When the Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi blew the final whistle, Gao Shen stood helplessly in front of the visiting team's dugout at Signal Iduna Park, raising his hands in frustration. The result was simply unacceptable.
Neither he, the players, nor the fans would be satisfied with it.
One-all. That was the final score in the third round of the Champions League Group D, as Manchester City faced Dortmund away.
Manchester City wasted far too many chances in this match.
Right from kickoff, the visitors took the initiative and launched wave after wave of attacks.
Gao Shen knew well that Dortmund would press hard in the opening phase, so City opted to take the initiative.
In just the fourth minute, Manchester City created a huge opportunity.
Suarez received the ball on the left side of the penalty area, dribbled past Dortmund captain Kehl, and took a shot. It was blocked by Hummels and bounced to the left side of the box. Gareth Bale rushed in with a one-on-one chance but rushed the shot and missed.
That was Bale's sweet spot.
But it felt like a shadow hung over Manchester City tonight. Their shots were just slightly off target.
In the sixth minute, it was Suarez again feeding Bale. Another shot from the left side of the penalty area, but this time, it went over the bar. Bale was clearly anxious.
Three minutes later, David Luiz unexpectedly surged forward and delivered a pass behind the defense. Suarez sprinted into space for a one-on-one. After chesting the ball down, he volleyed, but once again, it flew too high.
After squandering three clear scoring chances, Manchester City finally paid the price.
In the 15th minute, when City's prolonged pressure failed to yield a goal, Dortmund capitalized on a counterattack. Götze played a precise through ball, and Lewandowski, just outside the penalty area, got to the ball before Neuer, poked it past the onrushing goalkeeper, and calmly finished into the empty net.
One-nil.
Dortmund took the lead at home.
Manchester City responded with fierce pressure.
Despite being at home, the Yellow Wall's side was forced onto the back foot by the visitors.
In the 33rd minute, David Silva threaded a pass through to Bale, who burst into the left side of the penalty area and fired a left-footed shot toward the near post. It looked certain to go in, but Dortmund keeper Weidenfeller, as if touched by divine intervention, pulled off a miraculous save.
Five minutes later, Lichtsteiner surged forward on the right flank and delivered a cross. Suarez met it with a header in front of the six-yard box, but the angle was too central, and the goalkeeper collected it easily.
The scene resembled City hammering away at Dortmund, but the Bundesliga side held firm with remarkable tenacity.
Especially near the end of the first half, Manchester City ramped up the intensity once again.
Gao Shen knew that going into the second half while trailing would make things much more difficult.
This time, it was Suarez's tracking back that won the ball. He intercepted Kehl's pass and quickly laid it off to Rakitic, who fed it to Robben.
The Dutchman had been quiet all night, clearly out of form. But upon receiving the ball, he still cut inside from the right, shook off Schmelzer, and played a direct through ball.
Suarez darted into the right side of the penalty area, got a one-on-one chance, and slotted it past the keeper with his right foot, leveling the score for Manchester City.
During the halftime break, Gao Shen expressed his dissatisfaction with the team's performance. He felt that the players lacked resolve and composure, especially when dealing with Dortmund's aggressive pressing.
"Sahin went to Real Madrid, and Gundogan is still new. Klopp didn't even dare to play him tonight, just left him on the bench. That's our opening!"
Gao Shen urged his players to stay calm and manage the tempo of the match patiently.
They couldn't allow Dortmund to dictate the pace or throw them off their rhythm.
After the break, Gao Shen's criticism, combined with the 1-1 scoreline, helped stabilize City. They regained control of the game's tempo.
Dortmund tried to respond, but couldn't create much. Instead, they were almost undone by a lightning-fast counterattack in the 56th minute.
The front three of Bale, Suarez, and Robben broke forward with blistering pace. Robben finally received the ball on the right, beat Hummels one-on-one, and found himself through on goal, but Weidenfeller once again made a heroic save.
Another golden opportunity missed.
On the resulting corner, City created another threat, but again failed to convert.
By this point, Gao Shen knew.
With the current state of the team tonight, winning was going to be difficult.
He made multiple substitutions in an attempt to shift the momentum, but ultimately to no avail.
Toward the end, he even played Van Persie and Suarez together, but in the 87th minute, Van Persie's powerful shot was once again denied by a brilliant Weidenfeller save.
Over the course of the match, Manchester City had 28 shots to Dortmund's 13.
One-all. The two sides shook hands and shared the points.
"It's a shame. We dropped two points that should have been ours."
