If there was such a thing as 'chemistry value' between players, then the chemistry value between Mark and De Bruyne would definitely be ninety or above!
The two spent day and night together, and their perspectives on the game were very similar.
Therefore, upon hearing De Bruyne's familiar voice, Mark didn't even turn his head and immediately sprinted forward!
After running a few meters, he turned his head to look at the sky and then caught sight of the ball.
The ball traveled through the air for just over a second, then landed perfectly on Mark's forward run.
At the same time, Mark had successfully beaten the offside trap, leading the lagging Drmic by several body lengths.
And Dortmund's entire backfield was like a grassland for him to gallop across!
With a flick of his foot, he controlled the ball, and Mark, single-handedly, dribbled towards Dortmund's penalty area.
"Perfect pass and run!"
"The linesman didn't raise the flag!"
"It's a one-on-one!"
At this moment, the only thing standing between Mark and Dortmund's goal was Dortmund's second-choice goalkeeper, Langerak.
To affect Mark, a storm of boos erupted over Westfalen Stadium.
However, this did not affect Mark's terrifyingly calm thoughts in the slightest.
Facing the rushing Langerak and observing the open goal behind him, Mark unhesitatingly executed a stylish chip shot!
Under the gaze of tens of thousands of Dortmund fans, the ball soared, then sailed over Langerak's head, before plummeting into the empty net.
The next second, the storm of boos abruptly ceased!
It was replaced by the wild celebrations and cheers of the away fans!
And Mark, who scored the goal, simply stood in place, spread his hands, and showed an indifferent expression, as if saying—it's just a goal, standard operation, no need to get excited!
"Three to zero!"
"Wolfsburg scores again!"
"This is Lane's twentieth goal in the Bundesliga this season!"
"He has become the second player in the top five Leagues this season to score twenty goals!"
"He only took fourteen games!"
"He is already eight goals ahead of Meyer, who is second in the top scorer list!"
"The race for the Bundesliga Golden Boot this season might have lost its suspense prematurely..."
As he turned around, he saw an excited De Bruyne running towards him.
The two high-fived and hugged, Mark laughed: "I knew you'd be on the same page as me!"
"Hahaha, I knew you'd run too!"
This goal fully demonstrated the chemistry between the two and the brilliant cooperation between top players.
A simple pass-and-run combination easily broke through Dortmund's entire defense!
This is the telepathy between geniuses!
Having conceded again, the Dortmund players either looked at each other in dismay or bowed their heads in silence.
This formed a stark contrast with the excited Wolfsburg players celebrating.
At this moment, the live broadcast camera also showed the meritorious coach on the sidelines who once led Dortmund to defend the Bundesliga title.
Klopp, sitting on the bench, had his arms crossed, lips tightly pressed, and brows furrowed, looking utterly distressed.
In his seventh year coaching Dortmund, he felt for the first time that he had lost control and confidence in the team.
He couldn't understand why a team that could contend for the championship last season would become so vulnerable this season?!
"Zero to three!"
"This is a game where Wolfsburg showed its strength!"
"From the course of the match, this young team definitely has the strength to contend for the championship!"
Mark's goal completely crushed the fighting spirit of the Dortmund players.
One goal and two goals might be traceable, but three goals?
Perhaps only Liverpool in Istanbul would believe they could come back... even after the restart, Dortmund continued to press hard, but they still had some reservations, fearing that Wolfsburg would once again break through their defense with an over-the-top ball.
Such a hesitant offensive naturally could not pose much threat to Wolfsburg.
On the other side, seeing that they were already leading three-nil, Hecking directly substituted Mark and De Bruyne, allowing the two outstanding performers of the match to rest.
With Mark and De Bruyne leaving the field, Wolfsburg's squad strength visibly declined.
In the final moments, Immobile unleashed a long-range shot from outside the penalty area, a world-class strike, scoring a consolation goal for Dortmund.
The final score was set at one to three!
