Lu Wenbin's goal in the 36th minute brought a sigh of relief to everyone from Hoffenheim coaches to players and fans.
Although they haven't won yet, Lu Wenbin's goal proves that Bayern Munich's defense is not watertight.
As long as Hoffenheim persists in attacking, they can win.
As for Bayern Munich, it is now a bit difficult to make a decision.
The players on the field were somewhat undecided as to whether they should continue to defend to prevent Hoffenheim from taking advantage of the situation to expand the score, or to strengthen the offense and try to score an away goal.
At this time, the head coach needs to make a decision.
While Hoffenheim players were celebrating wildly, Van Gaal called Van Bommel to the sidelines and gave him a few instructions. Van Bommel then conveyed the head coach's instructions to all his teammates.
After the game resumed, Bayern Munich did not counterattack immediately. Instead, they used the kick-off right to attack. After failing to score a goal, they immediately retreated as a whole and continued to maintain a solid defense.
Hoffenheim, who had just scored a goal, were in high spirits and attacked as a whole team after snatching the ball, but they failed to break through Bayern's defense which was well prepared.
Van Gaal's instructions unified the thinking of all Bayern players and prevented Hoffenheim from taking advantage of the opportunity to score and expand the score.
The two sides fell into a stalemate again.
Until the end of the first half, neither side scored any more goals.
After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, and both sides went into the halftime break with a score of 1-0.
During the half-time break, Ralph instructed the team to step up their attack in the second half, take more long shots, make more crosses from the bottom, and use more set pieces to score goals.
These are the only tricks you can use to break through dense defenses.
But Ralph also reminded the players to increase their running range and be wary of Bayern Munich's counterattack.
Because now the total score between the two sides is tied at 1-1, and Hoffenheim has lost the chance to score an away goal.
If Bayern Munich scores one goal, they will lead Hoffenheim in the number of away goals, and Hoffenheim will have to score two goals to eliminate the opponent.
Therefore, even if you cannot score a goal, you must be wary of the opponent's attack and not let Bayern Munich succeed in a sneak attack.
Sure enough, after the start of the second half, although Bayern Munich was still playing defensive counterattacks, the number and intensity of counterattacks increased a lot.
Obviously, Bayern Munich wants to score a goal and eliminate Hoffenheim with the advantage of away goals.
Fortunately, Ralph had given instructions in advance, and Hoffenheim players concentrated on Bayern Munich's counterattack as soon as they came on the court, holding their positions firmly and preventing Bayern Munich's attack from succeeding.
The same was true for Hoffenheim. When they wanted to attack, Bayern Munich had already returned to their own half and were ready for battle.
Even Thomas Muller returned to his own half, disrupting Hoffenheim's passing organization and offensive rhythm.
However, judging from the overall situation of the game, it was Hoffenheim who always took the initiative with their continuous attack, while Bayern Munich, who played defensive counterattacks, was more passive.
After scoring the first goal to equalize the total score, Hoffenheim's players became much more stable mentally, their self-confidence increased, and they became more determined in long shots and crosses.
Of course, when long-range shots and headers fail, that's when Bayern Munich will counterattack.
Schweinsteiger's passing organization, Ribery and Robben flying on the wings, and Thomas Muller's header in the penalty area all posed a considerable threat to Hoffenheim's defense.
Fortunately, because of Lu Wenbin's presence, Bayern never dared to press forward.
Therefore, Bayern did not put much troops into each counterattack. In addition, Hoffenheim's defense line was very focused, so Bayern did not succeed in counterattacking.
The two sides remained deadlocked at 1-0 until the 85th minute, with less than 10 minutes left until the end of the game.
If the 90-minute game ends with this score, the total score between the two sides will be 1-1, and the away goals will be 0, so it will enter overtime.
At this moment, Lu Wenbin got the ball in the middle of the frontcourt and started to break through with the ball.
He first used a bull tail to get past Van Bommel, and then did a Marseille turn to get past Van Buyten and enter the penalty area.
As a result, just as the Marseille turn was completed and before he could accelerate towards the penalty area, Van Buiten, who was overtaken by Lu Wenbin, grabbed Lu Wenbin with his backhand and pulled him to the ground.
Van Buyten, who started in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, the last league game and this game again, was too tired to run.
He didn't want to let Lu Wenbin break through and enter the penalty area, so he subconsciously reached out and pulled Lu Wenbin down like he was defending other players.
It was only when he saw Lu Wenbin falling to the ground that he realized this position was too dangerous.
But now that things have come to this, we can only pray that Lu Wenbin’s free kick will not go in like before.
The referee's whistle sounded, and Lu Wenbin caused Van Buiten to foul through his dribbling, and got a direct free kick opportunity on the left side of the penalty area, about 22 meters away from the goal.
Hoffenheim fans were immediately excited.
Although Lu Wenbin missed the previous free kicks, either they went wide of the goal or were saved by Butt, no one dared to underestimate Lu Wenbin's free kicks.
There are less than 10 minutes left in the game. If Lu Wenbin scores this goal, it will be a decisive victory.
With so little time left, and Bayern Munich having played a league match between the two Champions League semi-finals and having consumed much more physical energy than Hoffenheim, it would be difficult for them to counterattack and kill Hoffenheim.
Therefore, this ball made the players and fans of both sides quite nervous.
Bayern goalkeeper Butt kept directing the human wall, while Hoffenheim's players kept squeezing in the human wall, disrupting Bayern's human wall formation, and were warned by the referee.
It took more than half a minute before the human wall was formed, but there were still several Hoffenheim players standing inside.
Butt stood at the far end of the goal, ready to save the ball.
Because most of Lu Wenbin's free kicks are hit towards the near corner, although Butt is standing at the far end, his body's center of gravity is kept ready to rush to the near end at any time.
What he was thinking was that he should start moving towards the near end before Lu Wenbin's foot touched the ball.
Lu Wenbin stood behind the ball, looked at Butt's position and posture, and felt that Butt might predict and pounce to the near end in advance.
Previously, Butt had predicted Lu Wenbin's free kick within the goal frame and saved the ball by moving in advance.
Therefore, this time Lu Wenbin felt that he could do the opposite and shoot in the far corner.
The human wall blocked the near corner, and Eduardo was standing on the right edge of the human wall on the far corner ball path, just blocking the straight line of Lu Wenbin's ball flying to the far corner.
Therefore, after the referee blew the whistle for the free throw, Lu Wenbin and Eduardo looked at each other, then lowered their heads and started to run.
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