Chapter 162: The Yellow Wall
The Westfalenstadion did not welcome visitors. It devoured them.
Eighty thousand supporters were packed into the ground, with more than twenty-five thousand jammed onto the South Stand alone. That colossal yellow terrace formed the biggest single standing bank in world football, rising like a sheer cliff face behind the southern goal. When Schalke walked out from the tunnel mouth, even the veteran players who had visited the ground half a dozen times looked up and felt the intimidation. The roar was heavy enough to feel in your ribs, vibrating through the turf beneath their boots, while an enormous banner unfurled slowly across the yellow sea above, showing a golden crown towering over the standing terraces.
Farfán jogged alongside Mateo, blowing out a long breath through puffed cheeks. "Man, I genuinely forgot how loud this place gets."
"You've played here before, haven't you?" Mateo asked, adjusting his shin pads.
"Twice," Farfán said, rolling his neck to work out the tension. "Trust me, you never really get used to it. Just keep your head up and remember what we worked on. Hit that channel early."
The captains met the referee in the center circle for the coin toss, the officials synched their watches, and the whistle blew. The sound was swallowed almost instantly by eighty thousand voices as the Revierderby got underway.
Schalke controlled the opening kick, and they gave up possession almost right away, though the sequence caught Dortmund completely on the back foot.
Huntelaar dropped deep and laid a short ball off to Farfán. The Peruvian took the touch under immediate pressure from Robert Lewandowski, dropped his right shoulder with quick balance, and skipped cleanly past the Polish striker. The clean move drew an angry collective growl from the nearest row of the stands.
Shinji Kagawa came sprinting in from behind and chopped Farfán down without warning.
It was never an honest attempt to win the ball. Farfán had already knocked his touch into open grass, leaving Kagawa to drive his studs directly into the meat of the winger's calf. Farfán hit the grass hard, rolling onto his side with both hands clamped tightly around his lower leg.
The referee's whistle shrilled sharply through the noise. Mateo took three quick, angry strides toward Kagawa before he even realized his feet were moving, his teeth clenched, until Huntelaar threw an arm across his chest to hold him back.
"Leave it, Mateo," Huntelaar said firmly, keeping his frame between them. "Calm down. He's just trying to bait you. You don't take a yellow card in the third minute of a derby."
The referee wedged himself between the clusters of blue and yellow shirts, pointing an aggressive finger at Kagawa while delivering a stern verbal lecture. He never reached for his pocket. Just a wagging finger, a harsh warning, and nothing more.
It was an early call that set the temperature for the entire afternoon. Showing a card right there might have set clear boundaries and cooled the pitch down. Giving a basic warning told every single player on the pitch that the referee was willing to let heavy challenges slide, and neither team took long to register that fact.
Farfán slowly climbed back to his feet, testing the weight on his ankle before waving away the medical staff.
The foul was too far out on the right touchline for Mateo to test the keeper directly, so he jogged forward into the penalty box and left the dead ball to Farfán.
Farfán kept the delivery simple. He took a short run-up and lofted a high, curving cross toward the penalty spot. The box immediately dissolved into a brawl of tugged shirts and jostling shoulders as six players fought for position underneath the dropping ball.
Jones threw himself straight into the center of the pile.
He was far from the tallest player in the area, but he attacked the flight of the ball with absolute ferocity, splitting Marcel Schmelzer and Mats Hummels to get his forehead to the leather first. Instead of attempting a difficult looping header on goal, he glanced it down across the six-yard box, redirecting it into the exact pocket of grass that the Dortmund center-backs had just vacated.
Huntelaar was already waiting there.
The Dutch striker had read the trajectory the moment Jones jumped, slipping off Neven Subotić's shoulder while the entire defense was watching the cross. Jones's knockdown bounced cleanly a yard out from the goal line, and Huntelaar didn't hesitate for a heartbeat. He swung his right boot through the bouncing ball, smashing a low half-volley past Roman Weidenfeller before the keeper could even plant his feet.
The net billowed violently.
SWISH!
1-0.
Three minutes on the clock. Schalke 04 led one-nil against Borussia Dortmund, right on away soil, silence washing over the bottom rows of the yellow wall.
Huntelaar wheeled away toward the corner flag, pumping his fists, while Jones charged after him letting out a wild roar to make sure everyone knew whose header created the chance. Mateo arrived a second later, leaping straight onto Jones's back, wrapping his arms around his shoulders, and laughing into his ear.
"A glancing header?" Mateo shouted, nearly getting shaken off as Jones kept jogging. "From you? In the Ruhr Derby?"
"Hey, don't look so shocked," Jones said with a huge grin, hauling Mateo up higher before the rest of the squad piled in. "I've got plenty of hidden qualities, kid."
"Your main quality is screaming at referees and tackling people," Mateo said, laughing as the rest of the squad arrived. "That was genuinely brilliant though."
"I told you, it's a secret weapon," Jones laughed, catching his breath. "If I brought out the pure elegance every week, they'd put me on the wing."
Farfán jogged over to join them, and the huddle broke apart almost immediately. They made their way back to their own half at a steady jog, fully aware that spending too much time celebrating an early goal in this stadium would only invite trouble.
The massive South Stand had lost its rhythm.
A stunned hush swept through the South Stand, cutting the booming terrace anthem in half. Twenty-five thousand ultras shifted uncomfortably on their feet, murmuring in frustration as they watched their runaway title march run straight into an away goal inside three minutes.
Over on the Dortmund sideline, Jürgen Klopp stood near the line with both hands jammed onto his hips, staring at the celebrating Schalke players with a grim face. He clapped his hands together with a sharp, echoing snap, shouting tactical reminders to pull his yellow shirts back into shape. His side was sitting comfortably atop the table and playing some of the most dynamic football on the continent. Conceding once in the third minute was a nuisance, nothing more. They had eighty-seven minutes left to play at home, backed by the loudest supporters in the country.
In the center circle, Mateo felt the familiar visual overlay light up his field of vision as Dortmund prepared to take the restart. Scoring that early had taken the edge off his nerves, or perhaps the hard tackle on Farfán had simply focused his senses. His legs felt completely fresh, the pace of the game seemed manageable, and the passing channels through Dortmund's midfield suddenly appeared wider than normal.
A week of hard training was already showing on the pitch. His offensive rating hadn't officially crossed the threshold yet, and he still had plenty of work ahead, but the extra practice had clearly sharpened his instincts. When he looked across the field, the system was highlighting direct, attacking runs straight into the open grass behind Mats Hummels.
It was painting luminous trajectories straight into the open grass behind the backline, daring him to make the run himself.
Lewandowski stood over the ball in the center circle, waiting for the whistle with a cold, focused expression, entirely focused on leveling the score.
He had no way of knowing just how volatile the rest of the afternoon was going to become.
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