Ye Chen was excited for another reason beyond his hat-trick.
With his successful hat-trick, he had completed the main task set by the system... Completing a hat-trick in the second leg rewarded him with a Diamond Treasure Chest!
The significance of a Diamond Treasure Chest is obvious!
Each SS-level skill brings huge benefits.
Of course, this also indirectly highlights the difficulty of the match.
The game resumed.
Real Madrid was eager to equalize, or even turn the score around!
But in the final moments of regular time, Real Madrid had tried to waste time, and Dortmund responded with a "tit-for-tat" move!
Time was flying by.
118 minutes and 21 seconds.
Central defender Subotić was lying on the ground, signaling that he had cramped up.
Of course, unlike the earlier time when Ramos pretended to be injured, Subotić was genuinely cramping...
Under Van Dijk's assistance, Subotić got back on his feet and continued in the game.
Since extra substitutions were allowed only after 2018, and this rule had not yet been introduced, Subotić had to grit his teeth and endure to finish the match!
In the final moments, Real Madrid took one last gamble.
119 minutes and 18 seconds.
Inside the penalty box, Higuaín received the ball with his back to goal, but Van Dijk kicked him as he attempted to tackle.
Higuaín fell to the ground in the box.
However, the referee did not award a penalty.
The referee's decision was based on the fact that Van Dijk's contact with Higuaín was not strong enough to cause him to fall...
In other words, Higuaín might have exaggerated the fall.
At this point, whether or not a penalty was awarded didn't matter... After all, for Real Madrid to eliminate Dortmund, they needed two goals!
The away goals rule was in effect during the 2011-2012 season for extra time, meaning that with Ye Chen's goal, a draw was no longer possible between Real Madrid and Dortmund.
The away goals rule was introduced in the 2021-2022 season.
Beep! Beep!
120 minutes: The final whistle blew as extra time concluded.
On the sidelines, Mourinho and Klopp exchanged a brief greeting before leaving the field. Real Madrid players lowered their heads in dejection.
Cristiano Ronaldo, having given his all in the match, clenched his teeth and stared intensely at the scoreboard, his eyes filled with unwillingness.
Two matches, 210 minutes of effort, all for nothing...
It was heartbreaking.
Of course, at this moment, all the spotlight and cameras were on the victors.
Dortmund's substitutes rushed onto the field to celebrate wildly...
For them, this was a historic moment!
The last time Dortmund reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals was in the 1997-1998 season...
Of course, their only Champions League trophy came in the 1996-1997 season.
Dortmund's first ever Champions League final saw them defeat Juventus 3-1 to claim the title.
Despite their glorious past and dominance in the Bundesliga, few had expected much from them.
Before this year's Champions League began, who could have imagined Dortmund reaching the quarter-finals?
And after the knockout stages, who would have thought Dortmund could reach the semi-finals?
After all, their quarter-final opponents were one of the strongest teams in world football today: Real Madrid!
From coach to players, Real Madrid were at the top of the world.
Especially after dominating Barcelona in La Liga, their reputation had only grown.
Yet, in such an unfavorable situation, Dortmund had managed to slowly overturn everyone's expectations!
In the Round of 16 against Inter Milan, they crushed them 6-0 in the first leg, making the second leg feel irrelevant!
In the quarter-finals against Real Madrid, after losing 2-3 in the first leg, they managed to equalize in the dying moments of the second leg, forcing extra time, where they then struck the decisive blow!
In four knockout games, Dortmund had demonstrated extraordinary strength!
Naturally, Ye Chen, who scored 13 goals in the four knockout games, was Dortmund's star performer in securing their advancement!
His name had started to be frequently compared with Ronaldo and Messi.
Though Ronaldo had performed well in the quarter-finals, scoring three goals across two matches, he was still slightly overshadowed by Ye Chen's performance.
It's important to note that Ye Chen was directly involved in all six of Dortmund's goals in the quarter-finals.
He scored five of them himself, each one remarkable, and assisted Perišić in scoring the key equalizer!
Now, Ye Chen had risen to second place on the Champions League top scorer chart, just one goal behind Messi, who had scored 14 goals...
Dortmund fans began lighting yellow smoke bombs, celebrating as the happiest people in the stadium.
They had come prepared for the possibility of losing together.
Even if they were crushed, they had promised to "stand by the team!"
But who could have predicted that the final result would be "winning together in celebration"!
The joy was completely unexpected and unprepared for, making it feel like an indescribable rush of excitement...
It was like going out shopping and running into a perfect beauty.
A joy that leaves you wanting more, not wanting to leave!
Of course, the contrast between the happy Dortmund fans and the dejected Real Madrid fans was stark.
Real Madrid fans never imagined their team would be humiliatingly eliminated at the Bernabéu.
But could they blame the players?
Even Ronaldo, with his superior physical condition, had to play through cramps—how could they blame anyone?
As for Mourinho—he was the man who had toppled Barcelona's dominance with Real Madrid!
If anyone was to be blamed, it had to be Benzema!
If Benzema had been luckier today, he wouldn't have been substituted.
If Benzema had passed a couple of good balls to Ronaldo, there wouldn't have been extra time.
If only today...
Ultimately, Benzema carried all the blame!
After this match, Real Madrid's bigwigs finally understood why Mourinho had persuaded Florentino to pay €88.88 million to trigger Ye Chen's release clause.
From these four Champions League matches alone, it was definitely worth every penny!
Some Real Madrid fans even began to think—perhaps they should pay more than what they paid for Ronaldo to bring Ye Chen to the Bernabéu!
Facing this kid as an opponent was nothing short of a nightmare!
He would strike back even harder if you insulted him—and in the end, you could only rage helplessly, unable to refute.
It was like the slap he had delivered—those were five crucial goals.
Without just one of them, Dortmund would have been eliminated by Real Madrid!
Of course, the pain wasn't just felt by Real Madrid fans, but also by the club's legends and the esteemed president, Florentino, who was in the stands.
Florentino had arrived smiling earlier, and after the draw, he had expressed his congratulations, expecting Real Madrid to reach the Champions League semi-finals.
However, as the match progressed, his smile faded, replaced by a gloomy expression.
It's often said that a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake, but today, the snake had been rubbed into the ground...
Florentino had brought Mourinho in with a huge salary to restore Real Madrid's former glory.
Now that Real Madrid was already sitting pretty at the top of La Liga, they were hungry for more in the Champions League.
But this year's Champions League result was even worse than the previous year...
It was unacceptable!
He was already considering cutting the summer transfer budget.
After all, Florentino was a businessman, and when investments didn't yield the expected return, he had to reconsider his spending.
However, these weren't things Ye Chen needed to worry about, as the substitute players rushed onto the field, and Ye Chen, named MVP of the match, was hoisted into the air by his teammates...
"Ye Jun, you are my god!" Kagawa Shinji shouted in excitement.
Lewandowski beamed, "Ye, from now on, you're my big brother!"
"Chen Ge, you're amazing! From today, I'm your biggest fan!" Wang Chu exclaimed, his face flushed with excitement.
Mane smiled, "Same here!"
Mane might be late, but he would never miss a moment...