The match time span between the Bundesliga teams in the 27th round is a bit long. The match between Kaiserslautern and Hoffenheim is on April 4, while the last match between Cologne and Borussia Mönchengladbach is postponed to April 7.
On the evening of April 7, the previously ranked first Borussia Mönchengladbach and the third-ranked Cologne played out a 1-1 draw at Cologne's home stadium, and no one benefited.
When the game ended, Hoffenheim tied with Borussia Mönchengladbach in points, with both teams having 52 points.
Hoffenheim scored a lot of goals thanks to the addition of Lu Wenbin after the winter break.
Therefore, in the Bundesliga standings after the 27th round, Hoffenheim surpassed Borussia Mönchengladbach, who had the same 52 points, on the standings with the advantage of goal difference, and ranked first in the standings for the first time this season.
Ranked first in the standings, the team has won 13 games in a row, Lu Wenbin has scored in 13 consecutive games…
The performance of Hoffenheim and Lu Wenbin not only shocked Germany, but also attracted a large number of media and fans in Europe to pay attention to them.
Some people commented that if Lu Wenbin helps Hoffenheim to be promoted to the Bundesliga as the champion of the Bundesliga this season, and if Lu Wenbin can continue his outstanding performance in the Bundesliga next season, the 2008 European Golden Boy Award selected by Italy's Turin Sports Daily is likely to lose its suspense early and become Lu Wenbin's pocket.
Both the Hoffenheim club and the fans were very happy to see the reports and comments in these foreign newspapers.
Obviously, Hoffenheim's popularity has not only spread beyond the Bundesliga 2 and spread throughout Germany, but also has a certain degree of popularity abroad.
Dietmar Hopp even rarely intervened in the team's competitive affairs and had a special talk with Ralf Rangnick, asking Ralf to publicly establish Lu Wenbin's core position in the team.
It’s not because Lu Wenbin is the direct descendant that Hope brought from China himself, but because in Hope’s heart, the European Golden Boy Award is a world-renowned award.
If Lu Wenbin from Hoffenheim can win the award, it will undoubtedly be a kind of publicity for Hoffenheim.
Moreover, Lu Wenbin has scored in 13 consecutive games, with a total of 29 goals, ranking first in both the Bundesliga 2 scorer list and the German Cup scorer list. Such performance naturally deserves to be treated as a core by the team.
After some consideration, Ralf Rangnick agreed to his boss's request.
Therefore, before the 28th round of the league, Ralph publicly established Lu Wenbin's core position within the team at an internal team meeting.
He is not only the core of the offense, but also the core of the entire team. In the future, Lu Wenbin will be the first penalty taker for free kicks, penalties, etc., and it is not just a tacit agreement of his teammates.
Unless there are special circumstances, Lu Wenbin will be the one who must start in every game.
When announcing this decision, Ralph was a little worried that it would cause a backlash from captain Salihovic.
If an internal conflict breaks out within the team at this time, it will obviously be detrimental to the team's subsequent games.
However, Salihovic just frowned slightly, and then calmly took the lead in expressing his agreement.
Although Salihovic felt uncomfortable, for some reason he just couldn't get angry with Lu Wenbin.
Salihovic felt that perhaps it was Lu Wenbin's performance after joining the first team that convinced him, the big brother, so he calmly accepted the fact that Lu Wenbin replaced him as the team's core.
In fact, everyone doesn’t know that Lu Wenbin’s genius performance is only one aspect, and Lu Wenbin’s leadership aura has a crucial impact on Salihovic.
Otherwise, a 17-year-old young man who has only been in the first team for less than half a season, no matter how great his contributions are, it is impossible for Salihovic to be convinced.
After calmly establishing the new core of the team, Hoffenheim's tactics also underwent some changes. The whole team began to build new tactics around Lu Wenbin, and everyone's top priority was to supply Lu Wenbin with ammunition.
Ralph just wanted to see how many goals Lu Wenbin could score in a game after the whole team gathered together to supply him with ammunition, with his accurate shooting skills in front of the goal.
On April 11, in the 28th round of the 2007/2008 German 2nd Division, Hoffenheim played against ninth-ranked Aachen at home, which became Lu Wenbin's first game as the new core.
Lu Wenbin knew that although he had the protection of a leader's aura, he was only a beginner after all. Moreover, the new core was not just a verbal statement, but required actual performance to cooperate.
If Lu Wenbin fails to put in a convincing performance in today's game, even with his leadership aura, it is hard to guarantee that Salihovic will not resist.
Not to mention the internal strife within the team, with Salihovic's ability to organize the attack, as long as he passes the ball less to Lu Wenbin on the court, Lu Wenbin will have fewer chances to score goals.
Therefore, in this home game against Aachen in the 28th round, Lu Wenbin showed the same fighting spirit as in the German Cup semi-final.
Of course, the teammates also followed the instructions of the head coach and gathered the whole team's strength to provide ammunition to Lu Wenbin to see what performance this new core can bring.
As a result, in the third minute of the game, some fans had not yet sat down, and Lu Wenbin received a header from Ibrahimovic on the right side of the top of the penalty area and volleyed the ball, which flew into the upper left corner of Aachen's goal like a cruise missile.
Aachen's goalkeeper turned his head blankly and watched the ball go into the net, without even having time to make a save.
It was only the 3rd minute into the game, it was too fast!
Inside and outside the stadium, countless people were stunned, only the sound of Lu Wenbin roaring and rushing to the sidelines resounded throughout the venue.
The whole audience was silent for a second or two, and then suddenly there was a huge scream and roar.
An excited fan flipped over the guardrail, jumped down and rushed towards Lu Wenbin with open arms.
Lu Wenbin was startled at first, but thinking that it was a fan who admired him, Lu Wenbin did not hide. He hugged the fan who rushed over and asked him to take a photo with him using his mobile phone.
Then, the satisfied fan was dragged away by security.
This little episode made Lu Wenbin even more motivated: I also have die-hard fans who are willing to climb over the guardrail to chase my idol!
The following game made the Aachen players feel desperate.
It’s not that they didn’t mark Lu Wenbin, but that Lu Wenbin’s shooting skills were too accurate and his ability to seize shooting opportunities was too strong.
Even if someone is assigned to mark Lu Wenbin, Lu Wenbin has 10/10 off-ball running and 13/13 dribbling. How is it possible to completely mark Lu Wenbin for the entire 90 minutes of the game
Even the Bundesliga giants Dortmund can't do it, let alone Aachen, who is in the middle of the Bundesliga
As long as Lu Wenbin gets the chance to shoot, his 20/20 full-value shooting attribute is simply unstoppable near the penalty area.