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"Luca. Tony!! He scored the second goal for Bayern! Bayern lead Stuttgart 2-1 away from home!! There are less than twenty minutes left until the end of the race! In the battle for the winter title with Hoffenheim, Bayern Munich is temporarily in the lead! If the score remains unchanged until the end, Bayern Munich will be level on points with Hoffenheim before the start of the game, and if Hoffenheim lose by more than four goals in the next game, the top two in the league table will change hands! ”

"My God...... Red! Odor received a second yellow card for pulling Cacau in Stuttgart and he was sent off! Now the situation is not in favor of Bayern Munich...... Stuttgart's attack was fierce, and Bayern could only shrink into their own 30-meter area during this time, and now Otto has been punished again......"

'Jurgen Klinsmann has learned wisely, he didn't insist on playing against opponents as much on the road as he did against Hoffenheim. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info even though it's only one goal ahead, as long as you can win, it's enough to ......"

"Sammy. Khedira-!! Oh! Crossbeam! His long-range shot hit the crossbar! Lensing has completely surrendered! In the ninetieth minute of the game, Khedira's long-range shot was denied by the crossbar......"

"It's over! The game is over! Stuttgart's unbeaten record at home to Bayern Munich since the 04-05 season is over! Bayern beat Stuttgart away from home with goals from Borowski and Toney, with a score of 2:1! Now the pressure is on Hoffenheim's shoulders! After being held to a draw at home to Hoffenheim, it was thought that Bayern had lost 99 per cent of the winter titles, but now it seems that hope is back! The race for the Winter Championship has reached a fever pitch......"

The day before the game, Bayern Munich and Stuttgart battled for 90 minutes, and in the end Bayern Munich won 2:1 against Stuttgart. Stuttgart's midfielder Khedira (sami_khedira) took the lead for the home team just before half-time, and just three minutes into the second half, Bayern Munich's Borowski equalized for his team, and then in the 76th minute, Luca. Toney scored the lead for his team. Until the end of the game, the score did not change again, and Bayern Munich won as they wished. In the final minute of the game, Khedira had a chance to be a hero, but his long-range shot hit the crossbar...... Now Bayern Munich has the same points as Hoffenheim, and the goal difference is three less, which is not a big difference. As long as Hoffenheim lose 0:4 at home, Bayern Munich will become the winter champions, which will give the team a lot of confidence, because as long as Bayern Munich wins the winter title, they will definitely win the league title, and it has never been reversed since the three-point system was introduced.

While the media in Munich were singing praises for the team, they were also expecting Hoffenheim to make mistakes.

"With Hoffenheim's terrible backline, even losing by four goals is not news......

"Although Hoffenheim's attack is the strongest in Germany, their opponent Schalke 04 is the strongest defence in Germany. So I think the Hoffenheim back line may not be able to stop Schalke's attack, but Schalke's defense can definitely stop Hoffenheim's attack! ”

The media in Munich are looking forward to the next day's game.

※※※ In the final round of the league, Mannheim fans had mixed feelings. Initially when Hoffenheim moved to the Karl Benz Stadium, it was a decision between the clubs, but as fans, they were very disgusted. They never hid their dislike for this team. Just like two neighbors were originally poor, and one of them was even poorer, but one day the poorer person suddenly won the jackpot of 100 million yuan, and became a nouveau riche overnight, installing a new house and buying a new car, and showing off in front of the poor neighbor all day long, and the other poor neighbor will naturally have a heartfelt dislike for this nouveau riche.

But as the Bundesliga season progressed, Hoffenheim won the audience step by step with their own performances, and naturally won the support of many Mannheim fans.

Hoffenheim played football that impressed the whole country, much better than their local team, Mannheim. The people of the city support Mannheim because of tradition, but they like Hoffenheim because they play well.

Now that the last game of the good-looking team in Mannheim has arrived, the only way to see such a wonderful football today is to drive to Sinsheim, more than 40 kilometres away. The city was much smaller than Mannheim, which had 600,000 people in the late 90s and 30,000 in Sinsheim.

The Mannheim fans in the stands at the Karl Benz Stadium were a little upset when they thought about the difference in the size of the two cities, which we had to drive to see in such a small city where only more than 30,000 people could enjoy such passionate football up close...... Why didn't that old man from Hope choose to buy Mannheim instead of his hometown team?

The people of Mannheim still can't completely shake off the love-hate mood for Hoffenheim.

The game started at 6 p.m. local time, because it was winter, so the game had not yet started, it was already completely dark, and the Karl Benz Stadium turned on the lights, illuminating the turf in the center of the field in snow-white, while the stands were slightly dark.

