcelona to advance into the penalty area for the time being. They mostly passed the ball around the thirty-metre mark, so it didn't seem to pose much of a threat. But a real crisis was already brewing in the shadows.
"Xavi, Busquets, Xavi — oh? This ball!!" Commentator Scholl felt a pang of anxiety. Xavi passed the ball around slowly in midfield, seemingly harmless. A sudden lob pass flew towards the flank. Centre-back Mats Hummels was drawn to the other side by Eto'o's run, and left-back Marcel Schmelzer was slightly distracted and didn't see Messi's position. Turning around again, Barcelona's most dangerous man had already slipped away, heading straight for the landing spot.
"Oops!" Schmelzer chased back frantically, engaging Messi in a physical battle. Despite his seemingly thin and short stature, Messi possessed surprisingly strong upper body strength, preventing Schmelzer from gaining any space. Instead, Messi easily controlled the ball with his left foot, then made a sudden stop and change of direction to cut inside and enter the penalty area.
"Messi!! He's in! His left foot curled up in a perfect arc!!"
Jin Hayes was almost in despair when he saw the ball; Messi's shot was quite composed, and it looked like it was about to curl into the corner of the net. Thankfully, goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller made a spectacular save, diving to push the ball out of bounds and saving his team.
"World-class save!! Weidenfeller!!"
Borussia Dortmund fans watching on TV breathed a sigh of relief. That was terrifying.
They truly understood what it meant to feel pressured, and they also understood the feelings of the fans of other teams. When Jin Hayes received the ball and approached the opponent's penalty area, fans from all teams were equally on edge. The same applied to Messi.
Xavi took the corner kick, and the tactical corner was delivered to Messi on the wing. Messi lightly feinted and dropped his shoulder to get past Schmelzer, then cut inside and changed direction to get past the defensive midfielder Kehl, before suddenly sending a through ball diagonally.
"Eto'o!! Get one in the back seat!"
"That ball went just wide!!! Goal kick!"
At the same time, tens of thousands of people in the Westfalenstadion almost suffered a cardiac arrest. Even the players from Borussia Dortmund were sweating bullets.
Is this Barcelona?
If the match against Manchester United was like a gunfight on a battlefield, with the enemy's machine gun fire being very strong and posing a significant threat, then at least you knew the location of the enemy's positions. You could find an opportunity to take out the machine gun bunker using a mortar or by infiltrating ahead and using a demolition charge. But today's match against Barcelona felt like something else entirely. They were everywhere and nowhere at once, always just out of reach, yet constantly threatening. The pressure was unrelenting, and Jin Hayes knew that the next mistake could be fatal.
Having narrowly escaped conceding twice already, Jin Hayes was truly unsure if he could maintain his luck next time. Because there were still more than 80 minutes left in the game, Jin Hayes needed to stay in this pressure cooker, pursued by the relentless machine of Barcelona's possession, until the final whistle. This was the direct feeling of a professional player facing Barcelona in the Champions League.
Turning to look at Nuri Şahin, then at Mats Hummels and Neven Subotić, Jin Hayes noticed that everyone's faces had turned a little pale. It wasn't the natural whiteness of white skin, but a truly bloodless, deathly pallor. The joy brought by the dream start had long since vanished.
...
"Honey, is Barcelona really that strong?"
"Don't worry, we're in the lead. I'm sure the guys can hold on."
"Then why is your back wet?"
"It's so hot, hahaha."
In the stands, Uncle Hans's dry laugh betrayed his panic; Barcelona's relentless attacks had him sweating profusely. He was not an isolated case; other Borussia Dortmund fans around him were the same.
With 31 minutes played, Barcelona still hadn't scored, and the score remained 1-0. However, Borussia Dortmund had not had possession of the ball for 15 minutes.
15 minutes.
At first, Jin Hayes was able to lead his teammates in launching counter-attacks. However, as time went on, Barcelona completely seized control and encircled Borussia Dortmund's penalty area. Aside from clearing the ball with a long kick, Borussia Dortmund had no way to get through the halfway line. Barcelona's tight, high-pressing tactics, immediate counter-pressing, and sustained possession pressure constantly wore down Borussia Dortmund's players' stamina.
