After the game with Frankfurt, the biggest news was not that Hoffenheim won and continued to lead the standings, but that Lu Wenbin's Bundesliga goals rose to 37.
Although this number of goals is still three goals short of the Bundesliga single-season record of 40 goals set by Gerd Muller in the 1971/1972 season, Lu Wenbin has broken a record: that is, the highest points record for the European Golden Boot Award since the point system was implemented in the 1996/1997 season.
The highest score for the European Golden Boot Award since the point system was introduced in the 1996/1997 season was 36 goals and 72 points in the 1998/1999 season, created by Mario Jardel of the Portuguese Super League in Porto.
That season, the Portuguese Super League ranked in the top five of the European leagues because of the European competition points, so the points coefficient was 2. Jardel scored 36 goals and created the highest points record of 72 points for the European Golden Boot Award after the points system. No one broke it before Lu Wenbin.
But now, after the match between Hoffenheim and Frankfurt, Jardel's record has come to an end, surpassed by Lu Wenbin's 37 goals and 74 points.
Moreover, Lu Wenbin’s Bundesliga season this season is far from over, as there are still ten rounds of Bundesliga to go.
Lu Wenbin can not only create a higher points record and possibly surpass Gerd Muller's Bundesliga record of 40 goals in a single season, but he may even chase the European Golden Boot Award's highest scoring record of 46 goals set by Hector Yassalde of Sporting Lisbon in the 1973/1974 season since the European Golden Boot Award was established in the 1967/1968 season.
In the past 24 rounds of the Bundesliga, Lu Wenbin played 21 times and scored 37 goals, averaging 1.76 goals per game.
Although Lu Wenbin's goal efficiency decreased in the second half of the season due to the opponent's double-man defense tactics, Lu Wenbin scored 8 goals in 6 appearances in the second half of the season, and his average goal per game was still more than 1.
With 10 league games left, as long as Lu Wenbin can still average one goal per game, he can break Gerd Muller's Bundesliga single-season goal record of 40 goals by scoring four more goals. If he scores ten more goals, he can surpass Yasser's European Golden Boot goal record of 46 goals.
As for the European League goal record of 60 goals in a single season set by William Dean in the English top league in the 1927/1928 season, Lu Wenbin is a bit far away and it seems difficult to break it this season.
However, Lu Wenbin has made 34 appearances in official matches on three fronts this season and has scored a total of 59 goals for Hoffenheim, which is only 8 goals away from the record of 67 goals scored by a club in a single season in the top five leagues set by Gerd Muller in the 1971/1972 season.
The key point is that in addition to the league, Lu Wenbin also has the German Cup, League Cup and other competitions. Gerd Muller's record of 67 total goals in a single season seems to be in jeopardy.
After the game, many media not only in Germany and Europe but also around the world reported on Lu Wenbin's record-breaking European Golden Boot points and made forward-looking predictions on Lu Wenbin's total number of goals this season.
"The European Golden Boot Award points record has been broken, Lu Wenbin has secured the European Golden Boot Award this season!"
"18-year-old goal-scoring machine, Lu Wenbin scored 59 goals in 34 appearances this season, shocking the European football world!"
"Bundesliga Hoffenheim's Lu Wenbin scores a lot of goals and has broken the European Golden Boot points record!"
Even Gerd Muller himself came out for an interview and said: "Lu is an incredible talent. He is balanced with both feet, excellent in free kicks, world-class without the ball, and has a higher shooting accuracy than me. The key is that he is only 18 years old, his physical development is not yet complete, and his physique, speed, etc. are still growing rapidly, which is amazing. I believe he can break my single-season Bundesliga record of 40 goals and my single-season club total goal record of 67 goals this season. As for the future, I am sure Lu will become a world-class superstar."
In a short period of time, Lu Wenbin's fame skyrocketed again and he attracted countless fans.
…
In the 24th round of the Bundesliga against Frankfurt, Lu Wenbin scored twice and received a reward of 20,000 experience points for 2 goals and 20,000 experience points for winning, totaling 40,000 experience points. The experience points increased to level 16, 126,000/2 million.
Just four days after the end of this league match, the second round of the UEFA Cup quarter-final away to Zenit St. Petersburg will begin.
Because of the 4-0 victory in the first round, Ralph made a large rotation in the second round to save strength for the league.
But Lu Wenbin continued to start, not only to try his luck and see if he could get an away goal to completely kill the game, but also to allow Lu Wenbin to suppress Zenit's defense and prevent them from easily making assists.
At 18:30 on the evening of March 19, the second leg of the 2008/2009 UEFA Cup quarter-final between Hoffenheim and Zenit St. Petersburg officially started at the St. Petersburg Stadium.
There was no snow in St. Petersburg that night, but the wind was still freezing cold and the temperature was only around 1 degree. Coupled with the artificial turf, it still had a great impact on the performance of Hoffenheim players, including Lu Wenbin.
But the total score of 4-0 allowed Hoffenheim to calmly choose the 442 double defensive midfielder formation and focus the game on defense.
Even though Zenit scored a header from a low cross in the 6th minute of the game, which caused cheers from tens of thousands of Russian fans at the scene, Hoffenheim players did not get nervous at all.
They still have a 3-goal advantage and the chance to score an away goal. The initiative of the game is always on Hoffenheim's side.
As expected, with Zenit assisting and Hoffenheim defending, the two sides were in a stalemate for more than half an hour. In the 42nd minute, Lu Wenbin, who started the game, found a gap in the penalty area. Eduardo, who was suspended in the last round of the league, passed the ball to him at the right time. Lu Wenbin shot the ball into the goal without stopping.
Goalkeeper Malafeev was out of reach and could only watch the ball go into the net in despair.
The score of this game is 1-1, the aggregate score is 5-1, Hoffenheim is leading and has an away goal.
In the next game, Zenit St. Petersburg could not score 4 goals to equalize the aggregate score, and was still eliminated due to the lack of away goals.
They have to score 5 goals, overtake the total score, and prevent Hoffenheim from scoring any goals in order to achieve a comeback.
Lu Wenbin scored the goal in the 42nd minute, and including the second half and extra time, it was only about 50 minutes.
It is really impossible for Zenit, which has lost its golden generation players such as Arshavin, to score five goals within 50 minutes.
Therefore, although Lu Wenbin had no physical problems, he was replaced by Demba Ba by Ralph during the half-time break.
On the one hand, it was to prepare for the next league game, and on the other hand, they were also afraid that the opponent would get angry and kick Lu Wenbin, so it would be safer to replace Lu Wenbin.
To fight on three fronts and strive for the triple crown, Lu Wenbin really can't afford to make any mistakes now.
(I was delayed last night by something, so I wrote this chapter this morning. The first update will be on April 24th. Please give me your monthly votes and recommendation votes!)