The second half began.
Neither side made a substitution.
Both teams switched ends and resumed play.
Not long after the restart,
Atlético immediately created danger.
Costa received Shane Carter's through ball inside the box, turned, and shot at once.
The ball went to the left, but Weidenfeller got down and pushed it away.
"So close! A great save by Weidenfeller!"
German commentator Schmitz shouted, thrusting his arm into the air.
Soon after,
Dortmund answered in their own way.
Atlético were passing in midfield when Koke tried to play forward, only for Hummels to step in and intercept.
Hummels played a direct pass to Reus.
Reus then angled it to Götze.
Without stopping the ball, Götze used the inside of his foot to curl a pass into the middle.
Amid the boos,
Lewandowski arrived centrally and pushed it into the net.
But just as he was about to celebrate,
the referee's whistle sounded.
Lewandowski was offside.
The Polish striker stared in shock.
"Offside? Me?! Did you even see it properly?!"
He charged toward the assistant referee, who had raised his flag, and shouted at him.
The assistant did not respond.
He lowered the flag, turned, and ran back.
Other Dortmund players rushed to the referee to protest.
English referee Atkinson remained expressionless, pointed to the offside spot, and indicated that Atlético should restart the play, then turned and walked away.
Simeone, standing on the sideline, was startled at first.
Then he let out a sigh of relief.
And then he heard Klopp roaring.
"Offside? Offside? How the hell is that offside! Are you blind?!"
The moment Simeone heard that, he seemed to jolt upright like he'd been electrocuted.
He pointed at Klopp and shouted to the fourth official:
"He said you're blind! Klopp said you're all blind! Hey, hey, hey! Can he even say that?!"
Klopp flew into a rage at once.
He glared at Simeone, clenched his fist, and stepped forward.
"What the hell are you talking about? You got a huge gift! Damn it, that was a goal! You should be out!"
"It was offside!"
Simeone refused to back down, chin raised as he stepped up too.
The fourth official had a headache.
Fortunately, both coaches still managed to keep some control.
Before the two furious roosters could get close enough to clash, officials pulled them apart.
"That's home advantage for Atlético Madrid..." German commentator Schmitz said.
Just then,
the TV broadcast showed a side angle from the touchline camera.
At the instant Götze played the ball,
Lewandowski's head had indeed crept forward.
It was not a wrong call.
But the players on the pitch did not know that.
Lewandowski was sure he had been onside.
He felt he had made the run from behind.
Naturally, the rest of the Dortmund players also believed it was a great counterattack.
Their goal had been disallowed.
That ignited Dortmund's anger.
As a result, the intensity of the match rose sharply.
Tackles and collisions came thick and fast.
Atlético Madrid and Dortmund.
Two newly risen teams.
Simeone and Klopp.
Two young, highly individualistic managers.
Their clash—
who would come out on top?
.....
Time ticked away one second at a time.
With the fierce battle in midfield,
there were fewer clear shooting chances during this spell.
Atlético still had not scored.
Simeone checked the clock.
It was already the 60th minute...
He looked toward the bench and made a substitution.
Adrián came on for Raúl García in a like-for-like change.
It was like-for-like in name,
but Adrián was still a different type of player.
He had more of a winger profile than a midfielder's profile.
Raúl García was more of a midfield type.
Going forward,
Adrián could offer more than Raúl García.
In fact,
after Adrián came on,
Koke moved centrally,
almost level with Gabi.
Shane pushed farther up,
level with Griezmann.
Adrián took a more advanced position.
Atlético were effectively playing a 4-2-2-2.
The purpose of this change was obvious:
to strengthen the attack.
Seeing the opponent make that kind of adjustment,
Klopp was secretly pleased.
He felt Simeone was getting impatient.
Replacing a midfielder with an attacker and changing the shape of the team—
that was a pretty aggressive move.
Especially with Shane moving higher up the pitch,
Atlético were weakened in midfield duels and defensive coverage.
In that case,
Klopp wanted to see whether Atlético could still hold up
under Dortmund's midfield pressure.
.....
The substitution made Atlético's attack even stronger.
In the 65th minute,
Shane and Griezmann played a one-two in the attacking midfield zone, and Shane threaded a pass into the box.
Costa arrived on time and struck first time with a sweeping shot.
The ball skimmed along the ground toward goal.
Against such a dangerous attempt,
Weidenfeller was inspired.
He dove sideways, got a fingertip to the ball, and changed its direction.
The ball crashed off the post and came back out.
As he landed, Weidenfeller gathered it calmly, then got back to his feet, rushed out of the six-yard area, and threw the ball out by hand.
Atlético's players had no time to feel disappointed.
They had to switch immediately into defense.
"Costa shoots... Weidenfeller! A brilliant save.... Weidenfeller launches the counterattack with a throw! In midfield... Gündoğan has it, passes to Götze..."
Gündoğan knew Shane was lurking behind him.
So he did not stop the ball, but passed it sideways to Götze.
Götze was facing the attacking direction at an angle.
Meeting Gündoğan's pass, he used the instep of his right foot to lift the ball.
The pass came out so suddenly.
It had a little of the same feel as Shane's pass to Griezmann in the first half.
The ball flew diagonally through the air toward the center.
All eyes turned there.
"Lewandowski!!"
Atlético fans were horrified to see that Lewandowski had already gotten behind the Atlético back line.
He was chasing the ball!
"Lewandowski... one-on-one!"
The German commentator roared.
Atlético players all raised their hands.
"Offside!"
Atlético fans shouted offside too.
But Lewandowski didn't care.
He brought the ball under control.
Under the torrent of boos,
the Pole glanced at the goalkeeper's position, then struck a low finish!
The ball flashed away from Lewandowski's foot.
"Goal! 2-1!" the German commentator shouted, leaping up.
"Dortmund have two away goals!"
The Calderón fell silent.
Everyone instinctively looked up at the big screen.
The freeze-frame showed that at the moment Götze passed the ball, just like the previous goal, Lewandowski had leaned forward by a head.
But the difference was this:
this time...
the referee did not call offside.
He blew his whistle, pointed to the center circle.
The goal...
stood.
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