Football: Salary System - Chapter 150: Getting Back into Match Rhythm (Patreon)

In fact, in another timeline, Raiola later managed to maintain a fairly good relationship with Dortmund.

He even got Dortmund to make Haaland the first player since Götze whose contract included a release clause at the player's request.

The Norwegian forward's situation, however, was different from Zayn's.

To persuade Dortmund to include a release clause, Raiola had kept the club's cost of signing Haaland down to just €20 million.

Naturally, Dortmund were willing to make concessions in the contract. The deal had cost them very little, and even though the €70 million release clause wasn't especially high, Dortmund still stood to make a huge profit.

Zayn was different.

Dortmund had already spent €70 million in cold, hard cash on him. The moment Watzke approved that payment, he'd already decided that the club needed to earn at least double that investment back.

That was why Zayn's contract contained no release clause.

Raiola had gotten the salary negotiations onto the right track. From here, it would simply be a matter of haggling over the numbers.

Zayn figured [Main Quest (7): Salary Dominator] would be completed soon.

So he turned all his attention back to the training ground.

On November 24, Bundesliga action resumed.

The entire Dortmund squad traveled by bus to Mainz.

The capital of Rhineland-Palatinate sat at the confluence of the Rhine and Main rivers.

The city was famous for its wine and carnival. Their visit happened to coincide with the beginning of the Mainz Carnival, known as Germany's "fifth season." Although the celebrations would continue until February or March the following spring, with "Rose Monday" marking the true climax of the festival.

For Zayn, though, this was his first visit to the city in either of his lives.

Colorful ribbons and garlands hung from the facades of buildings lining the streets, while the occasional pedestrian in an eccentric costume waved at the team bus from the roadside. It was all fresh and interesting to him.

The atmosphere inside the squad was just as relaxed and festive.

Compared with the previous round's Der Klassiker, Mainz were a much more "gentle" opponent.

Their performances this season had been inconsistent. They were reasonably competitive at home but poor away, and often depended on bursts of form from their young forward Mateta. At the moment, they sat in the lower half of the Bundesliga table.

More importantly, the two clubs shared quite a bit of history when it came to managers.

Klopp and Tuchel, two renowned Dortmund managers, had both been poached from Mainz one after the other.

Naturally, a matchup like this couldn't carry the same hostility as Der Klassiker.

And with everyone only just returning from the international break, the entire Dortmund squad carried a rare sense of ease.

At 3:30 p.m., the Bundesliga's classic Saturday afternoon kickoff time, both teams finished warming up and entered the Opel Arena.

The stadium wasn't particularly large, holding only around 34,000 spectators. Compared with Westfalen, it was on an entirely different level.

Even so, a sizable crowd had turned up.

Mainz's attendance rate had hovered around 77% this season. That ranked near the bottom of the Bundesliga, but was still considerably higher than the average attendance rates of clubs in Serie A and La Liga.

Once the match kicked off, however, the Mainz supporters quickly found themselves getting excited.

They had expected Dortmund to be difficult to stop.

Instead, they discovered that Dortmund's error rate was absurdly high, and even their passing lacked its usual fluency.

The players who had played full matches for their national teams looked visibly fatigued, as though they had caught the dreaded "FIFA virus." Meanwhile, those without international duty had gone nearly half a month without playing a competitive match.

The result was a Dortmund side whose players were all operating at different levels of sharpness.

Still, the Mainz fans' excitement didn't last long.

The well-rested home side certainly started aggressively, but the gap in overall quality was difficult to erase.

Dortmund's sloppy passing initially prevented them from opening up Mainz's defense, but Mainz were equally incapable of creating any meaningful chances of their own.

Fortunately, Zayn's own condition hadn't been affected much.

He hadn't played the full ninety minutes in either international match. That had allowed him to maintain his rhythm without expending much energy.

If anything, he looked recharged.

Between Mainz's deep defensive block and his teammates struggling to find their rhythm, Zayn didn't get many touches.

But every time he did, the Mainz back line immediately tensed up.

In the 17th minute, Zayn received a square pass from Reus just outside the top of the penalty arc.

With one clean lateral touch, he slipped away from the center back rushing directly at him and immediately fired a low drive.

The ball skimmed across the grass toward the bottom-right corner at a vicious angle.

But the Mainz goalkeeper reacted almost instantly, diving low to his side and palming it behind for a corner.

Zayn was slightly surprised.

He'd been very satisfied with the quality of the shot.

Still, he didn't dwell on it. He moved into the penalty area, found a position, and prepared for the corner.

Reus and Sancho worked a short corner.

After taking a moment to pick his target from the edge of the box, Sancho swung in the cross.

The bushy-haired Witsel flicked it on at the near post.

Zayn rose high above the crowd at the far post and snapped a header toward goal.

The ball was slightly too central, but the distance was so short that it hardly mattered.