The noisy stands were a little quieter, and the fans were very excited as the players from both sides warmed up on the pitch just now. Schalke 04 also has a special meaning for Rangnick, who has coached at Schalke 04 and led the team to play 44 games and score 88 points, which is the most average points per game manager in Schalke 04's history and the second highest of any Bundesliga coach. He is still missed by Schalke 04 fans, so they put up a sign in the stands with the slogan: "Ralph, we always love you!" ”

The Hoffenheim players sit in the dressing room. This will be the last time they will use the home dressing room at the Karl Benz Stadium, and after the winter break they will move to the newly built Rhine-Neckar Stadium, where they will no longer have to drive more than 40 kilometres to Mannheim before every home game, which feels like playing away.

Tactics or something has been talked about at last night's tactical meeting, in fact, Hoffenheim's tactics have not changed much in this half season, at most, it has changed from a more balanced 442 to a more offensive 433, the central idea is still "attack", any team does not need to spend much time to study their tactics thoroughly, but studying thoroughly and successfully dealing with them are two different things, there are many teams who know how to deal with Hoffenheim, but they still lost in the end.

VfL Wolfsburg was a case in point, they knew what Hoffenheim's style was and how to deal with it, but in the end they lost the game against Hoffenheim.

"We're still attacking, and I don't think you're going to defend either."

As soon as Rangnick said this, there was a burst of laughter in the locker room. For these players, it is even worse to let them hold on than to kill them.

Moreover, Bayern Munich had already won 2-1 away at Stuttgart yesterday, and now the two teams are equal on points, Hoffenheim only have three more goal difference than Bayern Munich, which is not an insurmountable gap. Hoffenheim had to win this game, and of course a draw could have been, but not a 0:0 draw, but a 4-4 draw.

"According to a survey conducted by Bild before the game, 56.7 percent of the people supported us to win the winter title, which is very high, ahead of Bayern Munich. Think about it, lads. When we first appeared in the First Division half a season ago, how many people would have thought so? How did we win their trust? It's not our performance yet! What do we have to hesitate about now? I know you all got the bad news before the game, Bayern beat Stuttgart away and our winter title is no longer secure, so now you have to show with your on-field performance, who is the better team? ”

Speaking of this, Rangnick paused, and he set his eyes on the team's captain, Chu Zhongtian.

"There's one more thing...... After being promoted to the first division, the team has not set any goals for the new season. ”

Quite a few nodded slightly, and Rangnick was right. After the team was promoted, everyone thought that the club's goal in the new season would definitely be relegation, but the club didn't say so, they didn't announce that the team's goal was relegation, and Rangnick also said more than once in public that "we are not here for relegation". Not only that, but there is not even a relegation bonus. There are no bonuses for the team other than the points award, no relegation bonus, no bonus for qualifying for Europe, and no bonus for winning the championship.

The players didn't know why this was going to be at the time, but everyone was excited to play in the Bundesliga and didn't pay much attention to the prize money.

"But in such a situation, everyone had a perfect first half of the season and I couldn't have asked for more. At the same time, I also know that this passion cannot last long, and we have to have some incentives. I know everybody's concerned about this – bonuses. Our club is different from other Bundesliga clubs, only points are awarded. But that's not enough, Mr. Hope is not a stingy man. So the day before yesterday, the club's top management called the three captains together for a meeting. Speaking of this, Rangnick pointed to Chu Zhongtian, Pell. Nilsson and Tebel are the three captains.

Everyone looked at it too. As we all know, after training the day before yesterday, the three captains went to a meeting with the club's hierarchy to discuss the prize money for the season with the expectations of the players. So far, the club has not said anything specific about the prize money, but the club's general manager, Mr. jochen_a._Rotthaus, has said that the club is willing to start a dialogue with the players if necessary.

Now is the "necessary period", with the first Bundesliga winter title in the team's history in sight, and the team's technical statistics are among the best in the Bundesliga, such an outstanding performance should obviously be expressed by the club. As the captain of the team, Chu Zhongtian must stand with the players in this matter, otherwise the prestige he has built up with great difficulty will disappear. So after the game with Bayern, he asked the club to negotiate the team's prize money, and it is important to see that the winter break is coming, and in order to have a happy Christmas, it is important for everyone to know how much they can get after the end of the season.

