The buses depart from Hoffenheim and head north along the Rhine, past Bonn, and further north, the scenery on both sides of the river slowly changes, the quiet vineyards, the secluded medieval castles are gone, the distance between the city is shortening, and the river is frequented by large oil tankers and freighters. This is Cologne, Germany's western gateway.

Hoffenheim, who were away to Cologne, just in time for the annual carnival, which doesn't enter until after Christmas, is now full of celebratory women.

Li Huan sat at the back of the bus, listening to his teammates chatting about Cologne as he browsed the scenery outside, and listened to his teammates chatting about Cologne, which is located in the Ruhr industrial area and Baden-Württemberg, where Karlsruhe and Hoffenheim are located, and is more like a modern city like Guangzhou and Shanghai, rather than the quaint and historical countryside where Li Huan lives now.

In contemplation, Li Huan felt that there were eyes looking at him, Li Huan turned his head, and saw that Sarihovic, a Bosnian and Herzegovina, just turned his gaze away, and Sarihovich secretly looked at Li Huan many times along the way, but when Li Huan nodded to him kindly, Sarihovic pretended not to see.

Li Huan knows why, Sarichovic is not pure jealousy like other players, there is actually a competitive relationship between him and Li Huan, before Li Huan's arrival, Sarihovic was the core of the team, and he was also the only peniser of set-pieces and penalties, but after Li Huan's arrival, Sarichovic's core position has not changed, but the right to take penalties from set-pieces and penalties has been directly deprived, the first free kick and penalty taker is Li Huan, Sarichovic is Li Huan's choice when Li Huan is not on the field.

Although Sarichovic is reluctant, there is no way, Li Huan is too strong in this aspect, Xiao Li Feidao's reputation is now beyond the scope of the Bundesliga, and the whole of Germany is talking about it, if it wasn't for the injury last season, Li Huan would definitely transfer to the Bundesliga. How can Sarihovic win Li Huan, not to mention that Li Huan was personally acquired by the boss, and the relationship with the head coach Rangnick is still very good, even if Li Huan has a bad relationship with the head coach, the coach will definitely hand over the main penalty of the set-piece to Li Huan.

The free kick is Li Huan's trick, Li Huan will not give it to others, he can only hope that Sarihovic can put more energy into the organization of the midfield. Therefore, Li Huan did not deliberately make friends with Sarichovich, and not becoming friends does not affect the cooperation on the court, unless Sarihovic is a selfish villain.

A short distance across the Deutsches Bridge, you can see the 50,000-seat Rheinland Energie Stadium. As the game was played in the evening, Hoffenheim would stay overnight in Cologne before returning to Hoffenheim the next day.

After an hour's rest in the hotel, Rangnick took the players to get used to the venue, and the Rheinenergy Stadium, which had just finished the World Cup, was like a lady who had just attended a palace banquet, graceful and gorgeous, and Hoffenheim's Dietmar. Hope Field is a tiny country Cinderella compared to it. The players praised the Biditma with envy as they adapted to the field. Hope Stadium is several times the size of the stadium, and the head coach saw the look of his players who couldn't pack the stadium and said: "Don't envy other people's stadiums, our new stadium will start construction soon, in Sinsheim City." ”

After promotion to the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim's Dietmar Stadium, which can only accommodate 5,000 people, is no longer suitable for the competition, and Hope has decided to start building a new stadium with a capacity of 30,000 people next year, and the news has already spread among the players.

Rangnick's words caused a lot of applause from the players, unaware that most of them didn't have the opportunity to play on their new pitch.

After acclimatizing to the venue, it was the usual pre-match press conference, which was attended by Cologne youth team coach and former German international Hasler, who is the interim head coach of Cologne, and the original head coach Latourd has just left class, due to poor results, seven rounds of league games and one round of the German Cup, but now Cologne's record is worse than Hoffenheim's, they have not won a game so far. They are currently only ninth in the Bundesliga standings, 12 points clear of Karlsruhe at the top of the table. The day after their 1-0 defeat at home to Aue on Wednesday, manager Latould was sacked by the club. Cologne FC Sports Director Michael Brown. Meyer revealed they are in contact with Daum, who was previously Stuttgart's head coach. Hasler will remain there until Latourd's successor arrives.