Yet the Mainz goalkeeper came up big again.

Fully focused and reacting with incredible speed, he somehow tipped the ball over the crossbar.

A wave of astonished gasps swept through the stands.

This time, Zayn gave the Mainz goalkeeper a closer look.

Young, tall, and lean, yet remarkably composed and polished in his movements.

Florian Müller.

Zayn had thought the name sounded familiar before kickoff.

Now he suddenly remembered.

In his previous life, while playing FM22, he'd seen an official compilation based on player save data. It featured the most frequently purchased Bundesliga-developed players in a full starting eleven.

Florian Müller had been the goalkeeper.

That lineup had also included Gvardiol, Alphonso Davies, Bellingham, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Haaland, and Moukoko, before the controversy surrounding his age had come to light.

Anyone capable of appearing in the same lineup as those players clearly had plenty of potential.

"Interesting."

Zayn hadn't heard much about him later on and had no idea how his career eventually developed.

Then again, with Neuer around, it was incredibly difficult for German goalkeepers to truly break through.

For the rest of the first half, Dortmund's players remained below their best, but they still controlled the game.

Reus and Pulisic each had a shot, only for the Mainz goalkeeper to deny them both.

The teams went into halftime at 0-0.

The supporters inside the Opel Arena seemed quite satisfied with that scoreline, and the noise from the stands only grew louder.

After the restart, the home side responded to the crowd by gradually committing more players forward.

They clearly wanted to exploit Dortmund's fatigue and take all three points at home.

In the 56th minute, Mainz won the ball in their own half and immediately launched a counterattack.

After several passes, the ball reached the edge of Dortmund's penalty area.

Zagadou had recovered in time, but hesitated for half a beat while trying to clear it.

He failed to make clean contact, and the ball bobbled weakly toward the top of the arc.

Mainz forward Mateta charged onto it with his long strides and immediately struck first time.

Fortunately for Dortmund, the angle wasn't sharp enough.

The ball rolled just wide of the near post and out of play.

By then, however, the Black and Yellows were gradually rediscovering their match rhythm.

Their passing was no longer as awkward and disjointed as it had been in the first half.

Mistakes were still frequent, but as the tempo increased and Mainz began pushing farther up the pitch, transitions became more frequent.

That was when Dortmund's attacking combinations up front began to show their power.

In the 63rd minute, Sancho and Zayn exchanged a glance.

As if acting on the same thought, Sancho dropped a long way back toward the touchline on his own flank to receive the ball.

He turned and immediately curled a long pass over the defensive line with the inside of his foot.

His target was Zayn, who had burst into the open space on the right created by Sancho's movement.

Dortmund's No. 9 had accelerated early and easily left the fullback behind.

He caught up to the ball before it could land.

Still moving at full speed, Zayn gave a light hop and cushioned the ball perfectly with his instep.

Then he knocked it forward and accelerated again.

The Mainz center back who had stepped across to cover had never expected the transition from first touch to dribble to be so smooth.

That single control seemed to pin him in place.

By the time he reacted, Zayn had already cut diagonally into the right side of the penalty area.

Florian Müller didn't hesitate and immediately rushed off his line.

Zayn lowered his center of gravity and shaped to smash the ball with his right foot.

But a split second before contact, he used the inside of his foot to square it across the middle instead.

Reus arrived completely unmarked and calmly rolled the ball into the empty net with his right foot.

1-0!

Florian Müller slammed his fist into the turf.

Then he jumped back to his feet and roared angrily at his teammates.

The German goalkeeper had been in excellent form all day, and his string of saves in the first half had helped him settle into a rhythm.

Naturally, he was furious that the entire defensive line in front of him had just been torn apart so easily by Zayn alone.

Perhaps the goalkeeper's shouting fired up his teammates.

Perhaps Dortmund's defenders still hadn't fully settled into the match.

Or perhaps it was both.

Either way, Mainz equalized just three minutes later.

In the 69th minute, Mainz midfielder Hack dispossessed Pulisic in the attacking third and collected the ball in the right half-space.

Dortmund's defensive shape was still disorganized during the transition from attack to defense.

Witsel hadn't yet recovered to his defensive midfield position.

Zagadou was occupied by Mateta in the center of the penalty area.

And Achraf's overlapping run had left a huge gap on the right side.

Hack didn't waste the opportunity.

He threaded a pass along the grass straight through the opening.

Quaison, one of the two forwards, burst onto it and reached the ball before Bürki could rush off his line.

One simple right-footed finish sent it into the net.

1-1!

The Opel Arena erupted.

The roar from the home supporters after scoring against Dortmund sounded almost as loud as if they were already celebrating Carnival's Rose Monday.

After the restart, Mainz's confidence visibly rose another level.

They were no longer content to sit deep.

Instead, they began pressing with greater intensity in midfield and the attacking third, trying to exploit Dortmund before they could regain their shape and score again.

