There is no home and away double round-robin in the UEFA Cup group stage, and the two teams only have one game against each other.
At 18:30 on the afternoon of October 23rd, local time in Germany, with the referee's whistle, the first match of the first round of Group D of the 2008/2009 UEFA Cup, the last session, Hoffenheim's home game against Tottenham Hotspur, officially began.
The second match of the first round in the same group, Dinamo Zagreb vs. Nijmegen, will not start until 9 p.m., while Spartak Moscow will have a bye in the first round.
Hoffenheim and Tottenham played the same 433 formation in this game, and both sides started to attack from the first minute.
It is true that Hoffenheim lost to Blackburn in the pre-season friendly match, but at that time Hoffenheim had not yet started playing in the Bundesliga and was actually a newly promoted team from the Bundesliga.
Moreover, everyone was not mentally prepared for the first time playing against a Premier League team, not to mention it was an away game, so losing was acceptable.
But now it is different. After eight rounds of top leagues and two rounds of UEFA Cup qualifiers, the spirit of Hoffenheim players is very different from before the start of the season, and their abilities and cooperation have also improved.
What's more, this is a home court, so Hoffenheim will not be afraid of Tottenham, which is last in the Premier League.
As for Tottenham, attacking is also their tradition. And facing their old rivals Germany, they will not shrink their defense and lose face.
There is also the factor of the head coach.
After eight Premier League games without a win and ranking last with only 2 points, head coach Ramos' position is already shaky, and he also needs a hearty victory in the European war to prolong his position.
Therefore, the game started with both sides attacking each other from the first minute, and everyone wanted to use their advantages to score a goal.
With the cheers of the home fans, Lu Wenbin almost got the chance to shoot by successfully making an offside move in the 6th minute.
However, Tottenham defender Ledley, who was quick-eyed and quick-handed, reached out and pulled him, causing his body to pause for a moment, and then the ball was snatched away by right-back Hatton who was chasing back.
Lu Wenbin complained to the referee but received no response and had no choice but to continue playing.
There are so many pulling, bumping, and pushing actions on the football field and they are so normal.
Unless it is too obvious, the referee will generally turn a blind eye and not do anything.
Lu Wenbin was just protesting casually in order to give the referee the impression that the opponent was not playing cleanly. If the opponent did the same thing again next time, the referee might call a foul on Ledley.
Then, in the 14th minute, Tottenham also got a chance to shoot.
Demba Ba's dribble was intercepted by Tottenham and then passed to left winger Gareth Bale who retreated to the backcourt.
After Bale got the ball, he dribbled and avoided Eduardo's attempt to steal it.
Afterwards, Bale dribbled the ball at high speed from the wing and launched a counterattack. Finally, he feinted when facing left-back Ibertsberger, broke through Ibertsberger and cut inside to shoot.
However, Bale's shot was much worse than Lu Wenbin's. This shot did not hit the goal frame, but went wide of the goal and hit the billboard.
But Bale's speed still left a deep impression on Hoffenheim's players and fans. Gustavo, Ibertsberger and others became more wary of Bale.
On the other hand, Tottenham also took advantage of Lu Wenbin's weak physique and arranged a defender Ledley to closely guard Lu Wenbin, and occasionally used small movements to push and bump Lu Wenbin.
Lu Wenbin's physical condition is indeed a weakness, but he is not a standing center, so he doesn't need to tangle with Ledley. Instead, he can use his 19/19 off-ball running to perform guerrilla warfare.
Moreover, Lu Wenbin can receive the ball and shoot anywhere, both inside and outside the penalty area.
Ledley's personal defensive ability may not be worse than that of Udinese's defender, but Tottenham's overall defensive support ability is far worse than that of Udinese.
If this was not the case, how come they lost 6 out of 8 league games and only ended up drawing in 2 of them
It has to be said that Tottenham's defense has too many loopholes and the overall defensive ability is too poor.
In the 22nd minute, Eduardo broke into the penalty area from the wing, attracted the defense of two defenders, and then made a reverse triangle pass to the top of the penalty area.
Ibisevic received the ball and made a powerful shot, which attracted the attention of the goalkeeper and the defender in the penalty area.
As a result, Ibisevic did not touch the ball, but raised his foot and passed the ball behind him.
At this time, Lu Wenbin had used a sudden turn to briefly get rid of Ledley's defense, rushed to the ball first, and shot directly without stopping the ball.
The ball passed through the restricted area along the grass and went into the lower right corner of the goal. Goalkeeper Gomez was a step slow to react and failed to save the ball.
In the 22nd minute of the first half, Hoffenheim led Tottenham 1-0, the scorer was No. 9 Lu Wenbin.
Suddenly, the entire Mercedes-Benz Stadium was boiling with excitement. Countless people were shouting Lu Wenbin’s name loudly, and the shouts of “Lu-Lu-Lu” echoed throughout the stadium.
Naturally, there were also extreme fans who proudly provoked the Tottenham fans in the corner.
In the CCTV-5 live broadcast room, the commentator excitedly shouted and discussed with the guests: "Lu Wenbin has now become Hoffenheim's number one star. Listening to the voices shouting Lu Wenbin's name from the scene, you can know how popular Lu Wenbin is in Hoffenheim."
The commentator nodded in agreement and praised Lu Wenbin.
At this time, in Guizhou Province, a fan who got up in the middle of the night to watch the live broadcast of the game on his computer network heard the two commentators and listened carefully to the live shouts coming from the speakers. He suddenly noticed with curiosity that the pronunciation of "Lu" was exactly the same as the pronunciation of "6" that everyone usually said in Guizhou dialect.
Then, he switched to Lu Wenbin's forum and casually posted a message: "The Mandarin pronunciation of the word Lu is exactly the same as the number 6 in Guizhou dialect. The Hoffenheim fans shouted Lu Wenbin's name as 666!"
After posting, he didn't care and switched back to the live broadcast room to watch the live broadcast.
However, the post he sent quickly sparked heated discussions in Lu Wenbin's forum.
"666? Is the number 6 pronounced the same as Lu in Guizhou dialect?"
"Yes, I am from Guizhou, and I can prove that what Hoffenheim fans shouted was 666!"
"The Mandarin pronunciation of 6 is liu, which means Lu Wenbin is very slippery!"
"It's not very slippery, it's extremely slippery! The goal just now is proof of that!"
"Lu Wenbin's career is also very smooth, also very cool!"
"It's not just a normal 6. 6 turned upside down becomes 9. 9 represents supremacy. Lu Wenbin's performance will definitely make him the best Chinese player in the future!"
"There's nothing wrong with that, 666!"
“666666666, I love this!”
"Lu Wenbin is 666, nothing wrong with him!"
In a blink of an eye, everyone on the forum learned to use 666 to praise Lu Wenbin's performance, meaning that Lu Wenbin was very good and amazing.
Hearing the Hoffenheim fans shouting 666 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, everyone was even happier, and the forum was filled with posts containing 666.
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