Bayer Leverkusen Football Club is located in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Its home stadium is the BayArena, which has a capacity of 30,000 people.
Leverkusen has won the UEFA Cup and the German Cup, but has never won the Bundesliga championship and has only been Bundesliga runner-up a few times.
Leverkusen's most glorious time was in 2002, and its most frustrating time was also in 2002.
In the 2001/2002 season, they were unstoppable on all fronts and almost won the championship in the end.
As a result, they lacked stamina and all fronts collapsed. Leverkusen only won the runner-up titles of the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League in 2002.
Everyone remembers Zidane's goal in the 2002 Champions League final, but few remember that Real Madrid's opponent in that final was Leverkusen, and that one of the opponents was the tragic superstar Ballack.
In addition, the German national team lost to the five-star Brazil in the final of the Korea-Japan World Cup that year. Leverkusen's core Ballack won a total of four runner-up titles that year and was known as the Four Runner-up King.
Although some people praised Leverkusen that season as the Sanya King Warriors, a loss is a loss.
Not only has they never won a Champions League, they haven’t even won a Bundesliga title.
Therefore, it is okay to say that Leverkusen is a traditional strong team in Germany, but most fans probably would not admit that they are a top club.
However, even so, in the general opinion of the media and fans, it is still very difficult for newly promoted Hoffenheim to defeat Leverkusen away.
Even though Hoffenheim is ranked first in the standings at this time, Leverkusen is only ranked seventh.
If Hoffenheim can rely on Lu Wenbin, who currently dominates the scorer list, to score one or two goals and take away a draw from the BayArena, it would be considered a great achievement.
By this time, the Beijing Olympics had closed on August 24, and the Chinese Football Association was in turmoil. It no longer had any deterrent effect on any domestic media. The media no longer had to look up to the Chinese Football Association to get news and inside information about the national team or the Olympic team.
Therefore, the media turned around and denounced and scolded the Football Association, but no one in the Football Association dared to respond.
Of course, there is no point in accepting the challenge. Whoever stands up will be the target of concentrated fire from the media and fans.
Under such circumstances, CCTV-5 finally responded to the calls of many Bundesliga fans and Lu Wenbin fans and broadcast the Bundesliga match between Leverkusen and Hoffenheim live.
At 14:30 on August 30th, local time in Germany, 21:30 Beijing time, with the referee's whistle, the third round of the 2008/2009 Bundesliga match between Leverkusen and Hoffenheim officially began.
Although countless people in China expressed despair about Chinese football because of the performance of the National Olympic Team at the Beijing Olympics, it did not affect everyone's viewing of the top European leagues.
Those who like football should continue to like football.
Therefore, there are still many Bundesliga fans and fans who admire Lu Wenbin who turn on the TV on time to watch this Bundesliga game.
Of course, there are also Lu Wenbin’s parents, relatives, neighbors, classmates, teachers, and many fellow villagers in Meitan, Zunyi, and Guizhou who support Lu Wenbin.
At the BayArena, after the game started, Hoffenheim, who took the lead in getting the kick-off, pressed forward collectively and launched an attack on Leverkusen's half.
No matter what the media says, Hoffenheim won the double championship last season with offensive football, and has won three consecutive victories in the German Cup and Bundesliga this season. Ralph will naturally not change tactics rashly.
Even if the opponent is strong and the goal is riddled with holes, Ralph will not change his mind easily.
The consequence of rashly changing the team's usual tactics will only make its players unable to adapt, and its advantages will not be brought into play, but its weaknesses will be exposed more.
This is also the reason why many teams use one set of tactics to conquer the world, and will not change their tactics even after their opponents have thoroughly studied them, because it is not worth the effort.
Many teams will use the same tactics for several years, but will only make minor adjustments based on the specific personnel configuration, but they will not suddenly change from offensive football to defensive counterattack, nor from defensive counterattack to offensive football.
This is true for Hoffenheim and the same for Leverkusen.
Leverkusen is also good at offensive football and does not like to play defense.
In their own home court, they are even less likely to be afraid of the newly promoted Hoffenheim.
Therefore, the two sides launched an offensive against each other from the beginning, and the game was full of passion. The fans both at the scene and in front of the TV felt their adrenaline surge, which was quite exciting.
In the 4th minute, Lu Wenbin received a header from Ibrahimovic in the penalty area and volleyed the ball, which hit the post and bounced back into the penalty area and was cleared, making the Leverkusen fans in the stands break into cold sweats, and also making the CCTV-5 commentator and domestic audiences feel regretful.
Soon, Leverkusen returned the favor.
In the 9th minute, Leverkusen's No. 8 attacking midfielder Augusto passed Komper at the front of Hoffenheim's penalty area and made a cross. No. 23 forward Vidal received the ball and fired a heavy shot from outside the penalty area.
The ball hit Hoffenheim's penalty area, but Hoffenheim goalkeeper Ozcan reacted quickly and fell to the ground and kicked the ball out of the baseline with his fingertips, which also scared Hoffenheim fans.
The two sides fought back and forth, and the offensive battle reached a climax.
In the 13th minute, Lu Wenbin finally scored his first goal of the game.
Salihovic made a cross from the wing, Ibisevic headed the ball to Demba Ba, who made a shot but feinted and passed the ball to Lu Wenbin in the penalty area.
Lu Wenbin shot the ball and it went into the goal like a cannonball. Leverkusen goalkeeper Adler was unable to react and could only watch the ball go into the net helplessly.
In the 13th minute, Hoffenheim led Leverkusen 1-0 away from home, the scorer was No. 9 Lu Wenbin.
Nearly 2,000 Hoffenheim fans in the stands cheered loudly, drowning out the boos from Leverkusen fans.
The commentator of CCTV-5 also excitedly explained loudly:
"Goal, goal, goal, goal! In the 13th minute, Lu Wenbin finally scored! He scored the first goal against Leverkusen at the BayArena, helping Hoffenheim to lead Leverkusen 1-0 away from home. In addition, Lu Wenbin's personal Bundesliga goals also rose to 6, continuing to dominate the top scorer list. Lu Wenbin is definitely a genius, there is no doubt about it."
In the family quarters of Meitan Winery, Lu Chongxin bought some melon seeds, peanuts and fruits as snacks. While cracking the seeds and peanuts and sipping a sip, he and his wife Sun Jiahui watched their son's first Bundesliga match on CCTV in high definition.
Seeing his son live up to expectations and score the first goal for the team, Lu Chongxin slapped his thigh, shouted "Good shot", then picked up the wine glass and drank it in one gulp, which scared Sun Jiahui.
"Don't drink so quickly, the game has just started! How will you watch the game if you are drunk?" Sun Jiahui said in a reproachful manner.
Lu Chongxin used chopsticks to pick up the food and said with a smile: "I'm so happy. I'll drink slowly next time!"
Then, he put the appetizer into his mouth with a happy smile on his face.