After winning the Serie A championship, Inter Milan celebrated for one night, took a day off the next day, and on the third day, they began training and preparing for the Champions League.
All the games in which Lu Wenbin was shutout so far, as well as the last three games between Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich, have been the subject of repeated study by Mourinho.
Although he is arrogant, Mourinho will not relax his preparations for the final rationally.
He has not achieved such great success today by talking big.
Hoffenheim has won all the championships they can participate in in the past three seasons. This record cannot but make Mourinho alert.
Moreover, Lu Wenbin’s offensive power must also be taken seriously.
After the German Cup final, Lu Wenbin played a total of 50 club games this season, scoring 92 goals, averaging 1.84 goals per game.
This efficiency is absolutely the best in football and Mourinho cannot but take it seriously.
Therefore, he was so concerned about the match in which Bayern Munich shut out Lu Wenbin in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.
It is difficult for other players to score goals, but it is difficult for Lu Wenbin not to score goals.
In such an important occasion as the Champions League semi-final, Lu Wenbin must have tried his best. Bayern Munich was able to keep Lu Wenbin scoreless in the first round, so their defense must be unique.
Therefore, that game was the focus of Mourinho's research.
Of course, he didn't start his research until after the league ended.
When the result that the opponent in the final was Hoffenheim came out, Mourinho's team had already started researching Hoffenheim.
After a period of research and summary, the coaching staff unanimously agreed that the game in which Bayern Munich shut out Lu Wenbin was accidental.
Bayern Munich played at home, did an excellent job in defense, and Lu Wenbin had bad luck in scoring goals, all these combined factors led to the result that Lu Wenbin played his best in that game but failed to score a single goal.
It will be very difficult for Inter Milan to keep Lu Wenbin scoreless in the Champions League final.
In terms of probability, the probability of Lu Wenbin scoring in the final is much higher than the probability of not scoring.
This is not only because Lu Wenbin has the physique, speed, skills, superb shooting skills and is very agile without the ball in mobile warfare, but also because of Lu Wenbin's free kick skills.
Including national team matches, Lu Wenbin has scored a total of 18 free kicks this season, which is also the highest efficiency in football and more than the total number of goals scored by many forwards in a season.
Lu Wenbin even scored twice from free kicks.
Even if we prevent Lu Wenbin from scoring in open play, there is no guarantee that Lu Wenbin will not score from a free kick.
Of course, as with anything, there are bound to be some inevitable factors in the accidental occurrence.
Bayern Munich was able to keep Lu Wenbin scoreless in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, so there must be some advantages that can be learned.
After continuous analysis and research, Mourinho made targeted tactical arrangements for Hoffenheim's main lineup, especially Lu Wenbin.
First of all, in terms of formation, Inter Milan cannot play 532 like Bayern Munich, as the back line will be too tight and without strategic depth. They will be constantly suppressed by Hoffenheim, which is too passive.
It is difficult for a team to hold out for 90 minutes without conceding a goal. The fact that Bayern was eliminated in the second round after Lu Wenbin scored two goals is proof of this.
Therefore, Mourinho chose a relatively balanced 4231 formation, which retains a more forward counterattack capability while taking into account defense.
When defending, in addition to the forwards, Inter Milan can have all 9 people retreat back to defend, and there are three lines of defense.
When attacking, with the assists from the full-backs, up to 8 people can participate in the attack.
Just as the coaching staff analyzed, if they cannot guarantee a zero for Lu Wenbin, they must retain their ability to counterattack and score goals. They cannot just defend completely, and certainly not completely retreat to the 30-meter range in the backfield to defend.
Another reason for pressing forward like this is that Mourinho does not want to give Lu Wenbin too many free kicks in the frontcourt.
Even if you have to commit a foul, it is best to do it within 30 meters away from the goal.
At the same time, in order to curb Hoffenheim's offensive football, Mourinho also asked the whole team to increase their running and press Hoffenheim throughout the court, even the forwards were no exception.
From the second the ball is lost, the whole team must go into defensive mode.
In order to prepare for the Champions League final, Mourinho even asked the physical coach to build up the players' physical fitness with the Champions League final as the goal before the end of the league.
This is also the reason why Inter Milan had a very difficult victory against the relegation team Siena in the last round, because their preparations were not entirely focused on the league, and a large part of their energy was focused on the more distant Champions League final.
This led to their poor performance in the last round of the league, where they only won by one goal.
After the league ended, the entire Inter Milan team began training and preparing for the game under the tactical framework set by the coaching staff.
The Nerazzurri, who have waited for nearly half a century, are eager for the Champions League trophy from top to bottom.
Inter Milan is making intensive preparations, and Hoffenheim is also not idle.
The lure of the Champions League title also stimulates every Hoffenheim player. Even Lu Wenbin, who knows that he will never lack Champions League titles in the future, is eager for this season's Champions League.
Hoffenheim's German Cup final ended one day earlier than Inter Milan's last round of the league, so Hoffenheim had one more day of training and preparation time than Inter Milan.
Before the training started, Lu Wenbin used 3 skill points to increase his heading attribute to 14/14, and the remaining 2 skill points were left there uselessly.
Then, during training, Lu Wenbin also deliberately strengthened set pieces, mainly corner kicks and free kicks on both sides of the penalty area.
Mourinho's team has long been labeled as a defensive counterattack team.
Inter Milan's defense is better than Bayern Munich's, and Lu Wenbin is not sure that he can score a goal by breaking through and shooting.
In the second round of the Champions League semi-finals, Inter Milan relied on their bus in front of the Nou Camp goal to block Barcelona's wave after wave of attacks, and finally eliminated Barcelona and advanced to the final.
Therefore, Hoffenheim will definitely encounter Inter Milan's dense defense in this Champions League final, and set pieces have become a very important way to score goals.
14/14 headers, coupled with Lu Wenbin's speed, physique, height, and off-ball running, provide him with plenty of opportunities to score goals from set pieces.
As for the formation, Ralph didn't play any tricks.
Hoffenheim has long been accustomed to the 433 offensive formation. Both the players in the front and back courts have a good understanding of each other. A hasty change of formation may not catch the opponent off guard, but will instead make their own players at a loss.
Therefore, Ralf decided to stick to his offensive football, no matter how Inter Milan responded. (Seeking monthly tickets)