Compared with Latourde, Rangnick is lucky, Rangnick's team is also winless in the first six rounds, but the owner Hope trusts Rangnick very much and does not put any pressure on him, with Li Huan's comeback, Hoffenheim finally won a victory, and the pressure in Rangnick and the players' hearts has also eased a lot. Every time he thinks about it, Rangnick thinks that he has chosen the right team and the right owner.

Known as the "Bantam" and the "Little Giant on the Pitch", Hasler did not see himself as just a transitional figure, and he was well prepared for the match against his brother Hoffenheim. Speaking at the press conference, Hassler said, "We are in a dangerous situation right now, we are on a seven-game winless run, we are out of the German Cup, our morale is very low, but bad luck is not far away, this week our new Prince of Cologne Helmos is injured again, he has a bone injury that may require surgery, and now we are sitting on the home side, but we need some luck to win Hoffenheim." I've heard of Li Huan. Because I also played in Karlsruhe, Li Huan is a surprisingly talented player who can change the score on his own. We must guard against him, or the consequences will be dire. In terms of tactics, I won't make too many changes to the tactics that coach Latould has already formed, and I think it's better for the team to play in a formation that they are more familiar with. ”

Then Rangnick spoke, Rangnick did not dare to be careless about this game with Cologne, he said: "Cologne has just retired from the Bundesliga this season, and their strength is definitely the favorite to hit the Bundesliga. ”

Then Rangnick talked about Cologne's formation like a few family treasures, "Although Podolski was taken and Helmos was injured, Scholz and Mathieson are both very powerful forwards, although the name of Cameroonian Matip may not be known by many people, but the 20-year-old is very optimistic about German under-20 coach Skibe." Matip is not only decisive defensively at centre-back, with the style of Metzeld, but he is also a promising star with a header in the box, Schneider is two metres tall and their centre-back line is very capable of defending high altitudes. The Greek Gramozis has been Cologne's main left-back in the Bundesliga, not only is his ability to provide assists not to be underestimated, but he is also unique in defending high balls. Li Huan will be strongly challenged......"

Then the reporter asked the two managers a few more questions, and when Rangnick answered whether Li Huan would start, he said: "Li Huan's body has returned to his original state, he can start, he will definitely appear in the starting lineup for tonight's game, I hope he can bring us good luck." ”

In response to a reporter's question about whether Hoffenheim will continue to play in attack, Rangnick said: "Our style of play will never change, whether in the Bundesliga or the Bundesliga, no matter what kind of players I have, attacking and attacking, it is my goal to win everything with attack, we will still choose to attack in this game, no matter what tactics the Cologne team at home adopts, I believe we will definitely achieve a second victory." ”

Hasler then returned to the reporter's question, but a question from a reporter from the Cologne Express made Hasler very annoyed, and the reporter asked Hasler why Cologne wanted an addict to be the head coach, and is there no other good coach in Germany?

"It's something to do at the club, it's not about me, I'm just going to take the team through a smooth transition, lay the groundwork for the new manager, and then I'll continue to learn from the youth team," Hasler said unhappily. Regarding Mr. Daum, I think he is a successful coach, he is very good and he is suitable for a team like Cologne, the problem of drug use, I believe is a thing of the past, Daum has paid for it, and there is no point in dwelling on it. ”

Shortly after the pre-match press conference, the eighth Bundesliga match between the two teams kicked off, with Cologne having an average attendance of around 30,000 last season due to poor results, and now only around 20,000 remain. However, the fans were very enthusiastic, and when the Cologne players came out, the fans did not discourage their team because of the poor results, and still gave them a round of applause.

Hoffenheim, who are playing away from home, are really like what their manager Rangnick said, insisting on playing attacking football, no matter who the opponent is or what style of play the opponent takes. And the Cologne team is not weak in their home stadium, the same with their own habitual 4231 formation and Hoffenheim around, one of the two teams is strong in personal strength, but the players are demoralized because they have just been relegated from the Bundesliga, although the strength is a little worse, but just won a big victory, morale has just risen, the two teams come and go, for a while it is difficult to understand, but although they are not very conservative, but the game has not been scored for more than ten minutes.

(To be continued)