In the 89th minute, Lu Wenbin scored his second goal with a follow-up shot, helping Hoffenheim to lead the home team Lekpsna 3-2 away from home and get 3 away goals.
After scoring the goal, Lu Wenbin and his teammates celebrated vigorously. On the one hand, leading away from home and scoring three goals was indeed worth celebrating, but on the other hand, it was deliberately delaying time.
After celebrating for more than half a minute, the referee allowed Hoffenheim players to end the celebration and return to their own half to restart the game under the protest of Lekpsna players.
However, after Lekpsner kicked the ball into the center circle and the game resumed, Ralph started his substitution plan again.
Teber replaced Eduardo, Demba Ba replaced Lu Wenbin, and Yaisle replaced Baker.
In the three minutes of stoppage time, whenever there was a dead ball, Ralph started making substitutions and used up all three quota places.
In the 92nd minute, Lekpsna almost posed a threat with a quick free kick, but the referee blew the whistle to stop the shot.
Because Ralph was shouting for a substitution on the sidelines, he interrupted Lekpsner's quick free kick attack, causing their players and coaches to glare at Ralph.
The home fans of Lekpusna at the scene also booed.
But Ralph didn't care about the boos from the opposing fans, he only cared about his team winning.
After 3 minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. Hoffenheim successfully maintained the score of 3-2 until the end, won the first round of the UEFA Cup 1/16 final, and scored 3 away goals.
According to the statistical rules of the two-round knockout matches in European competitions, the probability of advancing after winning away and returning home will be as high as over 95%.
As long as Hoffenheim does not underestimate the opponent and does not commit suicide, it is basically a foregone conclusion that they will advance to the round of 16 after returning to their home court in the second round.
In this game, Lu Wenbin received 1 assist for 20,000 + 2 goals for 80,000 + the team's win for 80,000, a total of 180,000 experience points as rewards, and the experience points increased to level 15, 733,000/1 million.
After all the matches of this round of UEFA Cup were over, everything went as the German media expected before the game. Hoffenheim narrowly beat Leckpushner by one goal away from home, and Hamburg beat Nijmegen 3-0 away from home. Both teams are almost certain to advance to the next round.
Stuttgart was beaten 2-1 by Zenit St. Petersburg when they visited the cold city.
Although losing by one goal and having an away goal cannot be said to be that bad, being behind in the overall score is always dangerous because there is too much uncertainty.
Werder Bremen was tied 1-1 at home by Serie A super giant AC Milan. It was fortunate that they did not lose the game. Going to the San Siro Stadium for the second round away game would have been a disaster.
Wolfsburg was beaten 2-0 by Paris Saint-Germain as a guest. The situation was also very bad and their hopes of advancing were slim even if they returned to their home court.
The German media's plan for the German teams to meet in the final and take the first and second place seems to be aborted.
Of course, the German media’s imagination has nothing to do with Hoffenheim; they only need to focus on their own advancement.
Due to the problem of fighting on three fronts, Hoffenheim will face a devilish schedule of playing two games a week for a long time starting from the first round of the UEFA Cup 1/16 finals.
After the match with Leckpsner, just three days after returning to Germany, Hoffenheim will challenge Stuttgart away in the league.
Just three days after the match with Stuttgart, we will face Leckpusner at home in the second round of the UEFA Cup 1/16 final.
Although they won 3-2 away from home, it was not a big victory like Hamburg's 3-0 victory over Nijmegen. No one can guarantee that there will be no accidents when they return to their home court for the second round.
For example, Hoffenheim lost the first leg at home in the third round of the UEFA Cup qualifiers, but defeated Udinese away in the second leg to advance, completing a comeback.
Therefore, Hoffenheim still cannot be careless.
In addition, the team's main players were injured one after another and had to rest, making it difficult to arrange the lineup.
Therefore, Ralf strategically gave up the away game against Stuttgart in the 21st round of the Bundesliga.
From the frontcourt to the backcourt, and even to the goalkeeper, Ralph rotated almost half of the players.
Although Lu Wenbin was taken to the away game, he sat on the bench. The starting forwards were Demba Ba and Parjic.
The double forwards were Copado and Weiss, while Eduardo and Salihovic also sat on the bench.
The unshakable main defensive midfielder Gustavo was rotated by the third substitute Bindernagel, and Bindernagel and Walsa formed a double defensive midfielder partnership.
Goalkeeper Ozcan was not even taken to the away game. Daniel Haas started the game and Hildebrand sat on the bench.
Lu Wenbin did not get a single minute of substitute time throughout the game and sat on the bench for the full 90 minutes.
But Hoffenheim did not lose the game just because they fielded almost all substitutes. The 5-4 reversal victory over Leverkusen filled the whole team with fighting spirit and motivation.
Although the defense was unstable, which led to Stuttgart at home taking advantage of the loopholes and scoring 3 goals, Hoffenheim also had Copado, Demba Ba and Beck each scoring a goal, making the final score 3-3.
Hoffenheim, who played with most of their substitutes, got a 3-3 draw away from Stuttgart, which disappointed many fans and media of their rivals.
After 21 rounds of the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim continued to top the standings with 51 points, followed by Hamburg, Hertha Berlin and Bayern Munich.
Three days after the league match with Stuttgart ended, Hoffenheim faced Lekepsner in the second leg of the UEFA Cup round of 16 at home.
Hoffenheim played all their main players in this game and easily beat their opponents 2-0 in the first half. Lu Wenbin scored a long shot outside the penalty area in the first half.
After the total score became Hoffenheim 5-2 Lekpersna, there was no need to worry. During the half-time break, Ralph replaced Lu Wenbin with Demba Ba, letting him rest and prepare for the next tough away game against Dortmund in the league.
After Lu Wenbin left the field, Lakepsner no longer had to carefully use two people to guard him, and could deploy more troops to launch a Jedi counterattack.
However, they had too little time left, they were playing away from home, and the gap in strength meant they couldn't score easily.
Although Lekpsna scored a goal in the second half, Demba Ba, who came on as a substitute, also scored a goal. Hoffenheim easily defeated Lekpsna 3-1 at home and advanced to the round of 16 of the 2008/2009 UEFA Cup with a score of 6-3 in two rounds.
In this League Cup match, Lu Wenbin received a single-game reward of 40,000 experience points for scoring a goal and 80,000 experience points for the team's win, for a total of 120,000 experience points. The experience points increased to level 15, 853,000/1 million, and he is not far from level 16.