While Bayern had just secured a massive four-nil away victory against Frankfurt, Wolfsburg swept Hamburg aside with a four-nil win at home.
The two title contenders seemed to be dueling across space, constantly competing with one another.
After the match against Frankfurt, Müller, who was named Man of the Match, stated in an interview: "Although this is the first time we've become the chasers, the feeling isn't bad. Of course, we won't give up our pursuit of the title..."
"Wolfsburg has played exceptionally well this season. Competing with a team like that makes us all very—"
"Mark is an outstanding player, and I'm looking forward to our next encounter!"
During the post-match press conference, Bayern manager Guardiola also mentioned Wolfsburg and Mark again: "Yes, I have been following Wolfsburg's matches."
"I think competition is always a good thing. In this circle, we are competing every single moment... Wolfsburg is definitely a worthy opponent..."
"Mark has made great progress; he is the most exceptional player in his age group!"
Speaking of which, Guardiola actually had Wolfsburg to thank.
Originally, with Dortmund's rapid decline this season, Bayern was in a position of total dominance in the Bundesliga.
However, Wolfsburg's sudden rise had given the Bayern stars a long-lost sense of crisis.
Bayern players had always treated the Bundesliga as their own back garden.
They played however they wanted.
After all, the championship was always theirs.
But they never expected that a fellow would suddenly jump out now, pointing a sharp sword at them and saying: "The Bundesliga crown no longer belongs to you; it's my turn to wear it!"
This feeling also reminded them of that youth army from a few years ago who had snatched the Bundesliga crown from their hands!
In the past two years, they had poached the two best players from that yellow-clad youth army.
Just as it looked like Borussia Dortmund had sunk and they could finally sit comfortably on their throne looking down at the other seventeen teams fighting for second place, Wolfsburg suddenly charged onto the scene!
The back-to-back defeats in the Super Cup and the League had dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance and pride of the Bayern players, but it also ignited their fighting spirit and morale!
It also served as a reminder of a certain fact:
Please do not believe that victory is as easily obtainable as dandelions on a hillside!
Instead, you must go all out and fight for it!
As they continued their triumphant march through the Bundesliga, Wolfsburg's fame grew accordingly.
Their social media followers and discussion rates were also rising sharply.
Even though Mark was the brightest star,
the core players in the team also gained greater exposure and attention.
Among them, the one most highly regarded by the media and fans was Kevin De Bruyne, who sat firmly at the top of the assist charts!
De Bruyne, who transferred in during the last winter window for a club-record fee, had already displayed superior vision and passing last season.
This season, with Mark established as a starter, every one of his passes had a clear target.
So far, after eleven rounds of the League, he had delivered an astonishing ten assists!
Eight of those were for Mark.
If Mark was the most indestructible cannon in the entire Bundesliga, then De Bruyne was the man continuously supplying him with shells!
In addition to his League-leading ten assists, De Bruyne had also scored five goals!
Such an outstanding performance earned him the reputation of being the "Wolfsburg Engine."
Of course, besides De Bruyne, other well-performing Wolfsburg players also received more or less attention from other clubs.
Such as Perišić, Dost, and R. Rodriguez...
Naturally, the one most coveted by other clubs in all of Wolfsburg was their star player, the "Bundesliga Magician" and "Super Mark," Mark Lane!
Everyone unanimously agreed that Wolfsburg's remarkable results were inseparable from Mark's phenomenal performances.
This super talent, who had just celebrated his nineteenth birthday, had scored fourteen goals and provided six assists in eleven Bundesliga rounds!
In eleven rounds, he was directly involved in twenty goals, averaging two goal involvements per game!
Such terrifying efficiency caused the media and fans to exclaim: "What kind of monster is this?!"
Long before the season started, many of Mark's haters had made predictions on social media.
Some said the reason Mark's performance was so eye-catching last season was because he had just debuted and other teams didn't know enough about him;
Others said that this season, Mark would be thoroughly studied by other teams and definitely wouldn't be as good as last season;
Some even said he would fade into obscurity!
