Hoffenheim, with high morale, launched a fierce attack on Inter Milan at the beginning of the second half, and the threat was much greater than in the first half.
In the 49th minute, Lu Wenbin finally completed his most threatening shot since the start of the final.
After he broke through Zanetti outside the penalty area, he attracted Cambiasso and Lucio to scramble for the ball, and promptly passed the ball to Ibisevic in the middle, shifting the attention of Inter Milan's defense to Ibisevic.
Then Lu Wenbin ran without the ball, changed direction, shook off Cambiasso and Lucio, and advanced into the penalty area. Ibisevic passed the ball to his running route without stopping, and completed a perfect wall-to-wall cooperation with Lu Wenbin.
Although Ibisevic's passing skills are not as good as Eduardo's, the long-term cooperation and tacit understanding allowed him to pass a good ball in this short pass against the wall.
After Ibisevic passed the ball, without waiting for the other central defender Samuel to make up for the defense, Lu Wenbin, who was running, shot the ball without stopping in the penalty area, and the ball went straight to the bottom corner of the goal.
Unfortunately, Inter Milan goalkeeper Cesar reacted too quickly and fell down almost at the moment Lu Wenbin shot. Then he used his palm to deflect Lu Wenbin's shot that was heading straight for the blind corner out of the bottom line.
Cesar made a world-class save, making Lu Wenbin's shot ineffective.
Hoffenheim failed to get the first point on the next corner kick, and the Inter Milan defender headed the ball out of the penalty area to clear it.
However, just four minutes into the second half, Lu Wenbin made a threatening shot within the goal frame, giving the entire Hoffenheim team hope.
Everyone's morale was even higher, and they ran, attacked and defended even harder, vowing to turn defeat into victory and create the miracle of a country bumpkin turning the tables on a giant.
Inter Milan's defense is indeed experienced and there are very few loopholes for Hoffenheim to exploit.
But Hoffenheim was the attacking side after all and took the initiative. When they accelerated the pace of passing and cutting, the passively defending Inter Milan's veteran defenders gradually could not keep up.
Of course, it is only the beginning of the second half. Inter Milan, who had been building up physical strength for this game before the end of the league, has not yet run out of energy, and Hoffenheim has not posed too big or too frequent a threat.
But Mourinho has already seen that Hoffenheim wants to drain his team's physical strength.
He asked Materazzi and other defensive players on the bench to start warming up slowly on the sidelines and be ready to play at any time.
Ralph naturally did not dare to fall behind, so he asked the players off the field to start warming up and be ready to make substitutions at any time.
After speeding up the pace of passing, cutting and running, Inter Milan's veterans may be dragged down, but Hoffenheim's own players may not be much better and must prepare early.
Fortunately, Hoffenheim's players are all young people, and their physical fitness is naturally stronger than Inter Milan, this is beyond doubt.
This is also the trump card that Ralph has high hopes for to complete a comeback in the second half.
The Hoffenheim players on the field ignored the battle of wits between the two head coaches, they just focused on attacking desperately on the field.
Hoffenheim, who have been playing offensive football for a long time and have a tacit understanding among their main lineup, went crazy and their attack was still very fierce. Even giants like Inter Milan could not resist it.
Without sufficient offensive power, Hoffenheim would not have won the treble last season, the double this season and reached the Champions League final.
In the 55th minute, Lu Wenbin broke through Cambiasso and Zidane in succession on the wing and went to the bottom line. He made a fake cross to attract Lucio's steal and then dribbled past him and entered the penalty area.
Suddenly, Lu Wenbin who broke into the penalty area attracted the attention of goalkeeper Cesar, Samuel and Zanetti, almost blocking the possibility of Lu Wenbin shooting from a small angle.
Lu Wenbin did not force a shot, but instead passed the ball back to the penalty spot in the penalty area.
Eduardo who came in from the back row and Cambiasso who came back to defense rushed towards the ball at the same time. Eduardo touched the ball first and shot without stopping, but Cambiasso's side sliding tackle appeared in front of Eduardo's feet almost at the same time.
The ball kicked by Eduardo hit Cambiasso's calf and flew high over the crossbar, and Hoffenheim got a corner kick.
After Eduardo sent a corner kick, Lu Wenbin grabbed the first point, broke free from the defense of Lucio and Cambiasso in the penalty area, jumped high and headed the ball.
The ball hit the goal frame, but the angle was too straight and Cesar caught it in his arms, causing Hoffenheim fans and commentators in the stands to sigh.
Although there was no goal, Hoffenheim's fierce attack in the second half gave the fans hope and made Inter Milan fans very nervous.
For a moment, there was a panic in front of Inter Milan's goal, and it looked like it was about to collapse.
Mourinho couldn't stand it anymore.
Although he used the bus defense to withstand Barcelona's attack in the semi-finals and eliminated Barcelona to advance to the final, he was not sure he could win the championship by relying on defense to maintain a two-goal lead in the face of Hoffenheim's attack.
Because Hoffenheim has a BUG-like existence like Lu Wenbin in its lineup, who is more terrifying than Messi, who is known as Maradona's successor.
Therefore, Mourinho shouted on the sidelines at his players to counterattack and not be overwhelmed by Hoffenheim's attacks.
If Inter Milan could score one more goal, they would almost have completely killed the game.
However, Mourinho's call did not work.
It’s not that the players don’t know how to fight back, but they really are powerless.
The average age of Inter Milan's entire team is indeed much older than Hoffenheim.
When all Hoffenheim players sped up the pace of passing, cutting and running, Inter Milan did not collapse but was unable to fight back.
The occasional counterattacks after getting the ball were also destroyed by the desperate defense of Sukulini, Jancker, Nilsson and others.
After 15 minutes of the second half, Inter Milan had not yet had a single counterattack shot, while Hoffenheim's offensive was one wave after another.
All Hoffenheim players know that it will be too late if they don’t fight hard.
Therefore, even if he died of exhaustion, it was worth it. After all, this was the last game of the season, and even if he got cramps and had to leave the field, it would not affect the next game.
Hoffenheim's continuous passing, cutting, running and crazy attacks finally made them effective in the 67th minute.
Generally speaking, when the game reaches the 75th minute, the physical fitness of the players on the field will reach a watershed.
But Hoffenheim's attacking tempo in the second half was too fast, and Inter Milan's average age was too high. Therefore, before the 75th minute, Inter Milan's defenders had physical problems. (Seeking monthly votes)