Hoffenheim's first opponent in European history is Udinese from Serie A, which ranked 7th at the end of last season and currently this season.
Obviously, such an opponent from the top league is much more difficult to deal with than the small league opponents encountered by Schalke 04 and Hertha Berlin.
What's more, Hoffenheim drew a rather unfavorable schedule of playing at home first and away later.
On September 18, Hoffenheim will first face Udinese at their home stadium, the Mercedes-Benz Arena, in the first round of the third qualifying round of this season's UEFA Cup.
Then, in less than a week, on September 24, Hoffenheim will travel to challenge Udinese for the second round.
In terms of schedule, it is not very favorable for Hoffenheim.
However, German media generally believe that Hoffenheim, currently ranked first in the Bundesliga and has won four consecutive games in the Bundesliga, should have no problem defeating Udinese, a mid-table team in Serie A, at home.
Especially since Hoffenheim also has Lu Wenbin, a perverted shooter with an extremely high goal rate who has scored 9 goals in four Bundesliga games, it should not be difficult to defeat their opponents by taking advantage of the home field.
The only difference is whether we can win a few more goals and make the second round easier.
Therefore, the German media are almost unanimously optimistic about Hoffenheim's home victory over Udinese.
In addition to the reason that their own media supports their own team, it is naturally also because Hoffenheim has won consecutive games and is in great form in recent games.
Hoffenheim fans also showed great confidence and enthusiasm, and were ready to welcome the club's first European home game in its history: although the stadium was on loan.
However, within the team, Ralph, who has coached in top leagues and has experience in European competitions, naturally cannot allow the players to be influenced by media comments.
Although they are both in the top league, Hoffenheim is now ranked first in the Bundesliga and should be stronger than Udinese, which is seventh in Serie A.
However, the new league season has just begun. Who knows if the rankings of Hoffenheim and Udinese will be reversed at the end of the season
Moreover, in football, victory is not guaranteed by strength, especially for Hoffenheim, a new team that has no experience in European competitions.
According to statistics, the passing speed in the UEFA Champions League is about 15 percent faster than that in the Bundesliga. If a Bundesliga team is not mentally prepared and plays in the Champions League at the pace of the league, the outcome will generally be disastrous.
Of course, we are not talking about regular Champions League participants like Bayern Munich. They naturally know how to play in the Champions League.
What we are talking about here are the inexperienced recruits like Hoffenheim.
Although the UEFA Cup is not as good as the Champions League, it is also a place where the upper and middle teams of various countries' leagues compete. The overall pace is also faster than the domestic league, and the technical and tactical level is also higher than the league.
Add to that the generous prize money, promotions, honors in European competitions, players wanting to gain greater fame through European competitions and so on, and it's clear that everyone is more excited to play in European competitions than in the league.
Therefore, Ralph specifically reminded all team members that the results in the league must not be used as a reference for the results in the UEFA Cup, and no one should have the arrogant mentality that the Bundesliga's No. 1 team will definitely win easily when playing against the Serie A's No. 7 team at home.
Everyone must ignore media comments, maintain a correct attitude, and not relax from the first minute to the last minute of the game, whether leading or lagging behind.
Ralph's warning did have some effect.
There are indeed some bad signs for the team recently.
Last season, they defeated Bayern Munich to win the German Cup. This season, they started the Bundesliga with four consecutive wins and dominated the standings, which made some players think that "the top league is just like this."
Ralph's timely warning helped these people to correct their attitude.
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The day before the game, on September 17, the entire Udinese team arrived in Mannheim and held a pre-match press conference. Head coach Marino announced the team's 18-man roster.
However, the starting lineup was not announced.
The same is true for Hoffenheim. Ralph also only announced the big list and did not announce the starting list.
Both Marino and Ralph were cautious, trying to prevent the other side from knowing the starting lineup in advance and making countermeasures.
Although everyone knows who the main players of the two teams are, there may still be some slight changes.
In the away game against Hoffenheim, Udinese head coach Marino appeared quite low-key.
Marino commented that although Hoffenheim is participating in European competitions for the first time, they are very strong and are currently ranked first in the Bundesliga, which is actually the level of a Champions League team.
Udinese, currently ranked only seventh in Serie A, aims to achieve an away draw or an away goal, and then return to their home ground for the second round to decide the outcome.
Marino's words of showing weakness were very much to the liking of the German media, and no one thought there was anything wrong with it.
It was in such a situation where the opponent showed weakness and the team was full of confidence that more than 40,000 Hoffenheim fans flocked to the outside of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on the afternoon of September 18, local time, and in the end only more than 20,000 people were able to enter the stadium.
The stadium only had so much capacity, so the rest of the crowd had to watch the team’s first European game from the square or bar outside.
As for Udinese, there are still many inconveniences in watching football abroad, so only a few hundred fans came and were allocated to a small corner of the stadium stands.
Before the game started, both sides warmed up and returned to the locker room to make final preparations.
Ralph specifically reminded the players again, requiring everyone to concentrate, face their opponents, and stay fully awake until the end of the game.
On the Udinese side, head coach Marino was busy arranging tactics.
In fact, Marino was not as low-key as he appeared in the pre-match press conference.
Any coach with blood and ambition would not give up before the game even starts.
The only purpose of showing weakness is to paralyze the opponent, make him underestimate you, and see if there is a chance to defeat him.
Of course, Marino did not pin all his hopes on these off-court moves.
In order to defeat Hoffenheim, currently ranked first in the Bundesliga, away from home, we still have to think about specific tactics.
Hoffenheim's Lu Wenbin is a killer that Marino must try to contain. If Lu Wenbin is not contained, Udinese will die.
But since Lu Wenbin made his debut, he has participated in so many Bundesliga, German 2nd Division and German Cup competitions. How many teams have truly curbed Lu Wenbin's performance
The only team that could be said to have curbed Lu Wenbin's ability to score goals in open play was Bayern Munich, their opponent in the German Cup final.
Apart from that stunning lob from midfield and the free kick in overtime, Lu Wenbin did not score any goals in the penalty area during open play.
Therefore, Marino believed that Lu Wenbin was not really unstoppable. As long as there were methods and tactics, he could definitely be stopped!
As an Italian team, defense is integrated into the genes of coaches and players.
Through the coaching staff's thorough analysis and tactical arrangements, as well as the team's thorough targeted training before the game, Marino is full of confidence in this game.