They were indeed right.
However, they were only half right.
Since the new season began, other Bundesliga teams had indeed conducted in-depth research and analysis on him and formulated targeted defensive strategies.
But Mark hadn't been figured out, nor had he faded into obscurity; instead, he rose to the challenge and put in even better performances.
Now, Mark used his terrifying stats of twenty goal involvements in eleven rounds to slap these haters in the face—though perhaps the haters thought their comments and abuse were important and would affect Mark.
But Mark never cared about what they thought.
Because he knew very well that it's impossible for everyone to like you.
What he needed to do was focus on himself and block out the external noise!
00.
As mid-November arrived, Mark once again headed to the National Team base in Nuremberg to report for duty.
They were about to host their final European Cup qualifier of the year at home.
Their opponent was the weakest team in the group, Gibraltar!
As one of the many Minnows in the European region, Gibraltar's strength was not worth mentioning.
The gap in strength between the two sides in this match was vast; the German National Team was the world's number one ranked team.
Gibraltar, on the other hand, didn't even have a FIFA ranking, and the team consisted mostly of amateur players.
Facing such an opponent, Löw opted for rotation, giving several newcomers the chance to start for the National Team.
It's worth noting that Mark was currently in the transition period from a newcomer to a veteran.
As a key contributor to the German Team lifting the world cup trophy, Mark had only made his National Team debut this past June.
However, in the past five months, Mark had taken the team by storm, quickly becoming an indispensable presence in the German Team's ranks!
In just five months, he had represented the German Team in fifteen matches!
In those fifteen matches, he had scored an incredible eleven goals, making him the top scorer for the entire German Team this year.
Such an appearance record and scoring efficiency had allowed him to quickly transform from a National Team newcomer into a lethal weapon on the wing that the German Team relied upon!
However, perhaps wanting to see if Mark's physical condition had improved, Löw didn't rest him but let him start instead.
Furthermore, Löw told him to be decisive when attacking with the ball, giving him the freedom to choose whether to pass or shoot himself.
Clearly, Löw had given him a great deal of freedom.
And Mark did not betray Löw's trust!
Facing such a weak opponent, the German Team took only seven minutes to break through the opponent's goal:
Mark received the ball on the left wing, and after a wall-pass combination with Götze in the middle, he charged to the left side of the edge of the penalty area. Then, surrounded by several Gibraltar players, he unleashed a curling shot that flew straight into the top corner!
Seeing Mark open the scoring, the corner of Löw's mouth twitched upward as he said to Flick beside him: "This kid's shooting seems to have improved quite a bit..."
"Yes, and his awareness for link-up play has always been good; he always takes the initiative to seek small-space wall-passes with his teammates..."
"That is a very good habit!"
One must realize that many excellent inside forwards prefer to carry the ball themselves, driving all the way to the edge of the box to deliver the final pass or strike.
Such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Hazard, Robben, and so on...
While Mark also had the ability to settle matters on his own, he didn't choose to do it himself for every ball.
His first choice was to link up with teammates and then follow up to complete the final pass or shot.
This demonstrated Mark's sense of team cooperation.
This was also why Mark had seamlessly integrated into a vital part of the German Team since his debut!
Of course, linking up with teammates didn't mean he lacked the ability to tear through the opponent's defense and score on his own!
Ten minutes later, Mark received the ball on the left again.
This time, perhaps on a whim or because he saw the opponent was truly too weak, he directly drove the ball forward. First, he used a shoulder feint to beat one man, then used the outside of his boot to cut inside while dribbling.
Immediately facing the Gibraltar defensive midfielder who lunged at him, he performed a magnificent Marseille Turn to beat another;
Finally, reaching the edge of the penalty area and facing the center-back's defense, he performed several step-overs in succession, making the opponent dizzy, before shifting the ball to his right foot and firing a low shot!
The ball whistled past the center-back's feet and tucked perfectly into the near corner of the goal!
The Gibraltar goalkeeper had no reaction; he just spread his hands in helplessness.
