"You did very well today! I am proud of you!"
This was the first thing Hecking said to Mark Lane as he dragged his exhausted body back toward the sidelines along the edge of the pitch.
After speaking, Hecking patted his shoulder: "Get some good rest!"
He smiled faintly, hiding his achievements deep within.
Mark Lane, who had achieved a goal and an assist in this match, returned to the substitutes' bench, high-fived his teammates one by one, and then sat down in the last empty seat.
At this point, the team doctor placed ice packs on both of his calves and strapped them up.
This was the first time Mark Lane had pushed himself until he cramped.
Not just one leg, but both legs were cramping!
This was despite the results of his pre-season physical conditioning training after returning to the team.
Otherwise, he would have run out of basic stamina just past the seventy-minute mark and would have been standing still on the field.
Who told him that his [Stamina] attribute was only 68...
After Mark Lane left the field, Wolfsburg also lost a ball-holding point in the front field, making it even harder to pose a counter-attacking threat to Bayern.
Consequently, Bayern became even bolder, pushing their entire line forward and launching wave after wave of fierce attacks against Wolfsburg's defense.
Watching Bayern relentlessly press his teammates in their own half, Mark Lane was terrified on the sidelines.
However, he had already been substituted and could not fight alongside his teammates until the final moment.
If he ran out of stamina seventy or eighty minutes into every game, unable to hold on until the final whistle or taste the sweet wine of victory,
then what was the point?
Moreover, the lead he had helped build might be overturned by the opponent because he wasn't on the field!
Just like this crucial battle against the Bundesliga hegemon, he couldn't fight with the team until the end due to stamina issues, only able to watch helplessly as Bayern pressed his team.
Thinking of this, Mark Lane's eyes narrowed, and he made a decision: "This won't do! I must strengthen my physical fitness!"
"I'll talk to Raiola tonight and ask him to find me a private fitness coach..."
Fortunately, after Mark Lane was substituted, the Wolfsburg players focused even more intently on defending.
Except for Olić up front, everyone else retreated to their own half within the thirty-meter zone, setting up an impenetrable bus in front of the goal.
Especially the Netherlands international De Vrij, who had just joined from the Eredivisie, performed brilliantly in defense.
He repeatedly positioned himself accurately, blocking opponents' long shots, and intercepted several penetrating passes from Bayern players!
Finally, as Müller's low shot from outside the box was collected by Grün, the head referee blew the final whistle!
As the whistle blew, the Wolfsburg players raised their arms and cheered, excitedly celebrating this hard-won victory!
"The full match is over!"
"Thanks to the goal and assist from Wolfsburg's number seven, Mark Lane, Wolfsburg defeated the Bundesliga hegemon Bayern Munich with a score of two to one at the Allianz Arena!"
"This is an opening match that is destined to go down in history!"
"And in this match, Mark Lane's performance completely overshadowed the array of Bayern superstars..."
This victory was undoubtedly extremely crucial.
Not only was it the first time Wolfsburg had defeated Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga in many years,
but it also meant that Bayern Munich was not invincible!
The moment the match ended, Guardiola immediately walked over to shake hands with the coach who had defeated him: "Congratulations."
"Thank you."
"Your team has two real geniuses!"
After dropping this statement, Guardiola turned and left.
Only a slightly puzzled Hecking remained, pondering the meaning of the words.
"Two real geniuses? One must be Mark Lane. Who is the other one?"
After thinking about it, Hecking came up with the answer—De Bruyne, who scored the go-ahead goal!
On the other side, Mark Lane stood up from the bench and walked onto the field to shake hands with his teammates and opponents.
When he approached Müller, the latter frowned, then immediately punched Mark Lane on the chest: "You little rascal! You were wasting time!"
Mark Lane, who was being scolded, just shrugged and spread his hands: "If it were you, you would do the same thing! Besides, I really had cramps, okay!"
Glancing at Mark Lane's calves wrapped in ice packs, Müller did not refute him, but instead shook Mark Lane's hand seriously: "We lost this time... but we'll win it back next time!"
Hearing this, Mark Lane also said seriously: "I'll be waiting for you in Wolfsburg!"
