Großkreutz was utterly dumbfounded by the referee's smooth combo of first a yellow card, then a red card.
Immediately after, he sprinted forward and confronted the referee:
"What?!"
"That was a normal collision!"
Facing the fierce-looking Big Cross, and with his spit already on his face, the referee calmly stated:
"You made an elbowing motion! That's a dangerous play!"
"He ran into me himself! Didn't you see that?!"
"My eyes saw it very clearly. Please leave the field!"
Even with Dortmund captain Kehl and several other Dortmund players protesting and explaining, and the Westfalenstadion echoing with boos, they couldn't persuade the referee who had already shown the red card.
Finally, under Kehl's persuasion, Großkreutz could only grumble as he walked off the field.
Meanwhile, Mark Lane, who was sitting on the ground and witnessed the scene, merely scoffed:
"Playing football requires brains..."
To put it bluntly, Mark Lane intentionally provoked Großkreutz, then drew a foul to get him sent off.
However, Großkreutz, having been humiliated by Mark Lane's nutmeg, did indeed make an elbowing motion.
If Mark Lane hadn't raised his arm to block the opponent's swing at the moment it was about to hit him, that blow to his chest and solar plexus would have left him gasping for air for at least tens of seconds.
The team doctor came to check and, finding no serious injury, Mark Lane stood up.
Seeing this, Westfalenstadion once again erupted in deafening boos!
"Diving!"
"That kid is faking it!"
"Damn it, that Wolfsburg kid is a sneaky bastard!"
With the chaotic boos and curses echoing in his ears, Mark Lane remained unfazed.
In a football match, there is only winning and losing.
Everyone plays for his own side; as a Wolfsburg player, he naturally had to do everything he could for his team's victory.
Mark Lane did not think that his full utilization of the rules was wrong or unethical.
Moreover, he didn't order Großkreutz to foul him; it was Großkreutz who lost his temper and committed a dangerous foul.
If anyone was to blame, it was Großkreutz himself for not being calm enough!
With Großkreutz sent off, Dortmund was down to ten men on the field.
Klopp immediately made a substitution.
Mkhitaryan, who had been tightly marked and performed unremarkably in this match, was replaced by youngster Durm, who played as a left-back.
Then, he waved for wingers Reus and Aubameyang to drop back slightly, leaving only Lewandowski up front.
The entire formation changed from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-1.
Clearly, with one man down, Klopp wanted to hold onto a one-goal lead at home and secure three points.
But how could the Wolfsburg players let him have his way?!
"Push up!"
"Attack!!"
As Dortmund was reduced to ten men, Wolfsburg's overall formation pushed up, and they began to attack fiercely!
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot!
If not now, when?
As Dortmund retreated to their own half and began to play defensively on the counter, Wolfsburg's possession rate significantly increased, and their numerical advantage slowly began to show.
In the eighty-first minute of the match, Mark Lane received the ball on the right flank; besides De Bruyne coming over from the center to receive, right-back Ochs was also overlapping at high speed.
Suddenly, Wolfsburg formed a three-on-two local advantage on the right wing!
Seeing this setup, Durm, who had just come on, felt a bit uneasy.
Durm was originally a forward and only converted to a full-back who could play on both sides after joining Dortmund on Klopp's suggestion.
Although he had good stamina, sufficient speed, and a certain ability to cross.
However, his defensive awareness and experience were severely lacking.
To put it bluntly, he was just a hothead who only knew how to charge forward recklessly.
And facing Mark Lane advancing with the ball, he didn't hesitate at all; without waiting for the defensive midfielder to come over to assist in defense, he immediately chose to press, attempting to use his proud foot speed to snatch the ball from Mark Lane.
However, he overestimated himself and underestimated Mark Lane!
Stick out a leg?
He'll just go past!
Mark Lane merely faked with a dip of his shoulder, then used the outside of his instep to flick the ball, gliding past him.
"What?!"
In his surprise, Durm tried to reach out and pull, but Mark Lane was a split second faster, already creating distance.
After easily beating Durm, Mark Lane passed the ball horizontally to the center, played a wall pass with De Bruyne, and continued to surge forward.
Receiving the ball on the right side of the penalty area, he looked up at Olić, who was making a run to the near post, and immediately swung his leg, preparing to cross.
However, what seemed like a cross to the near post, at the moment his instep touched the ball, his ankle flicked, sending a low, inverted diagonal cross!
"Mark Lane... is he crossing?"
"No, it's an inverted diagonal cross!?"
"What?!"
This change in ankle movement caught Dortmund's defense off guard.
Hummels and Papadopoulos went to block the near post and mark Olić respectively, never expecting Mark Lane to make an inverted diagonal cross.
And the two defensive midfielders, whose stamina had severely declined, hadn't had time to track back.
This gave the late-arriving De Bruyne ample space to shoot.
"De Bruyne... shoots!"
Mark Lane's pass wasn't perfectly comfortable, but it was low to the ground; De Bruyne simply pushed it with the inside of his foot, and the ball flew straight out!
Amidst the expectant gaze of Wolfsburg and the astonished looks of the Dortmund players, the ball swiftly skimmed across the grass, then hugged the inside of the post, and nestled into the net!
The next second, inside the Westfalenstadion, the enthusiastic cheers of the away fans immediately erupted:
"GOALLLLL!!!"
"De Bruyne!"
"A brilliant long-range shot!"
"And the assist for him came from number 45, Mark Lane!"
"The chemistry between these two is simply incredible!"
After scoring, De Bruyne excitedly ran to the away fans' stand, pumping his fist and roaring!
Then, turning around, he raised both hands, pointed at Mark Lane who was running over, and laughed:
"Great pass! How did you know I would make that run?"
"Nonsense, I knew you would definitely appear in that spot!"
The best partners exchanged a smile, then high-fived and embraced.
Mark Lane had a sudden thought: his connection with De Bruyne could be called the 'Martin Link'!
Hmm, it sounds catchy!
After equalizing, Wolfsburg's morale soared, and they continued to press hard.
In their view, they now held the advantage in numbers and morale.
As long as they continued to attack fiercely and scored another goal, they could take a victory from the Westfalenstadion!
However, Dortmund was not some ordinary Bundesliga team.
This team, the Black and Yellows, had twice broken Bayern's dominance and once reached the Champions League final!
If Dortmund truly defended with all their might, they wouldn't be so easy to break down.
Moreover, there wasn't much time left in the match.
As Wolfsburg launched wave after wave of attacks, the area in front of Dortmund's penalty box became extremely tense.
At the same time, time was ticking away... Finally, with Gustavo's long-range shot from outside the box sailing just high, the referee blew his whistle, signaling the end of the match
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