After the 16th round of the Bundesliga match between Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich ended, the media's coverage of the game was polarized.
The media that likes and supports Hoffenheim naturally praised Hoffenheim for its "glorious record" of escaping from the Allianz Arena unscathed and taking away 1 point.
The media that favor Bayern or dislike Hoffenheim focused their reports on Bayern's tactics of using two defensive players to successfully freeze Lu Wenbin.
The intention is to tell all of Hoffenheim's future opponents that the next time they meet Hoffenheim, they only need to send two people to closely guard Lu Wenbin.
As for the other Hoffenheim players, even if the number becomes 9 to 10, it is much safer than letting Lu Wenbin receive the ball and shoot.
Fans of other Bundesliga teams were jubilant, believing that they had found a way to deal with dark horse Hoffenheim.
Next, it will depend on whether Schalke 04 can use this tactic to defeat Hoffenheim in the next round of the league.
However, just when many people were rejoicing and Lu Wenbin was a little depressed that he had not scored a goal and gained no experience in the last game, the final ranking of the 2008 European Golden Boy Award announced by Turin Sports Daily washed away Lu Wenbin's depression.
On December 7, the 2008 European Golden Boy Award, organized and selected by the Italian newspaper Turin Sports, was officially announced.
In the past 2008, Lu Wenbin was the main striker of Hoffenheim, and as the first core, he led Hoffenheim to win the 2007/2008 Bundesliga championship, the 2007/2008 German Football Association Cup championship, the 2008/2009 Bundesliga half-time championship, the 2008/2009 UEFA Cup group stage advance to the next round, and the 2008/2009 German Cup advance to the third round and other collective honors.
In terms of personal honors and performance, Lu Wenbin won the double top scorer, double best player, and best foreign player of the 2007/2008 Bundesliga and German Cup. He was selected into the 2007/2008 Bundesliga Best Team, the best player of a single game, the best team of a single round of the league, and many other honors. In the new 2008/2009 Bundesliga, German Cup, and UEFA Cup, he ranked first in the scorer list, and was far ahead of Diego Forlan, Ronaldo, Messi and other super shooters in the European Golden Boot rankings.
If Manchester United's Anderson can still compare with Lu Wenbin in terms of collective honors with a Champions League title, then in terms of personal honors and personal performance, Lu Wenbin simply crushes his peers.
Moreover, Anderson's role in Manchester United is incomparable to Lu Wenbin's core role in Hoffenheim.
Therefore, in the European Golden Boy Award media selection that is more inclined to personal performance, Lu Wenbin's vote rate was far ahead, leaving other young people under the age of 21 far behind, including the Champions League winner Anderson.
Although he has no national team results, it does not affect everyone's evaluation of Lu Wenbin.
Among the total 40 nominated candidates, Lu Wenbin received 247 points in media votes, second place Anderson only had 104 points, and third place Arsenal's Walcott only had 101 points.
Lu Wenbin's score is more than twice that of the second place Anderson, which fully proves the voting media's recognition of Lu Wenbin.
After the results of the Golden Boy Award were announced, the discussion about Lu Wenbin being frozen by Bayern Munich disappeared. All media and fans were engaged in the discussion of the Golden Boy Award, and the Chinese media reached a collective climax.
"Lu Wenbin scored far more than the second place and won the 2008 European Golden Boy Award!"
"The 2008 European Golden Boy Award was announced, and Lu Wenbin won the championship with a high score of 247!"
"Chinese football player Lu Wenbin wins 2008 European Golden Boy Award!"
"Lu Wenbin conquered Europe and won the Golden Boy Award, becoming the first young football player under the age of 21 in the European League!"
On the Chinese Internet, fans' discussions about Lu Wenbin quickly flooded the screen.
"Big news, Lu Wenbin won the first place in the 2008 European Golden Boy Award!"
"Lu Wenbin 666, this is the European youth version of the Ballon d'Or!"
"It was unimaginable that a Chinese player would win the Golden Boy Award one day. It's really cool!"
"I am not a football fan. I saw the news about Lu Wenbin for the first time today. I decided to start watching football from now on! However, I don't watch domestic football, I only watch Lu Wenbin's games!"
"On the top floor, wise decision!"
…
Although some media and fans have claimed that Lu Wenbin is the best young player in the European league, Lu Wenbin denied it in an exclusive interview with Turin Sports Daily.
Lu Wenbin said: "I am very happy to win the 2008 European Golden Boy Award, but this only means recognition of my achievements in the past year, and does not mean that I have become the number one young player under the age of 21. There are still many strong opponents among young people of similar age who I need to catch up with and surpass. Moreover, I am only 18 years old, and my personal strength is far from reaching its peak. For example, in the Bundesliga match against Bayern Munich that just ended, I did not score a single goal and did nothing. Therefore, I still have a long way to go in the future, and I hope to achieve greater success in the future."
Although he accepted an exclusive interview with Turin Sports Daily, Lu Wenbin did not win the Golden Boy Award.
It is a Golden Ball Award similar to the European Golden Ball Award. The award ceremony needs to be held at a different time and the location is not fixed. Now only the scoring ranking is announced.
After the interview, Turin Sports Daily discussed with Lu Wenbin, Mendes and Hoffenheim Club and decided to hold the Golden Boy Award ceremony before the last round of the Bundesliga before the winter break and before the match between Hoffenheim and Schalke 04.
It just so happened that that game was Hoffenheim's home game, and tens of thousands of Hoffenheim home fans and Lu Wenbin's fans could witness his Golden Boy Award ceremony.
But that's still a week away.
At the same time as the Golden Boy Award was announced, the 16th round of the Bundesliga lasted for a total of three days. After all the games on the last day were over, Hoffenheim continued to rank first in the Bundesliga standings with 13 wins, one draw and two losses in 16 games, accumulating 40 points.
Bayern Munich ranks second with 32 points, nine wins, five draws and two losses, and is still 8 points behind Hoffenheim.
Following them are teams such as Hertha Berlin, Hamburg, and Leverkusen.
After the 16th round of the league, there is one final round of the UEFA Cup group stage before the league match against Schalke 04.
On December 9, the entire Hoffenheim team flew to the Netherlands to prepare for the away game against Nijmegen the next day.
The two group matches in this round of Group D are Hoffenheim away to Nijmegen, Tottenham Hotspur at home against Spartak Moscow, and Dinamo Zagreb has a bye.
This is the last round of the UEFA Cup group stage this season. Hoffenheim, who had already qualified in the previous round, only needs a draw to secure first place in the group and occupy a better draw position in the subsequent knockout draw.
Even if they lose, Hoffenheim is likely to rank first in the group because of their goal difference advantage.
Of course, no one wants to lose if they can win, so naturally it is safest to maintain a draw or fight for victory.
However, since they have already qualified and have a high probability of securing first place in the group, there is no need for Ralf to fight to the death with Nijmegen who also want to qualify. It is more important to retain strength and prepare for the next league game against Schalke 04.
Therefore, in the UEFA Cup away group match between Hoffenheim and Nijmegen, Ralph sent out a lineup of half main players and half substitutes, and Lu Wenbin did not start and sat on the bench.