Ultimately, with Mark's brace and Perišić's opening goal, League leaders Wolfsburg conquered the Westfalen Stadium, known as the 'Devil's Home Ground'!
They secured all three points, continued to lead the standings, and also pushed Dortmund further into the relegation mire!
Mark, who scored a brace in this match, deservedly won the Man of the Match award.
In a post-match interview, when asked by reporters, Mark openly stated his and the team's goal: "Of course, we're here for the championship!"
And these words also sparked heated discussion.
Some thought Mark's statement was arrogant, completely disregarding Bayern;
Some thought it was a display of confidence;
However, no one believed he was boasting.
Because, sixteen games unbeaten, fifteen wins and one draw, the League's top attacking firepower, defeating Bayern, crushing Dortmund...
These are all hallmarks of Wolfsburg's terrifying record this season!
And as the team's star player and top scorer, he certainly has the right to say such words!
It's no exaggeration to say that no team in the entire Bundesliga can stop Wolfsburg's charge!
O
O
O
The next day.
Major media outlets, with unspoken agreement, uniformly featured the crucial match between Wolfsburg and Dortmund as the main focus of their sports sections:
"The Magician Scores a Brace, Wolfsburg Takes All Three Points!"
"Twenty Goals in Fourteen Games, The Birth of a Super Striker!"
"The Sword of Wolfsburg!"
Newspapers like Bild, Sport Bild, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and others all featured Mark's celebration photo after scoring as their front-page cover!
Among them, Bild even wrote a lengthy article to celebrate Mark's twentieth Bundesliga goal: "With his twentieth League goal, nineteen-year-old Mark Lane has become the youngest player in Bundesliga history to score twenty goals."
"Scoring twenty goals in fourteen League games, his goal efficiency reached a terrifying 1.5!"
"This talented young man has become one of only two players in the top five Leagues this season to score twenty or more League goals!"
"The other player who has already scored twenty or more goals is also a left winger. It is Real Madrid's star and Portugal's king, Cristiano Ronaldo!"
It's worth noting that another Ballon d'Or winner in La Liga, Messi, only scored fifteen goals near the halfway point!
In other words, Mark has scored more goals than Messi this season!
"The importance of this nineteen-year-old super talent to Wolfsburg is not only reflected in his goal numbers but also in his strong presence!"
"An average of five successful dribbles per game makes him the dribbling king of the top five Leagues! In every game, he influences the flow and outcome of the match with his brilliant dribbling skills..."
"His elusive and agile figure, as well as his magical celebratory movements, can't help but remind people of the Samba Elf, Ronaldinho..."
As a superstar idol and a great German star cultivated by a domestic club's youth academy, German media naturally spared no praise for Mark.
It's important to know that before Mark, no German player had ever achieved the feat of scoring two thousand Bundesliga goals in a single season at the age of nineteen!
Even the goal machine Gerd Müller back then did not have Mark's terrifying goal efficiency today!
With the media's extensive hype, Mark also noticed his social media follower count growing visibly.
It's worth mentioning that after defeating Dortmund, Wolfsburg achieved a terrifying record of fifteen wins and one draw!
And such a record is absolutely unique among all teams since the Bundesliga was founded decades ago. Moreover, in sixteen League rounds, they scored a terrifying 42 goals, with a goal difference of 22!
After sixteen rounds, Wolfsburg continued to lead the Bundesliga standings with 46 points.
Bayern, in second place, had twelve wins, three draws, and one loss, accumulating 39 points, continuing their fierce pursuit.
Aside from these two title-contending teams, third-placed Leverkusen and fourth-placed Mönchengladbach both had 27 points, already trailing Wolfsburg by a massive 19 points!
Everyone could see that this season's Bundesliga title race would only be decided between Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich.
Furthermore, Wolfsburg, championing attacking football and displaying an aggressive and efficient offense, also received widespread praise from German football circles.
Many football experts and commentators in the industry marveled and wondered what magical power allowed Wolfsburg to leap from a mid-table team to a strong title contender, successively defeating Bayern and Dortmund, in just two seasons.