After speaking, the two exchanged jerseys.
And the Man of the Match naturally went to Mark Lane for his goal and assist!
When he arrived at the interview area, a large group of reporters had been waiting for a long time.
"Mark Lane, this is the first time you've defeated Bayern in the Bundesliga in many years. Do you have any feelings you'd like to share with us now?"
"No special feeling. We've beaten them in the last two cup matches, so it's not a rare occurrence."
"This is the first time I've had cramps on the field..."
"I was planning to pass that ball back diagonally to Kevin; I knew he would definitely be in that spot..."
"Hisch and I are just good friends, that's all..."
At the post-match press conference, Guardiola faced media inquiries and attributed the loss to the team's serious injury problems.
"We didn't lose to the opponent, but to ourselves!"
"Yes, the team's injury situation made it very difficult for us to play..."
"The opponent performed very well, especially Mark Lane, he is a true genius..."
Hecking, however, appeared very humble, attributing the team's victory to "the players giving everything on the field..."
"Away from home, we performed very cohesively..."
"Of course, this is a very important victory..."
The next day.
The result of this opening match dominated the front pages of major media outlets.
This was the first time the Bundesliga hegemon Bayern Munich had ever lost a Bundesliga opening match!
This was explosive news!
It proved the saying: Bayern winning is not news; Bayern losing is!
To call it an upset? Not really.
After all, Wolfsburg was the Bundesliga third-place team last season, and the third-place team beating the first-place team doesn't seem like a huge upset.
Moreover, Wolfsburg had won the German Cup and the German Supercup against Bayern, lifting the trophies.
To call it normal? Even less so.
Since winning the title in the 2008–09 season, Wolfsburg had been a mid-table team for several seasons.
After much deliberation, the media began searching for the reasons why Wolfsburg couldn't beat Bayern before, and why they were finally able to win now.
After searching, they found one key reason:
It was Mark Lane!
Before Mark Lane was promoted to the first team, Wolfsburg hadn't beaten Bayern for many years.
But since Mark Lane was promoted in January, he had scored in four consecutive matches against Bayern and helped the team win three of those games!
Calling him the "Bayern Killer" was not an exaggeration!
Furthermore, Mark Lane was a homegrown player who helped Germany win the world cup trophy.
In the words of the British media, he was definitely the Great German Imperial Star!
Sport Bild, Kicker, Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, and other media outlets large and small all lavished praise on Mark Lane: "The Dancer from Wolfsburg!"
"A piece of art from the Städel Museum!"
"The Teutonic Sprite!"
Meanwhile, the Süddeutsche Zeitung used a photo of Mark Lane smiling as he left the field juxtaposed with a furious fan flipping him off as the cover of its sports section.
The strong contrast, combined with the match result, created an indescribable visual impact!
"Some people said that this super genius, who won the World Cup at the age of eighteen, would be completely figured out in his second Bundesliga season and fade into obscurity..."
"However, in the Bundesliga opening match, he used a goal and an assist to lead his team to victory against the powerful Bayern."
"He also proved to all his doubters that winning the world cup trophy and the world cup golden boot was merely the first step in his journey to becoming a superstar..."
Of course, aside from the praise from most newspapers and media, a few outlets maintained a neutral view.
For example, Bild pointed out the key factor that decided the match: "Bayern's defeat at home wasn't because Wolfsburg got stronger, but because Bayern got weaker."
"Their injury situation is extremely serious, with Schweinsteiger, Ribéry, Martinez, and many other key players sidelined due to injury, leaving Guardiola with very few options..."
"Of course, Wolfsburg's performance this season is also refreshing."
"Especially the genius attacking duo of Mark Lane and De Bruyne, they have excellent chemistry..."
What Mark Lane found most amusing was that after he scored and assisted to lead Wolfsburg past Bayern, he posted a photo of himself and De Bruyne in the locker room on social media.
The caption read: "Guess who scored and who assisted?"
After the post went live, likes and comments immediately skyrocketed.
It is worth mentioning that besides Wolfsburg fans, supporters of other Bundesliga teams flooded his social media comment section, starting a massive celebration party.
