The Shakhtar Donetsk players naturally had no idea what Eduardo's palm with four fingers raised meant, so they could only defend passively.
But Hoffenheim's players know.
After seeing Eduardo preparing to use the No. 4 corner kick tactic, Jancker, Salihovic, Demba Ba and others began to move in the penalty area, creating a tense atmosphere and attracting the attention of the Miners' defensive players.
Seeing Eduardo's gesture, Lu Wenbin still stood quietly outside the restricted area without any abnormal behavior. Fernandinho, who was guarding him, did not feel any threat.
Amid the chaos in the penalty area, Eduardo took two steps and sent a corner kick.
At the same time, just when Eduardo kicked the ball, Lu Wenbin suddenly started outside the penalty area and rushed into the penalty area.
Fernandinho was a step slower and could only follow Lu Wenbin in horror.
At this time, Eduardo also took a corner kick. The height was not high, and the landing point was close to the ribs of the near-end large penalty area. It did not fall near the small penalty area with the most people, which was exactly where Lu Wenbin rushed to.
Eduardo's footwork is still at a certain level.
Lu Wenbin suddenly started to shake off Fernandinho and rushed into the penalty area. After crossing the penalty area line, he suddenly bent his body and jumped without any interference. He used the inertia of the sprint to jump high, and shook his head like a lion towards the ball flying quickly in the air, and the ball was hit on the forehead.
The flying speed of the ball itself, combined with the speed of Lu Wenbin's sprint and the power of the lion's head shaking, suddenly changed direction and flew towards the goal at a very fast speed.
After seeing that the ball sent by Eduardo landed at the near end of the penalty area, goalkeeper Piatov had already moved to the near end of the goal on the goal line, but the ball headed by Lu Wenbin was too powerful and too fast for him to react at all.
Lu Wenbin's header was so powerful and fast that it was no less than a powerful shot in the penalty area.
As soon as Piatov raised his hand, the ball flew over his head into the goal without Piatov even touching the shadow of the ball.
At this time, Lu Wenbin in the air collided with Fernandinho, who jumped up a step slower and wanted to head the ball or interfere, but his height was far from enough, and he fell to the ground.
But the ball headed by Lu Wenbin had already entered the goal of Shakhtar Donetsk. The referee pointed to the center circle and blew the whistle to indicate that the goal was valid.
At the same time, more than 10,000 Hoffenheim fans in the stands stood up and cheered deafeningly, and the shouts of "Lu-Lu-Lu" resounded throughout the stadium.
As for Lu Wenbin’s fellow fans, they excitedly shouted “666”, which on the one hand referred to Lu Wenbin’s name, and on the other hand meant that Lu Wenbin’s hat trick was too cool.
The commentators from various countries and TV stations in the commentary booth also excitedly shouted to the audiences watching the live broadcast in their respective countries:
"Hat trick, hat trick, Lu scored a hat trick in the League Cup final!"
"Incredible, it was another classic night in Istanbul. Lu presented a hat trick rarely seen in the history of European finals to fans all over the world!"
"This is the second hat trick in the UEFA Cup final in history. Before Lu, only Heynckes of Borussia Mönchengladbach in Germany had done it in the 5-2 victory over Twente in the 1974/1975 season."
"Lu is the first player to perform a hat trick in a European final since the 21st century! Note, not the UEFA Cup, but the European Cup, including the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League! No one has performed a hat trick in a European final since the 21st century. Lu is the first player to perform a hat trick in a European final in the new century!"
Not only the commentator, not only the Hoffenheim fans, but even the Fenerbahce and Galatasaray fans who originally tended to support Shakhtar Donetsk coached by Lucescu, stood up and applauded in tribute to Lu Wenbin.
Lu Wenbin's hat trick conquered everyone present.
Lu Wenbin on the court also celebrated enthusiastically with his teammates.
Not only for Lu Wenbin's rare header goal, not only for Lu Wenbin's hat trick in the final, but also for the championship they are about to win.
After Lu Wenbin scored a header, Hoffenheim was already leading 4-2, and with little time left, the victory was definitely secured.
That's why Hoffenheim's players celebrated enthusiastically.
It was not until the referee intervened following the protests of the Miners players that Lu Wenbin and others slowly walked back to their own half, waving to the stands as they walked, causing cheers from the fans, as if they were interacting with them.
In fact, it was a deliberate delay, and the members of the Miners' Team could only stare blankly.
There is no rule that says players of the leading team cannot walk, cannot interact with fans to celebrate, and must run back to their own half.
Lu Wenbin scored the goal in the 86th minute, and after celebrating for a while, it was already the 87th minute.
After the game resumed, Shakhtar Donetsk launched a desperate counterattack on Hoffenheim's backcourt, but Hoffenheim's defense was not made of paper.
Moreover, Ralph also started to make substitutions in a timely manner, on the one hand to delay time, and on the other hand to strengthen defense.
He first replaced Demba Ba with Wolsa and changed to a double defensive midfielder to protect the back line.
Then he replaced Eduardo with full-time forward Weiss to continue strengthening the midfield defense.
Finally, when entering the stoppage time, he even replaced Paljic with Komper and changed to three central defenders, leaving only Lu Wenbin in front.
With Ralph's constant substitutions and Hoffenheim's united defense, Shakhtar Donetsk's desperate counterattack in the last few minutes did not result in a goal, and there was not even a threatening shot, and the game time was over.
The referee was actually quite lenient and gave a total of 4 minutes of extra time.
But the gap in strength was of no avail and the Miners failed to seize any opportunities.
After 4 minutes of stoppage time, the referee finally blew the whistle to end the game.
With a "wow..." sound, the entire Saracoglu Stadium was filled with deafening cheers and screams from Hoffenheim fans.
Ralph, Matthews, Demba Ba, Eduardo and others on the sidelines also rushed into the field excitedly and started celebrating with Lu Wenbin and others on the field.
In the 2008/2009 UEFA Cup final, Hoffenheim defeated Shakhtar Donetsk from the Ukrainian League 4-2 with a hat-trick from Lu Wenbin and a goal from Demba Ba, winning the 38th and final UEFA Cup.
Hoffenheim, a country club that won the German Bundesliga championship three rounds ahead of schedule ten days ago, became the UEFA Cup champion and stood at the top of Europe!