At the Mercedes-Benz Arena, Lu Wenbin, who finally scored a goal in the Bundesliga, with a beautiful lob shot from midfield, ran to the sidelines and dived to celebrate.
The excited Hoffenheim players also dived behind Lu Wenbin, gliding on the grass where Karl was running like a group of bombers.
They really lost confidence after Neuer's save and thought Hoffenheim would not be able to score a goal today.
Unexpectedly, Lu Wenbin took the initiative to retreat, and then made a long-range lob shot at Neuer, teaching Neuer a lesson.
At the critical moment, Lu Wenbin was indeed more powerful.
The Hoffenheim fans in the stands also clapped and screamed excitedly, shouting the name "Lu-Lu-Lu" and worshiping Lu Wenbin.
After Lu Wenbin scored a goal and Hoffenheim took the lead 1-0, Schalke 04 could no longer maintain its momentum.
They are currently ranked seventh in the league and have a chance to qualify for the European Cup or even the Champions League. Therefore, they must fight hard in every game and try to get as many league points as possible.
We can still be calm when the game is a draw, and getting one point against Hoffenheim away is acceptable.
But after falling behind, Schalke 04 could no longer maintain its composure.
Thinking of his boast before the game that he could freeze Lu Wenbin, prevent him from scoring a single goal, and then lead the team to win the game, Ruteng felt a little ashamed.
Although those big words were meant to boost morale, the fact is that Lu Wenbin scored a goal, Schalke 04 fell behind, and he was slapped in the face.
Since we are already behind, we might as well give it a try and see if we can equalize or even reverse the score.
So, Rutten stood on the sidelines, calling on his players, waving his hands towards the Hoffenheim goal, signaling everyone to increase the intensity of the attack.
After the game resumed, Schalke 04 pressed forward as a whole and used the kick-off right to launch an attack on Hoffenheim.
Hoffenheim's defense line is indeed somewhat unbalanced compared to the offensive line, with fewer people and weaker strength.
In addition, the goalkeeper is not as good as a goalkeeper like Neuer, and for a moment there was a feeling of panic.
From the 65th minute to the 80th minute, Schalke 04 had a total of 4 shooting opportunities.
But their shooting accuracy was far inferior to Lu Wenbin. Only one of their four shots hit the goal frame, and was saved by Ozcan with all his might.
Just when Schalke 04 was trying to continue their attack and score a goal, in the 81st minute, Hoffenheim intercepted the ball and launched a high-speed counterattack.
Gustavo intercepted the ball from the opponent's attacking midfielder and passed it to Salihovic. Salihovic first dribbled past the opponent's midfielder Jones who was trying to steal the ball, and then made a straight pass, putting the ball behind central defender Hedveds.
Demba Ba made a timely forward run, successfully beat the offside from the back line and pounced behind Hedveds.
In shock, Hedveds tried to turn around and chase back, but he slipped and fell to the ground. Only another central defender Krstajic was left chasing Demba Ba's back.
However, Neuer had already rushed out of the penalty area, ran towards the ball, and tried to clear it. It was just a matter of who would touch the ball first, him or Demba Ba.
Finally, Demba Ba was a little quicker, touched the ball first, and dribbled it away, but was then knocked to the ground by Neuer who flew in to make a tackle.
However, Demba Ba jumped up in time after he moved the ball away. Although he was knocked down by Neuer's body, he cushioned the impact in time to protect himself when he landed. He was not injured but just looked like he fell badly.
At this time, Lu Wenbin and Ibisevic both came in from both sides to prepare for support, but after seeing Demba Ba being tackled, Ibisevic stopped and prepared to argue with Neuer who committed the foul.
Ernst, who was following Lu Wenbin, thought that the referee would call a foul on Neuer. On the other hand, in order to protect his teammate Neuer from retaliation by Ibisevic, he quickly left Lu Wenbin and ran towards the scene of the accident.
However, Lu Wenbin did not care about that and continued to chase the football that Demba Ba had kicked to the edge of the restricted area.
The referee, who had the whistle in his mouth ready to blow, looked at the distance between Lu Wenbin and the ball, then looked at Demba Ba who seemed to be uninjured on the ground, raised his hands forward, and made a gesture that the attack was favorable and the game should continue.
Then, the referee left Demba Ba and Neuer on the ground, as well as Ibisevic, Enters, Krstajic and others who had gathered around them, and ran towards the Schalke 04 goal.
Everyone was shocked and turned to look towards the Schalke 04 goal, only then did they see that Lu Wenbin was about to catch up with the ball.
The faces of Schalke 04 players suddenly changed and they rushed back, but it was too late.
A few meters away from the baseline, Lu Wenbin caught up with the ball. He didn't even stop the ball, but kicked it directly into the empty goal.
Although the angle was a bit small, Lu Wenbin's 20/20 shooting attribute allowed him to easily send the ball into the empty goal without any interference.
Schalke midfielder Rakitic, who was the first to catch up with Lu Wenbin, did not rush into the goal and kicked the ball out until the ball crossed the goal line.
But it was too late. The referee, who had already run to the penalty area line, was very observant and pointed to the center circle without hesitation, then blew the whistle to indicate that the goal was valid.
In the 81st minute, Lu Wenbin scored twice to help Hoffenheim lead Schalke 04 2-0.
The Schalke 04 players were naturally very annoyed. They pointed to the place where Neuer tackled Demba Ba, claiming that Neuer had committed a foul and that the referee should have suspend the game and let Hoffenheim take a free kick, and that Lu Wenbin's goal should have been invalidated.
As a result, at this moment, Demba Ba rolled over and got up from the ground, and rushed into the team celebrating with teammates including Lu Wenbin.
The referee smiled and said, "Demba Ba was not injured, and Neuer's tackle was not directed at anyone, so the foul was not serious. Therefore, based on the principle of offensive advantage, my judgment is correct!"
Then the referee stopped paying attention to the Schalke 04 players.
The foul just now should have been called, but Demba Ba was not injured and Neuer's foul was not serious.
Seeing that Lu Wenbin was about to catch up with the ball and shoot at the empty goal, if he had stopped the game at that time, it would have eliminated Hoffenheim's chance of scoring.
In this case, a shot towards an empty goal is naturally better than a free kick.
Therefore, based on the principle of offensive advantage, there was nothing wrong with the referee's decision to continue the game, and Schalke 04's complaints after the game were useless.
If they continue to attack the referee, he might really give them a card.
The Schalke 04 players could only disperse indignantly, waiting for Hoffenheim to finish celebrating and prepare to kick off again.
(The first update will be on April 16th, please give me your monthly votes and recommendation tickets!)