A sense of despair gradually spread through the stands. Whenever Messi, Eto'o, or Henry threatened the goal, the 1-0 scoreline felt like a circus act of balancing a bowl on a unicycle on the edge of a cliff—precarious and on the verge of collapse. You never knew when that acrobat would make a mistake and fall. But you knew very well that as cracks appeared in the rocks at the edge of the cliff, he would fall sooner or later.
Finally, in the 33rd minute of the match, the acrobat fell off the cliff.
Messi passed back to Xavi for his forward run, Eto'o backheeled to Andrés Iniesta — "Beautiful!! Iniesta's lob pass! Thierry Henry!!"
"Roman Weidenfeller!! He saved the team again!"
"However, Barcelona still had possession of the ball. His clearance was not far enough, and Sergio Busquets got to the ball and launched a second attack."
"Xavi, Dani Alves, insert the edge, then give it to Xavi, then to Messi —"
When Messi received the ball on the right edge of the penalty area, his performance began. Messi feinted to trick Sebastian Kehl into making the first move, but Messi reacted quickly, flicking the ball out with his left foot to avoid him and easily broke through.
Marcel Schmelzer made a sliding tackle, but Messi dodged it with a V-shaped backheel and changed direction to the right, breaking into the penalty area. Hummels, his expression tense, stepped forward to block, not daring to commit a foul inside the penalty area. Messi seized the opportunity and suddenly chipped the ball inside.
Hummels rushed forward to block his path, but Messi skillfully flicked the ball with his left foot to change direction and get past him. He beat three people in a row. Even with the combined efforts of all the Borussia Dortmund players, they couldn't stop Messi.
In front of the penalty area, Messi feigned a left-footed cross, and Henry and Eto'o simultaneously moved in to meet it. While Weidenfeller hesitated, Messi had already secretly poked the ball with his left foot. The football hurtled towards the near post.
"Oh shit."
Weidenfeller made a desperate dive, but his attempt to intercept the ball was futile.
"Messi! Messi!! Lionel Messi!! He's got it!"
"In the 33rd minute of the first half, Barcelona's perfect teamwork and Messi's perfect individual performance successfully levelled the score!"
"Both sides are back on equal footing!" 1-1.
German commentator Mehmet Scholl shook his head and sighed. He had to admit, Barcelona's goal was absolutely beautiful. The team and the individual worked together seamlessly, and no matter how hard Borussia Dortmund tried, he couldn't stop the goal from happening.
"Pretty."
"This shot—it's truly unsolvable."
Guests Oliver Kahn and Jürgen Klinsmann were speechless. They looked at each other and could see the wry smiles on each other's faces.
After scoring, Messi pointed one finger to the sky and made the sign of the cross on his chest before being surrounded by Barcelona's teammates to celebrate. Their expressions were relaxed, unlike the frenzied energy that the Dortmund players had shown at the start of the game. It was as if the goal was exactly what the Barcelona players had anticipated, and the victory was entirely within their grasp.
Just when Jin Hayes thought Barcelona was strong enough, just five minutes later, the same scene repeated itself.
"That ball— Messi!!! Weidenfeller made the save!!"
"Thierry Henry!!! Scored on the rebound!!"
"Barcelona scores two goals in 5 minutes to take the lead!!"
1-2.
Jin Hayes marked Iniesta almost all the way into the penalty area, trying his best to keep the ball from him, but the ball was still passed to Messi through Xavi. Teammates were all limiting Messi and Eto'o. Henry was left unmarked. It was one thing to have defensive lapses, but the real problem was that Jin Hayes hadn't really touched the ball properly for almost 20 minutes. He wouldn't even have the chance to create anything.
Is this the end?
"No!"
Jin Hayes's resolve had just wavered, but it was quickly restored by his unwavering determination. As long as the game wasn't over, there was always a chance. The yellow wall roared in defiance, and Jin Hayes knew that he had to find a way to break the spell. He couldn't let the nightmare continue—he had to fight back, no matter the odds.