Some congratulated Mark Lane and Wolfsburg on defeating Bayern;
others thanked Mark Lane for defeating Bayern and helping them vent their frustration;
Seeing these comments, Mark Lane couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from curling up.
It seems the Bundesliga has suffered under Bayern for too long!
But it was understandable.
Bayern has been running roughshod over the Bundesliga, constantly gifting opponents small (large) presents (massacres) of five-nil or six-nil scorelines.
Furthermore, Bayern always likes to poach players from Bundesliga teams, taking away their core players and talents, so which Bundesliga team doesn't hate them?
Now, seeing Bayern lose the opening match, they were overjoyed!
However, what everyone did not expect was that besides Wolfsburg's "upset" victory over Bayern away from home, the result of another major confrontation was also surprising:
Last season's Bundesliga runner-up Borussia Dortmund, also missing several key players, lost two-nil at home to last season's fifth-place team, Leverkusen!
Leverkusen winger Bellarabi scored against Dortmund just nine seconds into the game, breaking the Bundesliga record for the fastest goal!
In the first round of the Bundesliga season, both last season's champions and runners-up stumbled.
Such an abnormal start to the season caught all football experts and columnists completely off guard.
However, aside from Bayern and Dortmund fans, most supporters felt things were starting to get interesting.
They were sick of watching the annual two-horse race between Bayern and Dortmund.
If Wolfsburg and Leverkusen could join the title contention this year, the Bundesliga drama would have a few more surprising twists.
Why is the Premier League so entertaining?
Firstly, commercialization is done very well; massive foreign investment makes the League environment prosperous and allows for the purchase of more excellent players.
Secondly, the League competition is fierce, and no single team dominates!
Four or five teams contend for the championship every year, and the Premier League title changes hands annually.
Furthermore, the overall skill gap between League teams is small; even the Premier League champions can slip up against relegation-battling teams.
Unlike the Bundesliga, where aside from Dortmund having some power to resist, Bayern casually hands opponents four-nil or five-nil defeats.
They massacre one team today and crush another tomorrow.
The Bundesliga is like a cornfield, and Bayern is a wild buffalo, trampling everything within it!
Of course, these are merely the results of the first round of the Bundesliga.
For Wolfsburg, if they genuinely want to contend for the Bundesliga title this season, besides winning direct confrontations with rivals, the most crucial thing is to consistently secure points.
And as one of the team's core players, Mark Lane's stamina is an issue.
Starting a game and being exhausted like a dog before the eightieth minute is not a solution!
Therefore, after the Bayern match, Hecking sought out Mark Lane and had a detailed discussion with him.
Simply put, Hecking hoped Mark Lane would undertake extra fitness training outside of his regular sessions.
Mark Lane agreed wholeheartedly and immediately proposed his plan to hire a private fitness coach in addition to the team's extra training.
Hecking was very pleased with Mark Lane's intentions and stated that the club could provide a certain subsidy.
The next day, Raiola called Mark Lane: "I'm downstairs at your place. I've brought the person you requested..." "Okay, bring him up."
However, when Mark Lane opened the door, he found that two people had come up with Raiola.
One was a lean young man named Daumann, a senior fitness trainer who graduated from the Berlin Academy of Health and Sport.
The other was a slightly stout man named Wilhelm, a professional nutritionist.
"To keep your body in peak condition, besides a reasonable workout plan, a healthy diet is also very important."
"So, I found this Mr. Wilhelm for you..."
Mark Lane had no objection to this.
In his view, forming his own private sports team would help utilize his personal free time effectively.
Moreover, the salaries for the two were not expensive, totaling only 500,000 euros per year.
In addition to these two private team members, Raiola also brought a business plan regarding Mark Lane's personal brand.
The plan detailed the initial investment, which company to partner with for the production line, and the funding required to build the brand website, among other things.
For Mark Lane, this was a business venture that could potentially earn him more money off the field.
Therefore, after careful review, he made a decision: "It all looks good. Let's proceed according to the plan!"
"Regarding the brand models, we need one male and one female. Since this is your brand, you will definitely be the male model."
"As for the female model, why don't we ask that good friend of yours?"