Asking the club for a prize is not against the club, and there is nothing to be embarrassed about. Professional football is a kind of work for players, since it is a job, it is necessary to get money, in addition to the normal salary, in order to motivate the players to pay bonuses. The relegation team will set up a relegation bonus, the winning team will set a championship bonus, as well as a bonus for qualifying for European competition, of course, some teams will not set a team bonus, because the situation is different, they are all at the end of the season, according to the team's results, the players and the club will discuss how to pay the bonus, the number of bonuses is different, and the distribution rules are different for each team.

Prior to this, Hoffenheim did not have any team bonuses, and each player had his own point award, which was different for each person, and was determined by the player's status and role in the team. Among them, Chu Zhongtian, as the player with the highest annual salary in the team, also has the highest point award - each point is exchanged for 10,000 euros, which will be converted into bonuses according to the team's points after the end of the season, and then remitted to Chu Zhongtian's account. If the team has seventy points at the end, it is seventy times ten thousand, which is equal to 700,000, and the 700,000 will go into Chu Zhongtian's pocket after deducting taxes.

Hoffenheim's points prize is between €1,500 and €10,000, which is not the highest in the Bundesliga, but it is not less either. As a promoted polo team, this point award is quite a lot. In addition to the points award, after each round of the league, the club prepares a bonus for players to share equally, as long as they are selected for the squad, they can participate in the deuce. The German Cup, on the other hand, has a prize money in each round, and the amount depends on the strength of the opponent. In the first round, the team beat Chemnitz and the club gave each player 1,000 euros.

"Now I'm going to tell you the final outcome of the meeting – Mr. Rothouse told me yesterday that if we qualify for the League Cup at the end of the season, the team will split the million prize money!"

"Oh! Banzai! The players couldn't wait to cheer.

Rangnick smiled and waved his hand, signaling them not to rush into celebration yet, he hadn't finished yet. "If you qualify for the Champions League, it's two million!"

"Haha! It's set! Someone laughed happily. The team performed so well in the first half of the season that they all felt that next season's Champions League qualification was out of the question.

"Finally!" Rangnick raised his voice, the excitement in the locker room subsided, and everyone was watching their manager. "And a prize money, up to 3.5 million euros!"

Chu Zhongtian clearly heard someone take a breath.

"Divide it evenly, and each of you will be able to get about 150,000. But...... It's going to have to wait until you win the league. ”

This time, there were no more impatient cheers and chatters in the locker room, and everyone looked at each other. Championship bonuses are generally set by teams that have the ability to win the championship and also want to win the championship, but not all teams with the ability to win the championship will set up a championship bonus, and Werder Bremen does not have a championship bonus.

What does it mean that the club suddenly decided to set up a championship bonus? Do you think that the team will definitely not win the championship, so you don't have to spend this money, just as a carrot on a stick?

Apparently not...... The club really wants to win the championship!

Rangnick looked at the players who were a little surprised, and pointed to Chu Zhongtian, whose face was as usual: "This bonus was specially proposed by Chu and wanted the club to set it up. ”

Everyone immediately turned their attention to Chu Zhongtian again.

Pell. Nelsson and Tebel also looked over, they already knew, but the amount of prize money Chu Zhongtian said was three million euros...... They still remember how surprised everyone was when Chu Zhongtian proposed this award at the meeting, which was no less than his current teammates...... No, there was only one person who wasn't surprised - the head coach Rangnick was calm.

Chu Zhongtian stood up when he saw that everyone was looking at him, and he felt the need to explain it to everyone.

"I remember people asking me if that was true after I was on TV, and I said I was serious, so that's why I proposed a prize money at the meeting. I'm not kidding, I'm still serious that we should be able to win the championship too. I know Bayern won the game yesterday and as long as we don't lose, the winter title is still ours. But I think we should take Schalke because we need to take every opportunity to close the gap to the pursuers. Guys, the battle for the league title is now underway! ”

Rangnick took over Chu Zhongtian's words: "Chu is right, if we want to win the championship, we can't wait until there are ten rounds left in the league to sprint, that won't work." For a team like Bayern, winning the title starts in the first round of the league for them, and we are half a season behind them, which is not too early. I called the owner in the United States, Mr. Hope, and he was very happy that the team had such fighting spirit and ambition, so he added another 500,000 to the Chu proposal! Rangnick held out his right hand and gestured five fingers.

It seems that the club is really here...... The players couldn't help but talk about it.

Are we going to win the Bundesliga in our first season?

Is the Kaiserslautern miracle really going to be repeated?

"Okay lads, if you want the €3.5 million bonus, then give me the fighting spirit to win the league title, starting with winning this game!"

※※※Note: Regarding the bonus rules of the Bundesliga teams in the 2008-2009 season, I will post them to the public version, and I used them as a reference when writing the book.

(To be continued)