At the final whistle, Klopp walked over to the visiting dugout and extended his hand. Before Gao Shen could say anything, the bearded German coach was already speaking.
Gao Shen looked at Carlo next to him. The assistant coach was speechless.
It was one of those moments: As long as I'm not embarrassed, it's you who'll feel awkward.
"Jurgen, you're far thicker-skinned than your team's performance tonight." Gao Shen was blunt.
Klopp chuckled, then laughed loudly and came forward to hug him.
The relationship between the two was actually very good. When Klopp first took charge at Dortmund, Gao Shen had brought his team to play a friendly to help Klopp assess and fine-tune his squad.
Back then, Klopp and Tuchel had traveled all the way from Germany to Italy to attend Gao Shen's advanced coaching classes. They hadn't missed a single one.
"To be honest, we weren't in great shape tonight. If we were in better form, you wouldn't be laughing now."
Klopp maintained a friendly smile, but with his scruffy look, it didn't exactly scream "gentleman." More like:
"Say what you want. I'll let you have your moment."
The unspoken meaning was: Try saying that out loud, and I'll roast you on the spot!
"The fans know the truth!" Gao Shen wasn't backing down.
To be fair, Dortmund performed well tonight, especially in pressing and defense. That's what earned them the draw against City.
"But the midfield lacked control. That's a major problem."
Klopp's midfield trio tonight consisted of Shinji Kagawa, Sven Bender, and Kehl. They played a 4-2-3-1 formation with Götze on the right.
Admittedly, Kagawa was sharp and hard-working, making him easy to integrate.
But up against Javi Martinez, he barely had a chance.
"If we weren't playing Manchester City, I'd have started Gundogan instead of Kehl. But our bigger issue is the lack of wide threat in attack."
Gao Shen had a deep impression of Dortmund's lineup. Compared to the team at its peak, this version was nearly complete. The remaining gaps were just details.
Kagawa would later go to Manchester United. Götze would shift to a central role. Once Reus joined from Borussia Mönchengladbach to play on the wing, Dortmund would really take off.
According to reports from the German media, Klopp was indeed very interested in Reus.
The young winger had come through Dortmund's youth system and had been under close watch by their scouting department for years.
This entire lineup was Klopp's creation. He naturally understood its strengths and weaknesses.
"With your current average age, you're just about ready to start getting results."
Dortmund's squad was incredibly young.
For instance, in defense, Schmelzer, Hummels, and Subotic were all born in 1988, making them under 23. Piszczek was the oldest at 26.
It was a squad full of youthful energy.
But therein lay the problem.
Later, Klopp's Dortmund suddenly lost form, and age played a big part.
His tactical style demanded extreme intensity and stamina. Without control, the system relied heavily on running, which drained players quickly.
Of course, given Dortmund's financial situation, they were in a position similar to Atlético Madrid.
With that level of funding, it was hard to sign top-tier players with exceptional technical ability, and it didn't match the club's strategic philosophy either.
That's why they kept selling players — from Sahin, to Kagawa, to Gundogan, to Götze.
Building a technically gifted midfield required money.
Alternatively, you could try developing youth, but it's nearly impossible to find several elite-level players at the same time.
Take Sahin's departure, for example. Gundogan still hadn't fully replaced him. Otherwise, why would Klopp have started Kehl?
Kehl's technical ability was clearly lacking, which led directly to Manchester City intercepting his pass.
While Gao Shen and Klopp chatted on the touchline, the result of the other Group D match came in from the Estádio do Dragão in Porto.
Real Madrid scored first but were ultimately beaten 2-1 by the home side Porto.
Mourinho's new reign had gotten off to a disastrous start.
When Gao Shen and Klopp heard the news, they exchanged glances, both stunned.
Gao Shen was filled with mixed emotions. But Klopp couldn't hide the joy on his face.
This result lifted pressure off Dortmund significantly.
Now, both Manchester City and Dortmund had two wins and one draw, each sitting on seven points. Porto had one win and two losses, with three points. Real Madrid had lost all three matches and were dead last in the group.
Once again, this proved that in today's European football, the era of blindly assembling superstars was over.
Even a star-studded Galácticos side like Real Madrid would lose if their superstars couldn't play cohesively.
Because no matter how great a player is, they still rely on the collective to shine.
Right now, Real Madrid were suffering from deep-rooted issues. No amount of star power could stop their downward spiral.
It wasn't even about being bad. The problem was their Champions League campaign had completely collapsed.
Back when Atlético Madrid got relegated, weren't they also full of stars?
At least for now, Real Madrid hadn't been relegated, right?
(To be continued.)