The next day, the entire Hoffenheim team flew back to Germany.
At Frankfurt Airport, when captain Salihovic and Lu Wenbin walked out of the airport holding the Bertoni Cup, they were cheered by thousands of Hoffenheim fans who welcomed the team at the airport.
Afterwards, the whole team took the team bus back to Sinsheim to celebrate the UEFA Cup title at the town square where they celebrated the Bundesliga title last time.
Following the bus were hundreds of fans' cars and dozens of media outlets from home and abroad.
The fans' cars were flying Hoffenheim's team flags as they drove from Frankfurt to Sinsheim, honking their horns to celebrate along the way, which made the fans of the Frankfurt club very envious.
Back in Sinsheim, when Salihovic appeared on the second-floor balcony of the Municipal Building holding the Bertoni Cup, 100,000 fans in the Municipal Square cheered "We are the European champions" together.
Hoffenheim’s carnival lasted a whole day before gradually dissipating.
Afterwards, Ralph gave most of the main players, including Lu Wenbin, two days off, allowing them to rest for two days, and then return to training on May 24 to prepare for the last German Cup final of the season.
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Coincidentally, May 23rd is Lu Wenbin’s birthday, and he will be 19 years old.
Before there were no competitions, Kate would drive Lu Chongxin and Sun Jiahui around to play. When there were competitions, they would follow Kate to the scene to cheer for Lu Wenbin.
Now that Lu Wenbin was on vacation, Kate invited Lu Chongxin and his wife to her home. At the same time, the two families also celebrated Lu Wenbin's birthday together.
Coincidentally, Mr. and Mrs. Lu Chongxin were also curious about the town of Dietfurt that their son had mentioned.
So he accepted Kate's invitation, and on May 22, the whole family drove to Dietfurt to visit Kate's home.
In Dietfurt, Mr. and Mrs. Lu Chongxin were warmly welcomed not only by Kate's parents, but also by all the citizens in the town.
Now everyone knows that Lu Wenbin is the boyfriend of Kate, the daughter of the mayor of Dietfurt, a professional player of Hoffenheim, and has just won the Bundesliga and UEFA Cup double, and has created many football records that are beyond the reach of others.
Therefore, everyone admires Lu Wenbin and naturally respects Lu Wenbin's parents.
What's more, the citizens of this town are naturally fond of the Chinese.
After staying in Germany for more than ten days, the old couple could not speak German or English and could not communicate with the Germans. Mr. and Mrs. Lu Chongxin felt a little uncomfortable during this period.
If it weren't for Kate's company, and if it weren't for the desire to see their son win the Triple Crown, the old couple would have fled back home long ago.
Now that they had suddenly come to a place where most people in the town could speak Chinese, write Chinese characters, and use chopsticks, the old couple suddenly felt reluctant to leave and did not want to go back to their residence in Rhine-Neckar County with Lu Wenbin.
Finally, after some discussion, everyone decided to let Lu Chongxin and his wife stay in Dietfurt to play, Kate stayed to accompany them, and Lu Wenbin went back to the club to participate in training.
When the German Cup final begins, Kate will bring the old couple, her parents and her younger brother to the scene to cheer for Lu Wenbin and witness Hoffenheim and Lu Wenbin's treble achievement!
Therefore, after celebrating his birthday at noon on May 23 and having a birthday dinner with his two families, Lu Wenbin said goodbye to his parents and girlfriend in the afternoon and drove back to the club alone.
It was also on this day, May 23, that Ralf led a team consisting of most of the substitutes and a few main players to challenge Schalke 04 away.
This is Hoffenheim's last Bundesliga game of the season.
Hoffenheim, who played with mostly substitutes, unsurprisingly lost 1-2 to Schalke 04 away from home, and their points remained at 73 points when they won the championship three rounds in advance, and they lost all the last three league rounds.
Of course, no one cares whether Hoffenheim wins or loses in the last three rounds. Everyone knows that Hoffenheim’s final focus is the UEFA Cup and German Cup finals.
Although the UEFA Cup has been won, there is still a German Cup final. It is not surprising at all that Hoffenheim lost to Schalke 04 with a lineup mostly composed of substitutes.
Because they want their main players to save their energy for the German Cup final.
In order to prevent collusion, all matches in the last round of the league started and ended at the same time.
In addition to Hoffenheim who gave up the game after winning the championship in advance, Werder Bremen, ranked 10th, also gave up the game in order to participate in the German Cup final and lost 1-5 to Wolfsburg away from home, which was a major defeat.
However, since there is no worry about relegation, it is understandable that Bremen gave up this away game and kept the main players for the German Cup match against Hoffenheim.
Therefore, Wolfsburg maintained its second place in the league with a big win, 2 points ahead of third-placed Bayern Munich, and directly qualified for the Champions League group stage next season like Hoffenheim.
Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich lost too many points at the beginning of the first half of the season. Although they fought back, they still had to finish third and had to start from the play-offs.
Fortunately, with Bayern Munich's strength, there is basically no need to worry about not being able to break through the play-offs.
On the contrary, any team from other leagues that meets Bayern in the play-offs will be unlucky.
Stuttgart and Hertha Berlin ranked fourth and fifth respectively, and qualified for the reformed Europa League.
There is also a Europa League qualification originally allocated to the German Cup champion, but Hoffenheim, who participated in the German Cup final, has already qualified for the European competition through the league championship.
Therefore, regardless of whether the other participating team Werder Bremen can beat Hoffenheim to win the German Cup, they will definitely qualify for the Europa League.
Of course, no one goes to the finals with the intention of getting runner-up.
Even though the outside world comments that there is a huge gap in strength between Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim, they will fight to the death with Hoffenheim in the German Cup final.
The league has come to an end, and the only game left in the German league is the final of the German Football Association Cup. The participating teams are Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen, and the match will be held on May 30th.
On May 24, the Hoffenheim team resumed training and began to prepare for the German Cup final and strive for their treble.
However, before Hoffenheim achieved their small treble, another team had already achieved their big treble.
On May 27, 2009, in the UEFA Champions League final, Barcelona defeated the defending champion Manchester United 2-0 with goals from Eto'o and Messi, winning the 2008/2009 Champions League.
Together with the Spanish King's Cup and La Liga titles they had already won, Barcelona became the first Spanish "triple crown" team.
This is the supreme and most valuable treble in European football. The treble that Hoffenheim is striving for can only be considered a small treble.
Because the value of the UEFA Cup championship is far different from that of the Champions League!
Therefore, in the next few days, the whole world was immersed in the discussion of Barcelona's treble and the Dream Three Dynasty, and Hoffenheim's upcoming challenge for the small treble had been left in a corner by the media and fans.
Such treatment made Lu Wenbin, who believed that he would definitely win the Champions League in the future, feel envious and jealous.
Fortunately, Hoffenheim will be able to participate in the Champions League next season.
By then, Lu Wenbin will surely impress the whole world on the highest stage of European football!
Of course, the right thing to do now is to concentrate on preparing for the German Cup final and strive to win the small treble that Hoffenheim can currently get.