In addition to Obasi's re-injury in the 23rd round of the Bundesliga against Werder Bremen, Eduardo was also shown a yellow card in this game and will be suspended for the next league game against Eintracht Frankfurt due to the accumulation of yellow cards.

The road to the Triple Crown that Lu Wenbin insisted on is indeed a hellish level of difficulty.

Fortunately, although it was difficult to win, it was won in the end and got 3 points.

At the end of this round of league games, Hoffenheim continued to top the Bundesliga standings with 55 points, followed by Hertha Berlin with 46 points, which also won with 46 points, and Wolfsburg and Hamburg with 42 points, and Bayern Munich fell to fifth with 40 points.

Hoffenheim remain nine points clear of second place and look close to the title at a time when the number of league rounds is dwindling.

However, after this round of league games, Hoffenheim still has the first leg of the UEFA Cup 1/8 final between the next round of the league.

This match is the match where Lu Wenbin has the potential to be promoted to 16 levels.

In the match with Werder Bremen, Lu Wenbin got 1 assist, 5000+ wins, 20,000 wins, a total of 25,000 experience rewards, and the experience rose to level 15 886,000/1 million, only 120,000 experience can be upgraded to 16 levels.

The League Cup win is 80,000 and the goal is 40,000, as long as Lu Wenbin scores a goal and leads the team to win, he can upgrade to get skill point rewards, which can be used to increase physical attributes.

When the time comes, Lu Wenbin's physical fitness, confrontation, etc., can be taken to a higher level, and he can persist until the end of the season without rotation.

The first leg of the 1/8 final of the UEFA Cup Hoffenheim is a home game, and the schedule is relatively unfavorable.

On March 11, when Zenit St. Petersburg arrived in Rhine Nechar County, head coach Advocaat gave a pre-match press conference to express his team's confidence that the team would knock Hoffenheim out and advance to the last eight.

Advocaat's confidence is manifold.

First of all, Zenit St. Petersburg won the UEFA Cup last season, and they eliminated Bayern Munich 5-1 over two legs in the semi-finals to reach the final, which was regarded as a European shame by Bayern.

At that time, Bayern Munich was also the first in the Bundesliga, and the coach was also Advocaat, who was able to lead the team to defeat Bayern to advance to the final and finally win the championship.

Later, Advocaat led Zenit to defeat Champions League champion Manchester United in the UEFA Super Cup, which was even more impressive.

Therefore, Advocaat's confidence in beating Hoffenheim, who is at the top of the Bundesliga standings, to advance to the last eight of the UEFA Cup has a source.

Add to that the successive injuries to Hoffenheim's main players, Ralph's talk that he wants to abandon the UEFA Cup, Obasi is injured again in a game, and the schedule is more favorable for Zenit to play away first and then home, and it is no wonder that Advocaat is full of confidence.

Ralph took advantage of Advocaat's remarks, pretending to be unhappy and hurriedly explaining a few words before brushing his sleeves away, and did not even announce the starting list.

It wasn't until an hour before the start of the game that Ralph found out that Ralph had lied when he had to submit his starting XI to UEFA for the broadcaster to broadcast the game live and for the official UEFA Cup website.

In this game, Hoffenheim, including Lu Wenbin, Demba Ba, Eduardo, Baker, Gustavo, all the main players played, how could they give up the League Cup?

Naturally, the reporters who supported Hoffenheim were worried, fearing that Hoffenheim's insistence on fighting on three fronts under the current situation would eventually lead to the collapse of the whole front, and the four major ones would be empty.

The media and fans who support other Bundesliga teams are gloating, wishing that Hoffenheim would focus on the UEFA Cup, and that it would be better to cause the Bundesliga to collapse and lose the title.

In particular, the media and fans of Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg, Hamburg and Bayern Munich, who are in the second tier of the standings, are the most eager to see Hoffenheim collapse, and they can reverse and overtake Hoffenheim in the league.

As for Zenit St. Petersburg, they were really taken aback after getting the starting line-up for Hoffenheim and did not have time to make targeted tactical changes.

They weren't intimidated, though.

Because they also beat Bayern Munich last season, the first place in the Bundesliga, and Hoffenheim had some objective shortcomings in this game that Ralph could not solve by lying.

For example, the cooperation between Compel and the back line, the cooperation between Palgic and the attacking line in the frontcourt, etc., are all objective deficiencies, and there is no way to lie.

Therefore, Advocaat told his players not to be afraid of Hoffenheim, Zenit is the defending champion, and no one needs to be afraid.

The players just have to take advantage of Comper's weakness and bombard as much as they can on the away side, and it would be better if they could win away from home.

At 21 o'clock in the evening of March 12, local time in Germany, with the referee's whistle, the first leg of the 2008/2009 UEFA Cup 1/8 finals Hoffenheim home vs Zenit St. Petersburg officially began.

Hoffenheim continued to play attacking football under the leadership of Lu Wenbin, and Zenit St. Petersburg, who wanted to exploit Comper's weakness to score away goals, also played attacking football.

The two sides fought a battle at the Rhein-Neckar Arena, which was full of excitement and excitement for neutral fans.

Hoffenheim, after all, were playing at home and had a bigger advantage, getting into the game first and scoring goals.

In the 13th minute, fullback Baker stepped forward to assist, cut inside about 20 meters from the baseline, and made a feint to pass to Lu Wenbin, but passed the ball to Demba Ba.

Demba Ba fired a long-range shot from outside the 'Big Exclusion' Zone, piercing the goal of the Russian international Malafeyev.

Hoffenheim took a 1-0 lead at home through Demba Ba's goal.

However, Zenit did not panic and conceded away from home within their expectations, and they still persevered to seize on Comper's point and attack.

However, they have not been able to make much progress from Comper.

On the one hand, Compel has made great progress in the position of central defender, both in terms of personal ability and tacit understanding with his teammates, and on the other hand, after Zenit St. Petersburg won the League Cup last season, Arshavin, Shchuk and other core players have left the team to land in the five major leagues, and Zenit's attacking power has decreased a lot compared with last season.

In the 21st minute, they had a one-on-one shot after breaking through Comper, but striker Puggen's shot was distracted by Ozcan's attack, causing laughter from the Hoffenheim fans in the stands.

It has to be said that the success of Zenit last season was more dependent on the excellent performance of the golden generation such as Arshavin.

After leaving these core players this season, Advocaat will also have some difficulty in leading Zenit to beat Hoffenheim, the first place in the Bundesliga, and repeat the brilliant results of last season.

Even if Hoffenheim itself is in a bad situation, it will be difficult for the Russian team to eliminate the first place in the Bundesliga.

(On April 23rd, the first update of the guarantee, ask for a monthly pass, ask for a recommendation ticket!) ）