Wolfsburg's four-to-one victory over Leverkusen at home secured them all three points, solidifying their fourth-place ranking in the League.
Not only that, with Borussia Dortmund and Leverkusen both losing this round, Wolfsburg is now only one and two points behind third-placed Borussia Dortmund and second-placed Leverkusen, respectively.
That's just one game!
They are effectively sitting in fourth but eyeing second!
However, many professional media outlets and journalists analyzed that this match wasn't because Wolfsburg played too well, but because Leverkusen played too poorly.
Having lost at home to another competitor, Schalke, last week, and then being thrashed by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League midweek, Leverkusen's players' morale and form were already low when they arrived at the Volkswagen Arena.
Furthermore, head coach Sami Hyypiä, already heavily criticized and under immense public pressure, stubbornly insisted on an all-out attacking tactic away from home, attempting to dominate the match.
Who knew that this would play right into the hands of Wolfsburg, the League's best counter-attacking team!
The significant high-press formation allowed Wolfsburg to gain more space in depth.
Of course, Mark's substitute appearance marked the beginning of Wolfsburg's complete control of the game.
It's worth mentioning that De Bruyne, Wolfsburg's record signing, also performed differently depending on whether Mark was on the field or not.
When Mark wasn't on the field, neither Caligiuri nor Vieirinha, despite being able to create openings on the opponent's flanks, could achieve Mark's level of deterrence.
When Mark was on the field, opponents often had to assign a defensive midfielder to assist in defending him, in addition to a full-back.
Thanks to his immense drawing power on the wing, De Bruyne was able to get more space for organizing and more time to pass the ball in the middle.
And this future world-class central midfielder's ability to drive the ball forward and deliver through passes during transitions from defense to attack was often Wolfsburg's biggest weapon on the counter!
This is also why De Bruyne often performs better when Mark is on the field.
Of course, Mark was also very fortunate to be able to fight alongside a future top central midfielder like De Bruyne.
Although Ding Ding is not yet in his prime, and his various abilities have not yet been fully unleashed.
However, he is still one of the top attacking midfielders in the entire Bundesliga.
He also learned a lot about passing awareness and technique from De Bruyne.
Given time, his own passing will also become stronger and stronger!
The match against Leverkusen made him personally experience what it felt like for Neymar to be treated like a ball to be kicked.
What does it mean to be fouled six times in a single match?
It means he was brought down six times!
When Mark got out of bed the next morning, he felt a dull ache on both sides of his calves and hips.
Fortunately, they were all muscle contusions in soft tissue, nothing serious.
He would recover with a few days of rest and the team's physiotherapy.
After washing up, he poured himself a glass of juice and sat down on the sofa.
Picking up the freshly published Bild from the table, he turned to the sports section and, looking at his own photo, Mark couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
Delivering an excellent performance against an opponent like "Pharmaceutical Factory" Leverkusen should have been a joyous occasion.
However, a crisis also followed.
As his performance improved and his fame grew, it was inevitable that opponents would study and target him.
And such rough defending would surely become the norm in every match.
What he needed to think about was how to deal with it!
With Mark's current physical conditioning, even with Ronaldinho's dribbling skills, he couldn't fully unleash the individual abilities of peak Ronaldinho.
Of course, it was already sufficient when dealing with most Bundesliga full-backs.
However, if he wanted to contend with and even defeat world-class defenders in the future, his current self was far from enough.
He must become stronger!
And besides daily team training and personal extra training, adding points was naturally his cheat code for becoming stronger!
In the half-match against Leverkusen, he successively completed four match tasks: [Goal], [Assist], [Successful Dribbles], and [Man of the Match], earning four potential points as a reward.
Adding the two potential points he previously gained against Hoffenheim, he now had six potential points.
Considering that endurance and core strength could both be improved through training.
Coupled with the match against Leverkusen, which made Mark deeply feel the importance of explosiveness.
Because the stronger his explosiveness, the faster his body could react when opponents fouled him.
Only then could he effectively avoid highly damaging moves such as leg sweeps, iron mountain tackles, and double dragon attacks from opponents!
Therefore, he continued to add these six potential points to the [Explosiveness] attribute, reaching 71!
Watching his attributes gradually increase, Mark was also full of anticipation for the future:
"It's getting better little by little... Once the explosiveness attribute is maxed out, I'd like to see who can still tackle me!"
"Speaking of which, it's a holiday today, what should I do..."
Since they secured all three points yesterday, the team had a day off today.
However, just as Mark was thinking about whether to go out for a stroll, or to ask De Bruyne and Miranda to hang out, his phone suddenly rang!
Ring, ring, ring!
Pulling out his phone and glancing at the caller ID, Mark casually pressed the answer button:
"Mino?"
"I have good news for you, Kicker is going to do an exclusive interview with you!"
"Kicker?!"
Founded in 1920, Kicker is the oldest professional football magazine still in existence globally.
As of 2014, it had been continuously operating for 94 years!
Throughout its more than ninety years of history, it has consistently insisted on realistic, professional, and critical reporting on football.
Whether players, coaches, club managers, League organizers, or fans, all regard Kicker as the "football bible."
Especially their unique five-tier rating system, which is also one of the important criteria for major clubs to assess player form.
It can be said that Kicker is definitely one of the most famous media outlets in Germany!
And such a media outlet was going to do an exclusive interview with him?
However, thinking that his agent was a football mogul like Raiola, Mark immediately felt relieved.
Even if this 'vampire' had a bad reputation, he was still one of the most powerful and well-connected agents in the entire world of football.
Arranging a small exclusive interview was a piece of cake.
"Alright, when will the interview be?"
"The interview team will arrive in Wolfsburg tomorrow, and I'll come over earlier tomorrow morning."
"What preparations do I need to make?"
"None, I'll tell you about the interview process once I arrive..."
"Okay, see you then."
After hanging up the phone, Mark also began to ponder.
So far, he had accepted two post-match interviews, mostly questions about the match itself.
However, an exclusive interview would definitely not be as short as a few minutes.
He also didn't know what tricky or private questions the other party would ask.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to call De Bruyne, his closest teammate, to ask for some tips on handling interviews.
"Kevin, good morning."
"Hello, Mark."
"Are you home? I have something I'd like to ask for your help with..."
"Yes, are you coming over?"