Seeing this, Favre repeatedly gestured downward toward Witsel and Dahoud, telling them to slow the game down and control the tempo.

In the 72nd minute, Zayn dropped back near the center circle to receive the ball.

With his back to goal, he held off two Mainz players closing him down, laid the ball back to Witsel, then turned and surged forward.

The Belgian didn't release it immediately.

Instead, he carried the ball sideways for a step.

That small movement changed his passing angle while also pulling a gap open in Mainz's pressing line.

Their marking of Zayn, however, remained just as tight.

The bushy-haired midfielder immediately changed direction again, dragged the ball back, then sent a long diagonal pass toward the right wing.

Sancho sprinted forward and controlled it before the fullback could get there.

Unfortunately, his subsequent ball across was slightly behind its target.

Reus, arriving near the top of the arc, had to awkwardly adjust before shooting, and the recovering center back blocked it with his body.

Inside the penalty area, Zayn licked his lips as his mind rapidly processed the situation on the pitch.

Mainz's five-man defensive line was gradually pushing higher.

That was good.

There was much more space behind them than there had been in the first half.

As long as Dortmund timed the pass and run correctly, they could break through in a single move.

The opportunity came quickly.

In the 76th minute, Dortmund built an attack through the middle.

Reus played the ball to Sancho in the right half-space and immediately continued his run forward.

Sancho didn't carry the ball after receiving it.

He simply nudged it ahead and returned it to Reus.

Reus met the ball with his right foot, shaped to make one move, then used the outside of his boot to flick it toward Zayn on the left.

Zayn immediately knocked it back to Reus again.

The three of them exchanged a rapid series of one-twos.

The moment Zayn released the ball, he accelerated and made a diagonal run between Mainz's two center backs toward the near post.

The entire Mainz back line seemed to be dragged along by his movement.

It wasn't only the defenders.

Every pair of eyes in the stands followed that blond No. 9.

Reus pushed the ball forward into Zayn's path.

Zayn was simply too fast.

Like a red-hot blade, he had already stabbed straight into the heart of Mainz's defense.

Both center backs reacted almost simultaneously.

They closed in on Zayn from either side.

The defensive midfielders tracking him also split their responsibilities.

One positioned himself to cut off the passing lane back to Reus, while the other immediately moved to surround Zayn.

Reus had weighted the pass perfectly for Zayn's speed.

Not a step too far ahead.

Not a step too far behind.

Exactly into his stride.

Mainz goalkeeper Florian Müller locked his eyes on Zayn's right foot.

He tried to anticipate what was coming.

"His dominant foot is his right... His teammates are already a step behind him. He usually drives into the box from here, but he might shoot immediately..."

Zayn reached the ball and lifted his right foot.

Florian Müller braced himself.

Then Zayn's right foot stepped straight over the ball.

The rapidly rolling ball passed directly between his legs.

It wasn't the first time Zayn had deliberately let a pass run through like this.

Yet not one Mainz defender had anticipated it.

After all, when a striker with finishing ability as terrifying as Zayn's reached a position like that, how could anyone afford not to defend him?

The ball continued toward the left.

Pulisic brought it under control with a delicate touch.

The middle was completely open.

The fullback tracking him hurried across to block his path.

Captain America swung his left foot around the front of the ball in a simple stepover, then nudged it forward with his instep.

Man and ball moved together as he cut directly inside.

He reached the left side of the top of the penalty area completely unmarked.

Pulisic even had time to take another touch before drawing back his leg and shooting.

The ball skimmed across the grass toward the far corner.

Florian Müller reacted and launched himself into the save.

But he couldn't get a fingertip to it.

The ball crashed into the back of the net.

2-1!

Having made up for his earlier mistake, Pulisic immediately turned and sprinted toward the corner flag, roaring all the way before dropping into a knee slide.

Zayn pumped his fist once in front of his chest and ran over to join the celebration.

Up in the VIP box, Watzke tilted his head slightly toward Zorc beside him.

"Get the contract sorted out as soon as possible."

Zorc, who had been staring intently at the pitch, turned to look at his boss.

Watzke's gaze had already returned to the field, settling on the young player jogging back toward the center circle.

"That damn fat man's conditions aren't particularly excessive this time... We can accept them.

"Get it settled early.

"And put the winter reinforcements on the agenda while you're at it. Better to deal with it now than risk trouble later."

Zorc nodded without saying much.

The match continued.

But after conceding again, Mainz no longer had the strength to mount one final all-out response.

Eventually, the referee blew the final whistle.

2-1.

Dortmund took all three points away from home.

They extended their unbeaten start to the 2018-19 Bundesliga season to twelve matches and remained firmly at the top of the table.

And although Zayn hadn't scored and had officially recorded only one assist, he had actually been the biggest contributor to both of Dortmund's goals.