Since the opponent was so weak, Mark didn't celebrate after the goal; he just turned around and shared smiles and high-fives with his teammates.
Seeing this, Löw also nodded secretly from the sidelines.
"This kid really has the aura of a great general!"
Because the disparity in strength was so extreme, the German Team essentially pinned Gibraltar in their own half for the entire match, relentlessly pressuring them. The Gibraltar players couldn't even touch the ball.
Under the siege, Gibraltar's gates were breached for a third time.
And the scorer was once again Mark!
In the twenty-seventh minute, Götze sent a through ball, and Mönchengladbach forward Kruse was brought down in the box. The referee decisively awarded a penalty.
Generally, in the German Team, whoever draws the penalty is entitled to take it.
However, since Mark had already scored two goals and was only one away from a Hat-trick,
and most teams have a convention of letting a player on a brace take the penalty,
Neuer, who was wearing the captain's armband for this match, shouted loudly from the back: "Let Mark take it!"
So Mark took the ball from Khedira and stepped up to the penalty spot.
This was the first penalty of his professional career.
Standing at the spot, looking at the keeper and the goal so close at hand, Mark suddenly realized that compared to taking a free kick, the pressure of a penalty was even greater.
Because a penalty is generally considered a guaranteed goal.
If you miss, you'll be criticized.
But free kicks are different.
Even if you miss a free kick, no one says much.
Of course, the difficulty of the two is also completely different.
Since he had never taken a penalty at the club level and had never practiced them,
Mark thought for a few seconds and decided on a simple approach.
That was to pick a direction and let power create the miracle!
Bang!
With the laces of his boot striking the center of the ball hard, the ball rocketed out, flying straight into the top right corner of the goal.
Although the Gibraltar goalkeeper guessed the right direction and made a diving save,
the ball was too fast, and his fingertips couldn't reach it...
As the ball hit the net with a'swish', the fans in the stadium erupted in deafening cheers once again!
In less than thirty minutes, Mark had stabbed Gibraltar three times, completing his Hat-trick!
"A Hat-trick!"
"Let's congratulate Lane; he has scored the youngest Hat-trick in German National Team history!"
"At just nineteen years old, Mark Lane is creating his own history step by step!"
After the goal, Mark first turned around to high-five and hug Kruse, who had given up the penalty for him.
"Thanks, mate. I'll assist you later!"
Hearing this, Kruse, who had been feeling a bit down, immediately felt much better.
"Haha, alright."
After high-fiving his teammates one by one, Mark suddenly thought of something. He went to the camera at the side of the pitch, smiled at the lens, and performed his previous finger-snap celebration!
It's worth mentioning that this celebration had received praise from fans and followers across various media outlets.
They felt that Mark's nickname, the "Bundesliga Magician," was a perfect fit for this stylish finger-snapping gesture.
Mark was responding to the fans' calls by performing the celebration again.
With a three-goal lead, the German Team played even more calmly and composedly.
Mark transformed into a playmaker, and after beating defenders on the wing, he would cross the ball, trying his best to assist Kruse.
In the forty-fourth minute, after reaching the byline on the left, he used the outside of his boot to chip a cross toward the front of the goal.
Kruse rushed in and poked the ball into Gibraltar's net!
Kruse was very excited after the goal. He spread his arms and ran to the corner flag to receive the cheers and applause from the fans.
Then he turned around and didn't forget to raise his hands and point at Mark, who had assisted him: "Mate, thanks."
"You're welcome."
Just like that, thanks to Mark's individual brilliance, the German Team had already blown Gibraltar away in the first half!
During the halftime break, Löw substituted Mark, who had scored a Hat-trick, and brought on Podolski.
In the second half, the German Team continued to suppress Gibraltar until the final second of the match.
Ultimately, the German Team slaughtered Gibraltar seven-nil at home, remaining undefeated.
After four rounds of European Cup Qualifiers, the German Team had three wins and one draw, earning ten points and ranking first in the group.
There was basically no suspense about them advancing to the 2016 European Cup!