After much discussion and summarization, many attributed Wolfsburg's terrifying record to the twin stars Mark and De Bruyne, as well as Hecking's tactical system.
Firstly, as the team's top star and midfield core, the performance of the twin stars Mark and De Bruyne is closely related to Wolfsburg's terrifying record this season.
Their goals and assists account for eighty percent of the team's total goals, which is the best proof!
Secondly, coach Hecking gave them the maximum tactical freedom and unlimited attacking license.
He even devised more than one tactical system based on their characteristics, maximizing Mark and De Bruyne's talents in offense.
It was only with De Bruyne constantly supplying ammunition from behind that Mark could confidently dribble and finish;
And with Mark's presence, De Bruyne could also confidently organize and link up play, managing the team's offense in an orderly fashion.
Their partnership, complementing each other, was simply a match made in heaven!
Under their influence, attacking players like Perišić, Dost, Caligiuri, and Vieirinha also delivered excellent performances beyond expectations.
Many football commentators compared Mark to the omnipotent Bundesliga MVP Reus from last season.
Both single-handedly led their teams to win game after game.
The difference is that compared to Reus, who is better at creating opportunities for teammates, Mark's main contribution is his explosive goal-scoring ability!
And, judging from his current form, as long as he avoids injury, it's only a matter of time before Mark achieves the feat of thirty Bundesliga goals in a single season... After the next League match against Köln, the Bundesliga will officially enter its winter break.
Compared to the Premier League entering its grueling Christmas schedule, the Bundesliga will halt, allowing players to rest well and spend Christmas and New Year holidays with their families.
Before the last League match of the first half of the season, Mark received a "Christmas gift".
...December, the last month of the year, is also the busiest period in football aside from the winter and summer transfer windows.
While the Bundesliga enters its winter break, it's also time for the major football awards to be presented.
For example, France Football's Ballon d'Or and FIFA's World Player of the Year awards are both presented in December.
However, due to the recent merger of the Ballon d'Or and World Player of the Year, and the change of the award ceremony to January of the following year,
This made December each year seem somewhat quiet.
Thus, the european golden boy award, presented every December, naturally became the most anticipated football award for media and fans.
The european golden boy award is known as the "Ballon d'Or for under-21s".
This means that the player who wins the Golden Boy Award is the best performing U21 player of the year!
And this award has produced many prominent figures.
Since its inception eleven years ago, from the first winner Van der Vaart in 2003 to Pogba last year, the european golden boy award has witnessed the growth of many talents, as well as stories of
On December 20th, Tuttosport held a press conference to announce the winner of this year's european golden boy award!
After voting by major authoritative media, nineteen-year-old Mark Lane of Bundesliga leaders Wolfsburg, with his astonishing performances in the World Cup and the Bundesliga, successfully defeated numerous talents and prodigies to win this year's european golden boy award!
The top three for the Golden Boy Award were Mark, Sterling, and Milik.
It is worth mentioning that Mark received as much as eighty percent of the Golden Boy Award votes.
The remaining twenty percent was divided between Sterling and Milik.
As soon as this news broke, it immediately triggered widespread reporting by German media.
However, most Bundesliga fans and media were not too surprised by this result.
This young man, who burst onto the Bundesliga scene, began an unstoppable ascent.
He first transformed into Wolfsburg's super-sub, helping the Wolves win the German Cup for the first time in club history and return to the Champions League after several years!
Then, with his excellent performance, he was selected for the German Team's World Cup squad and, in the scorching summer of 'Football Kingdom' Brazil, he achieved overnight fame with the winning goal in the final, also helping the German Team lift the world cup trophy!
And in the new Bundesliga season, his performance did not fade; instead, it shone even brighter, leading Wolfsburg to an unbeaten streak of sixteen games, defeating Bundesliga giants Bayern twice, and topping the League table!
It's no exaggeration to say that 2014 was definitely Mark's year!
....
Eager for more chapters, check patreon.com/Zeaser