Because they wanted to watch the European Golden Boot award ceremony which was held in advance, most of the fans came very early and the Rhine-Neckar Arena was full early on.
Except for a small number of fans who arrived late due to some reasons, the seats in the stands were basically filled with Hoffenheim fans and Lu Wenbin's fans.
Of course, there is no shortage of Sevilla's away fans.
But Spanish fans have never liked traveling with their team to away games, so even though this was a Champions League match, there were very few away fans coming to cheer for Sevilla, only a few hundred people, which was completely inconspicuous in the Rhein-Neckar Arena with more than 30,000 people.
The award ceremony officially began at 19:00 on the evening of October 20, 2009.
Amid the excited shouts from the live broadcast and the applause from the audience, Lu Wenbin walked out of the player tunnel, then took the European Golden Boot Award from the president of Adidas Europe and showed it around.
The fans gave warm applause and cheers to congratulate Lu Wenbin on his winning the award. Dozens of media reporters surrounded Lu Wenbin and took photos of him.
At the age of 19, Lu Wenbin not only set the European Golden Boot goal record, but was also the youngest winner of the European Golden Boot in football history.
Coupled with being shortlisted for the European Golden Ball and Lu Wenbin's even higher goal tally in the new season, many people have already sensed that a world-class shooter is being born.
When Lu Wenbin received the award, the live broadcast signal cut to the big screen at the scene, allowing fans who were farther away to see it more clearly.
Amid everyone's cheers, the live camera was aimed at the VIP box of the Rhine-Neckar Arena.
Then, the audience at the scene and in front of the TV saw German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the VIP box and an Eastern leader beside her. Both of them were smiling and applauding Lu Wenbin who received the European Golden Boot Award.
He was accompanied by senior officials from Germany and China.
Hoffenheim chairman Dietmar Hopp, who should have been the owner of the stadium, could only stand on the sidelines as an escort.
There was a sudden uproar at the scene. Hoffenheim fans felt extremely proud and the applause suddenly became louder.
At this time, some viewers who had watched the current affairs news remembered that this Chinese **** was visiting various European countries during this period and happened to be visiting Germany these days.
Unexpectedly, today I appeared at the Rhein-Neckar Arena with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to watch Hoffenheim's Champions League match.
The audience's confusion about the strict security measures for this Champions League group match was finally revealed. It turned out that leaders of two world-class powers, Germany and China, were coming to watch the game. No wonder the number of security guards and police increased several times.
Lu Wenbin, who was happily showing the Golden Boot trophy to the audience, also saw his country's leader on the large LCD screen and was stunned for a while.
Although he usually doesn't pay much attention to current affairs news, the Vice President happened to be visiting Germany these days, so Lu Wenbin naturally saw him several times on TV news and recognized him.
But why is the Vice Chairman here
The national leaders are very idle. Do they have time to watch football matches when visiting other countries
Or is there some connection between Hoffenheim and China that is worth ***** going to the Rhein-Neckar Arena to watch Hoffenheim's Champions League game when visiting Germany
Obviously, the national leaders cannot have very much free time, and Hoffenheim’s only connection with China is Lu Wenbin.
The vice chairman must have come specially to watch Lu Wenbin's European Golden Boot Award ceremony and his Champions League match.
Thinking of this, Lu Wenbin felt a little uneasy.
In Chinese sports, generally only Olympic champions have the opportunity to receive a collective audience with national leaders.
Chinese football, which has always been hated, has never been treated like this.
Some time ago, Lu Wenbin publicly stated that he would never acquire foreign citizenship or play football for a foreign country. Now the vice chairman came to watch his European Golden Boot Awards Ceremony and the Champions League match.
Is this direct affirmation and approval from the country's leaders
Lu Wenbin had also heard some gossip about the leader's love for football, which now seemed to be true.
There must be no mistakes today and the vice-president must not let the vice-president watch Hoffenheim lose.
Lu Wenbin must score a goal and lead Hoffenheim to victory.
With excitement, after showing the Golden Boot trophy, Lu Wenbin took the microphone to thank his teammates and fans, and then ended his European Golden Boot Award ceremony.
Back in the locker room, Lu Wenbin naturally received congratulations and envy from his teammates.
Many people took selfies with Lu Wenbin's golden boots, or took photos with Lu Wenbin holding the golden boots.
He also congratulated the Chinese state leader for coming to watch Lu Wenbin's Golden Boot Award ceremony and Champions League match during his visit to Germany.
After today, it is estimated that the Chinese Football Association will no longer be able to ignore Lu Wenbin.
Moreover, after Lu Wenbin joined the Chinese national football team, he was definitely treated as the core player. From Football Association officials to coaches to teammates, no one dared to trip up Lu Wenbin.
So, Hoffenheim must win today.
At 19:45 on the evening of October 20, with the referee's whistle, the third round of the 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League Group G match between Hoffenheim and Sevilla at home officially began.
Hoffenheim still uses the traditional 433 offensive formation, while Sevilla uses a balanced 442 formation.
However, as a La Liga team, Sevilla actually plays offensive football and will not be conservative just because they are facing Hoffenheim, who has strong offensive power, and European Golden Boot winner Lu Wenbin.
Therefore, the two sides started an offensive battle from the first minute.
As for Hoffenheim, probably because ***** was there to watch the game, it had a certain psychological impact on Lu Wenbin, making him a little impatient, so his performance at the beginning was not very good.
In the 8th and 17th minutes, Lu Wenbin had two chances to shoot, but failed to score.
One of the shots in the penalty area was saved by Sevilla goalkeeper Barras, and another long shot outside the penalty area was missed by Lu Wenbin himself.
There was another free kick opportunity, but Lu Wenbin failed to hit the goal frame.
Instead, it was Sevilla who scored the first goal in the 22nd minute.
It was a quick counterattack after Sevilla intercepted Salihovic's ball, and finally their striker Fabiano kicked the ball into Hoffenheim's goal.
At that moment, the entire Rhine-Neckar Arena was silent, with only the cheers of a few hundred visiting Sevilla fans echoing.
Hoffenheim fell behind to the visiting team Sevilla at their home ground.
Lu Wenbin stood in the frontcourt, watching his teammates in the backcourt being broken through by the opponents and successfully shooting. He felt that his poor condition was caused by his impatience.
After looking at the VIP box, Lu Wenbin took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, concentrate on the game, and stop thinking about other things that were not related to the game.