Chapter 370: Header Score
Bayern Munich's dense defence was used more skillfully and tacitly than in the first leg of the semi-finals.
With the exception of Lu Wenbin, Hoffenheim struggled to get any decent shots.
Not to mention that Lu Wenbin's judgment is average, his vision and passing attributes are not high enough, and he rarely sees gaps and passes good balls.
Even if Lu Wenbin occasionally bursts of luck and passes a good ball past, his teammates do not have Lu Wenbin's shooting ability. Even if he shot at goal, he didn't hit the frame of the goal.
In the 27th minute, Lu Wenbin broke through two Bayern players, attracted the defense of three or four opponents, and then passed the ball to the other side of the forbidden area, but Demba Ba hit the plane without interference.
The teammates couldn't score goals, and Lu Wenbin didn't get much better, and the commentators' sighs for Lu Wenbin's failed shooting sounded from time to time in the commentary seat.
You must know that a super giant like Bayern Munich has a lot of star-level players in reserve. Not only the attacking players are star-studded, but the defensive players are also extraordinary, and there are quite a few of them.
When they put aside their face and hoard heavy troops to defend intensively in the backfield, it is really uncomfortable.
The overall strength and the outstanding individual performance of the stars made it impossible for Lu Wenbin, who had previously blocked and killed gods and Buddhas to kill Buddhas, to break Bayern's city.
Breaking down dense defense is always a problem in the world, and it is even more difficult to break the Bayern backline composed of powerful star players such as Demichaelis, Van Bitten, and Van Bommel.
Hoffenheim can only continue to strengthen their long-range and set-piece tactics.
Fortunately, after a week of targeted training and preparation, the players were a little more patient than in the first leg and had a much better ability to take chances.
In the 36th minute, Lu Wenbin broke through two defenders with the ball outside the right corner of the forbidden area, but did not rush to hit the goal, but passed the ball to the right side.
Although Lu Wenbin's passing skills were not good and the pass was not so appropriate, the empty right side still allowed the right wingback Baker, who stepped forward to participate in the attack, to receive the ball easily.
Baker received the ball and took two steps to the baseline, and then without waiting for Demichelis, who had passed past to defend, rushed in front of him, and crossed with his feet.
This is the standard pattern of breaking through the middle to attract the attention of the opponent's defense and splitting the side, then the wide player goes down to cross, and then the middle follows up with a header.
In fact, Hoffenheim had already used this tactic several times in this game, and although it failed to cause a goal, at least the ball came in.
Because Bayern faced Lu Wenbin, who broke through with the ball, they could only have two or three people to surround him, and others had to pay attention to supplemental defense, so they could no longer take care of the wings.
This makes the Bayern defensive wing of the Bayern defense when Lu Wenbin passes the ball, so that Baker can have a relatively relaxed environment to calmly receive the ball and cross the bottom.
The defensive intensity faced by Lu Wenbin, who passed the ball out, suddenly eased a lot, after all, it is impossible for Bayern to have several people revolving around Lu Wenbin who is running without the ball, they still have to defend the ball-holding player first.
After Lu Wenbin passed the ball to the wing in this attack, Demichelis had to leave the forbidden area and go to the wing to defend Baker.
If Baker doesn't defend it, Baker could cut inside and shoot from the 'zone', which is more dangerous than his cross.
Then, halfway through Demichelis's run, Baker was on his feet.
Demichelis jumped and couldn't get the ball cleared, so he had to turn his head to look down the middle, hoping that his teammates would clear the ball as they had done the previous times.
However, Beck, who is a German international, made a good pass this time without interference.
The ball began to fall as soon as it went over Demichelis' head and landed towards the front of the no-go zone.
After passing the ball to the side, Lu Wenbin first ran to the middle of the forbidden area, and then took Van Bitten and Van Bommel who were marking him to the middle after taking a few steps to the middle, and then suddenly turned around and rushed to the front of the small forbidden area.
This is the routine practiced in this week's training, but sometimes the tacit understanding between teammates, passing ability, etc., is not in place, and it does not show results.
But this time Baker and Lu Wenbin cooperated together, the landing point of the ball and Lu Wenbin's running position coincided with each other, and Baker's passing speed and height were just right.
Although there were Van Bitten, Van Bommel and others around him, and when he was about to run to the point, he was bumped by Contento in the small forbidden area, but Lu Wenbin still occupied the position with his strong physique, jumped lightly, and shook his head to attack the goal against the ball crossed by Beck.
The ball was pushed by Lu Wenbin, and after a refraction, it flew towards the top corner of the near goal.
Because the distance was too close, Bout, who was standing at the near end, could only reflexively raise his hand, but still failed to prevent the ball from entering the net.
Lu Wenbin's header went over Bout's left hand and into the back of the net.
At the same time, Lu Wenbin was also knocked down by Van Bitten, who chased him from behind, and fell out of the bottom line.
However, Lu Wenbin, who has zero injury tendency, fell to the ground unharmed.
In the process of falling to the ground, Lu Wenbin, who watched the ball fly into the goal, rolled around on the ground and then rolled over, running excitedly along the billboard to celebrate.
He finally broke through Bayern Munich's iron wall.
The Hoffenheim commentator in the commentary seat, Custer, also shouted: "Tooooooooooor......"
The commentators of other TV stations also excitedly and loudly commented:
"The ball is in, the ball is in!"
"In the 36th minute, Lew scored a header to equalize the aggregate score for Hoffenheim!"
"The score is 1-1 on aggregate and Lu scored his 22nd goal in the Champions League!"
"Worthy of being a super striker who set a single-season goal record in the Champions League, Bayern Munich's dense defensive tactics were broken by Lu after holding on for 36 minutes!"
"Judging from these two games, Lu's heading skills seem to be much better than before!"
"Well, it feels that way!"
"Lou is still making rapid progress!"
In the excited commentary of the commentators, tens of thousands of Hoffenheim fans in the stands also let out cheers and screams of excitement.
Bayern Munich's 541 defensive counterattack, although it was not good-looking, had a good effect and really made everyone at Hoffenheim feel the pressure.
Losing the first leg with zero goals and not scoring until 36 minutes in the second leg is hard to imagine in a game with Lu Wenbin starting this season.
Now, it really appears in front of every Hoffenheim fan, which makes them have to be anxious.
While they could use boos against Bayern Munich's players, it was a trick that didn't do much for the seasoned Bayern stars.
The outcome of both sides still has to be implemented in the game.
Now, with Lu finally scoring in the 36th minute to give Hoffenheim the lead and equalise the aggregate score, everyone can finally breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate.