Although there has never been a famous final since ancient times, most teams in the final will choose to play cautiously, first focusing on defense and trying not to lose the ball, and then trying to attack.
However, Hoffenheim's tradition under Ralph's coaching has always been to attack. If they really have to play a defensive counterattack in the final, I'm afraid the players won't know how to play.
So, even though this was the final of the League Cup, Ralph still played offensive football, a 433 offensive formation, which can be broken down into 4123.
Gustavo is the single defensive midfielder, Eduardo and Salihovic are the double attacking midfielders, and Lu Wenbin, Parjic and Demba Ba form the three forwards.
Except for the absence of Ibisevic, this is Hoffenheim's most complete and most offensive starting lineup.
Taking into account the factors of Paljic's gradual improvement and Lu Wenbin's upgrade and bonus, I am afraid that Hoffenheim's current starting lineup is more offensive than when Ibisevic was there in the first half of the season.
Shakhtar Donetsk played a 4231 formation, with two more defenders in the midfield and backcourt than Hoffenheim. This was because of the presence of Lu Wenbin. At least two people were needed to closely guard him, and someone else was needed to provide assistance at all times.
However, with only a single striker, Shakhtar Donetsk's attack really couldn't get going.
At the same time, the defense line was constantly attacked by Hoffenheim's attacking group.
Even though their back line seems to have enough people, Lu Wenbin alone has to take up the energy of two people, so the defense is actually not stable.
With the miners having only one striker Adriano, they only need to leave the game to central defenders Jancker and Nilsson, while full-backs Baker and Jaisler can both assist from the flanks.
Even defensive midfielder Gustavo was able to occasionally cross the center line and join the attack.
Hoffenheim, who won the Bundesliga championship in advance and started preparing for the game, with a complete lineup and stronger than Lu Wenbin, used the kick-off right to launch a fierce bombardment on Shakhtar Donetsk from the beginning.
Although Shakhtar also wants to win the first European championship for Ukraine, they also want to defeat Hoffenheim and win the championship with the cheers of Turkish fans, which is equivalent to half of their home stadium.
But the huge gap in strength really makes them powerless.
In the 8th minute, Baker dribbled the ball into the frontcourt from the wing, made a two-pass cooperation with Salihovic, and then pretended to pass the ball to Lu Wenbin on the side of the penalty area outside the corner of the penalty area. After deceiving the full-back Srna who came to defend him, he made a horizontal pass to Paljic outside the top of the penalty area.
Paljic won the ball with a shot, but the angle was a little straight and the goalkeeper saved it.
Just as the Ukrainian and Turkish fans who were cheering for the Shakhtar Donetsk were celebrating, Lu Wenbin appeared at the first point where the ball would land and kicked it, and the ball rolled past the fallen goalkeeper and into the goal.
“Tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor…” Dickenson, who was responsible for the on-site commentary, let out a long roar, reporting the victory to the German fans and Hoffenheim fans who were watching the game at home.
Commentators from other countries also started shouting, loudly explaining Lu Wenbin's first goal.
"The terrifying Chinese Lu, he scored again!"
"After raising the European Golden Boot goal record to 47 goals, Lu has raised his European goal record to 20 goals, breaking the 20-goal mark, far exceeding the 15-goal European goal record set by the Golden Bomber Klinsmann in the 1995/1996 UEFA Cup!"
"The young Chinese Lu has become a European monument! I don't know how long his European goal record of 20 goals will stand in the world of football. Perhaps only Lu himself can break it!"
The commentator sent by China's CCTV-5 to the scene was so excited that he was a little incoherent: "The ball went in, the ball went in, Lu Wenbin scored in the UEFA Cup final! This is new history for Chinese football! Moreover, Lu Wenbin's European goals have been refreshed to 20 goals, breaking the 20-goal mark, which is incredible! Although Lu Wenbin is only 18 years old, I dare say that he is the most powerful shooter in today's football world, no doubt about it!"
If such words were spoken in Europe, they would certainly cause controversy.
If you say that a player who has neither won the Champions League nor the Ballon d'Or is the best, some people will definitely disagree!
However, CCTV-5's commentary is only aimed at domestic fans. Domestic fans just enjoy listening to it, so who cares what Europeans think
Whether it was Lu Wenbin’s relatives, friends, classmates, or fans from other parts of the country who got up in the middle of the night to watch the live broadcast, they all applauded and cheered in front of the TV or computer, and felt sincerely happy for Lu Wenbin’s goal!
The atmosphere at the scene became even more heated.
Just in the 8th minute of the game, Lu Wenbin scored a goal to give Hoffenheim a 1-0 lead.
In the final, any ball could be decisive and crucial.
Therefore, even Lu Wenbin was excited and celebrated enthusiastically with his teammates.
The Hoffenheim fans in the stands were screaming and cheering at the top of their lungs. There were also more than 1,000 overseas Chinese and Chinese tourists in the stands, waving the five-star red flag excitedly to cheer for Lu Wenbin.
Lu Wenbin also waved in the direction of his fellow fans, causing even louder screams and applause from everyone.
They took the lead by scoring a goal in the first 8 minutes, and with a killer like Lu Wenbin, the final fell into Hoffenheim's rhythm from the very beginning.
After falling behind, the Miners naturally wanted to fight back and equalize the score.
However, when they wanted to counterattack, the backcourt inevitably gave Hoffenheim more opportunities.
The Miners' strength was already weak, and they had to assign someone specifically to guard Lu Wenbin. Now they have to divide their forces to attack, so the Miners' goal is even more dangerous.
In the 27th minute, the Miners' attack was interrupted and Hoffenheim launched a quick counterattack.
Eduardo performed a gorgeous bicycle move facing the last central defender Chiglinski at the front of the penalty area, knocking Chiglinski to the ground, which aroused applause and cheers from more than 10,000 Hoffenheim fans in the stands.
As a result, Chiglinski, who was the last man on the defense line and had already fallen to the ground, did not let Eduardo rush forward to form a one-on-one situation. Instead, he grabbed Eduardo's foot with his backhand and knocked Eduardo to the ground.
Chiglinski received a yellow card and Hoffenheim got a free kick in the frontcourt more than 20 meters away from the goal.
In such a good position, the free kick was naturally taken by Lu Wenbin.
Lu Wenbin activated the free kick system skill, and under the control of the system, his body hit a beautiful arc ball that went straight into the blind corner.
Goalkeeper Piatov tried his best but failed to save the ball. Instead, he crashed into the goalpost and was unable to recover for a long time.
The Hoffenheim players didn't care about Piatov. Lu Wenbin, who scored twice to help the team lead 2-0, and his teammates rushed to the Hoffenheim fans' stands for a warm celebration.
Just 28 minutes into the final, Hoffenheim took a 2-0 lead.
Lu Wenbin also scored twice, bringing his UEFA Cup goal tally to 21.
(The first update will be on May 3, please give me your monthly votes and recommendation tickets!)