Under the tens of thousands of fans' nervous gaze, Sneijder's through ball dodged Gustavo's counter-attack, dodged Jancker's diving tackle, and rolled straight towards Hoffenheim's penalty area.
Of course, the ball was not strong enough to roll into the penalty area, because the other central defender Nelson was chasing back with all his might, and he would definitely catch up with the ball before it entered the penalty area.
However, next to Nilsson, there was another person sprinting with him: Inter Milan’s No. 9, the cheetah Eto’o!
There is no doubt that Sneijder's surgical-like through pass that penetrated Hoffenheim's defense was passed to Eto'o.
At the moment Sneijder made a long pass, Eto'o was behind Nilsson.
The two started at the same time and chased the ball. Nilsson also used his first-mover advantage to block the ball while running, hoping to hinder Eto'o's running route, so that he could get the ball first or let goalkeeper Ozcan clear the ball.
But Eto'o is too fast and central defenders usually can't outrun him.
The two ran less than 10 meters before Eto'o caught up with Nelson.
When Nilsson changed lanes to try to block him, Eto'o accelerated suddenly again and got ahead of Nilsson by half a body length, causing Nilsson to stagger.
This stumble slowed Nelson down a bit, and Eto'o took the opportunity to shake Nelson off.
Nilsson tried to pull and tug but failed to stop Eto'o.
Amid the cheers of Inter Milan fans and the boos of Hoffenheim fans, Eto'o caught up with the ball at the edge of the penalty area and shot directly.
The ball flew forward along the grass and rolled into the goal from the far end. Ozcan tried to catch it but failed.
The ball is going too fast.
The Italian commentator in the commentary booth roared: "Gooooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"Eto'o scored twice, Inter Milan leads Hoffenheim 2-0! Long live the Nerazzurri!"
Other commentators also excitedly explained:
"Cheetah Eto'o, he scored twice in 8 minutes in the Champions League final, completely overshadowing Lu!"
"Oh my god, the game has only started for 14 minutes and Eto'o has already scored twice. Inter Milan is already leading Hoffenheim 2-0!"
"This final belongs to Eto'o! Barcelona sold him, but he followed Inter Milan to eliminate Barcelona and entered the Champions League final, and scored twice in 8 minutes in the final, proving his value."
“I wonder if the Barcelona president regrets it now?”
Of course, in addition to the praise for Eto'o, many commentators who originally supported Hoffenheim also began to worry about Hoffenheim.
"It's so surprising. It's rare for Hoffenheim to be two goals ahead in a game!"
"Hoffenheim's players are too young, and none of them has experience in the Champions League final. Jancker's back pass error and Gustavo's pass being intercepted are both manifestations of lack of experience!"
"With Inter Milan's defensive counterattack ability and a two-goal lead, Hoffenheim is really in danger!"
"In the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, Inter Milan only allowed Barcelona to score one goal away from home with 10 players. Now that Inter Milan has a full lineup, it will definitely be more difficult for Hoffenheim to score!"
"Even with Lu, it will probably be difficult for Hoffenheim to win!"
"Lu didn't show any performance in the first ten minutes. Let's see if Lu can score a goal in the remaining time!"
"If Lu doesn't put in a convincing performance in this final, I'm afraid his Ballon d'Or will be in danger!"
Indeed, Lu Wenbin is neither a European player nor a South American player.
His identity as an Asian, a yellow race, and a Chinese is bound to have a certain impact on him, making it more difficult for him to gain recognition than other European and American players.
In addition, this year is the World Cup year. If any European or American player performs well in the World Cup and leads his team to win the championship, and Lu Wenbin loses the Champions League final, even if he scores a lot of goals personally, he may not be able to secure this year's Golden Ball Award.
Sometimes, 10 goals scored in ordinary matches are not as good as a key goal in an important match.
Of course, one goal can no longer solve the problem in this game. Hoffenheim must score at least two goals to have a chance of dragging the game into overtime and a penalty shootout.
Even so, we still have to hope that Inter Milan will not score any more goals.
Most of Hoffenheim's hopes of scoring goals rest on Lu Wenbin.
Everyone knows that he is Hoffenheim's hope.
On the field, against the backdrop of Inter Milan players cheering and celebrating, Hoffenheim's players looked a little distraught, including Lu Wenbin.
Before leaving for Madrid, no one expected that they would fall behind by two goals after 14 minutes of the game.
This situation was something no one had expected before the game.
Lu Wenbin thought that playing against Inter Milan was difficult, but Hoffenheim won the championship in the end. He will use the Champions League title as his 20th birthday present and lock in the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or in advance.
Unexpectedly, Inter Milan's defense was so good that he didn't get a single shot chance after more than 10 minutes of the game.
Moreover, the opponent took advantage of two mistakes in their defense and scored two goals in a row, leading Hoffenheim 2-0.
Eto'o scored two goals with two shots. His efficiency and luck are unparalleled.
In the past, Hoffenheim’s comebacks were all after they were only one goal behind, and the opponents they faced were not so strong.
Now facing Inter Milan, Hoffenheim is two goals behind after 14 minutes of the game. Does they still have hope
Both the players and the fans felt confused and even desperate.
Head coach Ralph was also hit hard by the opponent's consecutive goals, but he has not forgotten his responsibilities.
Seeing that the players on the field looked a little lost, Ralph knew that he had to make adjustments.
It might be unrealistic to let them attack now, so it would be better to retreat as a whole and do a good job of defense first.
Otherwise, the forced attack might give the opponent the opportunity to counterattack and score a goal.
Therefore, while the Inter Milan players were still celebrating, Ralph loudly called out to his players, asking them not to attack first, but to stabilize the defense and ensure that no more balls were lost.
Ralph didn’t know whether Hoffenheim could make up for the two-goal disadvantage, but he knew that they must not lose any more balls.
If Hoffenheim loses the ball again, it will be really over.
After the game resumed, Hoffenheim indeed retreated significantly. Eduardo, Salihovic, Lu Wenbin and Demba Ba all retreated to join the defense, with only center forward Ibisevic standing in front.
Inter Milan also took advantage of the opportunity of scoring two goals in a row and boosting morale to launch a wave of continuous attacks.
Fortunately, Eto'o's two consecutive goals were largely due to luck.
The shooting accuracy of him and other Inter Milan players is actually not up to Lu Wenbin's level.
In the rest of the first half, Hoffenheim defended the goal in a shameful way with almost all the players returning to defense, preventing Inter Milan from scoring any more goals.
After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, and both sides entered the halftime break with a score of 2-0.