After Lu Wenbin scored a goal to set a new European Golden Boot record, neither side was able to score again in the next few minutes.
Not long after, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.
Bayern Munich defeated Hoffenheim 2-1 away from home, grabbing three crucial points in the fight for a Champions League spot.
However, after the game, basically no other media paid attention to Bayern Munich's victory except Munich's own media.
Everyone focused their attention on the record-breaking Lu Wenbin, and made a lot of heavy reports on Lu Wenbin's new record.
Yassard's record of 46 European Golden Boot goals has been untouched for 35 years. As the technical and tactical level of modern football continues to increase and scoring goals becomes increasingly difficult, everyone thought that this record would be permanently untouched!
Unexpectedly, it has been broken now.
And he is an 18-year-old Asian Chinese, so naturally he deserves extensive and heavy coverage by all media.
As for Bayern Munich's victory, no one paid any attention to it in the face of Lu Wenbin's new record.
…
After the penultimate round of the league match against Bayern Munich, Lu Wenbin, who did not lead the team to victory, only received a reward of 1 goal and 10,000 experience points.
In addition to the 100,000 experience points and 10 skill points rewarded for completing "Task 12: Hoffenheim Miracle" after winning the Bundesliga championship three rounds in advance, Lu Wenbin's level experience rose to level 16 897,000/2 million, and the skill point balance also reached 10.
Before setting off for Istanbul, Turkey, Lu Wenbin spent 6 skill points to improve his physique and speed attributes by one point each, and then added the remaining 4 skill points to his speed potential.
After adding points, Lu Wenbin's physique became 19/19, comparable to the world's top beast waist and standing center attributes.
The speed has also become 14/16, which has reached the basic requirements of a professional player. I will no longer be so slow that others can catch up with me in just a few steps.
The UEFA Cup final is on May 20th. Hoffenheim flew to Istanbul on May 18th and stayed near Besiktas Club, which is also in Istanbul. They used their training base for pre-match training and made final preparations.
Shakhtar Donetsk still has two league games this season, but they have also secured the second place in this season's Ukrainian Super League in advance.
Even if they win the next two league games, they will not be able to catch up with Dynamo Kyiv, who are 12 points ahead of them. If they lose both games, they will not be caught up by Metalist, who are 8 points behind them.
Therefore, Shakhtar Donetsk arrived in Istanbul two days in advance on May 18 and began to make preparations in advance.
And their training base is more advantageous than Hoffenheim.
They are training directly at Fenerbahce's training base, and the UEFA Cup final will also be held at Fenerbahce's home stadium, Sukuru Saracoglu Stadium.
Hoffenheim originally wanted to use Galatasaray's training base, which had better conditions, for pre-match preparations, but was rejected.
The reason is that Shakhtar Donetsk's head coach Lucescu once coached two Turkish Super League clubs, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, and Istanbul is considered half of his home ground.
Therefore, the Shakhtar team can not only use Fenerbahce's training base for pre-match preparations, but also make Galatasaray reject Hoffenheim's loan application.
Of course, Lucescu couldn't have said this himself. It was Galatasaray who took the initiative to reject Hoffenheim.
After learning about this history, Hoffenheim had no choice but to turn to Besiktas Club.
As Fenerbahce and Galatasaray are sworn enemies in the same city, Lucescu, who has coached these two teams, has his enemies as friends of Besiktas club.
So Hoffenheim successfully borrowed the Besiktas club's training base for pre-match preparations.
As the game time approached, fans of Shakhtar Donetsk from Ukraine and Hoffenheim from Germany gathered in Istanbul. Both teams had more than 10,000 to 20,000 fans coming to Turkey.
However, when the game starts, I am afraid that Hoffenheim fans will be at a disadvantage.
Because fans of Fenerbahce and Galatasaray will cheer for Shakhtar coached by Lucescu.
In addition to fans from Ukraine and Germany, there are also fans from China.
Several domestic and international travel agencies have launched a special Istanbul tourism line called "Watch the League Cup final and cheer for Lu Wenbin", providing those die-hard fans of Lu Wenbin who have both money and free time with the opportunity to watch the game in person and cheer for Lu Wenbin.
Of course, the cost of traveling abroad plus the cost of grabbing tickets for the finals is very expensive. Only truly wealthy hardcore fans are willing to spend and can afford it.
Even so, given China's own population base, plus the local Chinese in Istanbul, the number of compatriots who will cheer for Lu Wenbin will not be less than one thousand.
As time went by, more and more fans came to Istanbul and the atmosphere of the final became more and more intense.
It was past 7 p.m. on May 20th local time, but before the game started, the Saracoglu Stadium, which can accommodate more than 50,000 people, was already packed with local citizens and fans from Ukraine, Germany and all over the world.
After all, it is a European championship battle. Although it is not as good as the Champions League, it is also attracting much attention.
Not only was the venue packed, but television stations in more than 100 countries around the world also broadcast the match live, presenting the final of the UEFA Cup to hundreds of millions of fans around the world.
Before the competition began, the Istanbul Municipal Government organized an opening ceremony performance lasting more than half an hour to warm up the audience.
Then, at 19:50, players from both teams appeared in the player tunnel and began to play under the leadership of the referee. More than 50,000 fans at the scene burst into warm applause to welcome the two teams.
As they passed by the League Cup trophy standing at the exit of the tunnel, neither player from either team touched the trophy.
"Not allowed to touch the championship trophy before the game" has basically become the consensus and code of conduct of all players, and no one dares to break the taboo.
After entering the stadium, the team lined up to play the UEFA Cup theme song, then the two sides shook hands, took photos, and chose sides. Salihovic won the right to kick off on behalf of Hoffenheim, while Shakhtar Donetsk chose the half that they thought was more advantageous to them.
Then, at 8 p.m. on May 20, 2009, local time, with the referee's whistle, Paljic kicked the ball to Lu Wenbin, who then passed it to Eduardo and ran to the front court.
The final showdown of the last UEFA Cup of the 2008/2009 season began between Hoffenheim of Germany and Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine.
(Awkward, I actually forgot to give the protagonist the system reward for the championship task after winning the Bundesliga. Thank you for reminding me. I will make up for it now. Don’t worry about the order of awarding. Please forgive me, book friends—Mingqiao covering her face.jpg)