On December 15, 2008, the 08-09 Bundesliga season played a match of Zuihou before the winter break, and the leader Hoffenheim faced Schalke 04 at home!

The Hoffenheim players were still in a pretty good mood, and when they walked out of the tunnel with the banner of "Thank you Mannheim", the Karl Benz Stadium was completely boiling, and here I remembered the enthusiastic cheers, which can accommodate less than 30,000 people, and the fiery cheers sounded no less than the Allianz Arena!

No one dares to call Hoffenheim a 'country club' anymore, as Hoffenheim are now capable of wrestling with the Bundesliga giants as they can win the halfway through the table two rounds earlier. In the first half of the season, although they achieved quite good results at the Karl Benz Stadium Hoffenheim, they are not the masters here, they are just sending people under the fence; At the start of the second half of the game, Hoffenheim will enter their brand new home stadium, the 30,000-seat Rheinland. Neckar Stadium. But now it seems that the Hoffenheim players are a little reluctant to leave here, because they are getting familiar with this stadium, because they can now play quite good games and win in this blessed land!

Whether they like it or not, Hoffenheim will go to their new home turf, which is really their home turf, and they will be there to try to create a great second half of the race that will drive everyone crazy! But now it's all about trying to get to a good finish in the first half of the race, and they need to get the most satisfying result in the first half of the race.

Xiao Qing did make a strong counterattack to Demba Ba's provocation before the game, to some extent, Demba Ba's departure from Hoffenheim was caused by himself; Xiao Qing does not deny Demba Ba's ability. But it was obvious that Xiao Qing and him did not call. The contradiction between Xiao Qing and him is also so acute that only one person can be left; So Demba Ba is tragic. He was refrigerated for a while last season and was also sold off at the end of the season.

Although he went to the quasi-giant Schalke 04, it seems that Demba Ba is promoted, and he does have the opportunity to prove his ability to everyone in Schalke 04, proving that Hoffenheim's choice is wrong, he is actually more capable than Xiao Qing!

The best way to take revenge on the enemy is naturally that I live better than you! But no one could believe that Hoffenheim sat firmly at the top of the table at the end of the half-time game, and no one dared to believe that Hoffenheim could win the half-way championship under the siege and interception of a number of Bundesliga powerhouses. Hoffenheim is really doing well now, at least compared to Demba Ba, who switched to the giants. Hoffenheim is even more beautiful now.

As for Xiao Qing, who is bent on revenge, I have to say that it is a big pity at this time; Because Xiao Qing dominates the scorer list, eighteen league goals have made him shine, and he has decided the trend of the game at the critical moment of the game, and now Xiao Qing has gradually become more famous and has been more recognized.

Three years ago, Rangnick was disgraced from Schalke 04, and then he went to Hoffenheim, who were still in the regional league at the time; In three years, Rangnick led this team from the regional league to the Bundesliga, and now it has gone one step further to win the halfway title in the top league of the Bundesliga!

I believe that at this time, the team that has been trained by himself must be full of accomplishment when facing his old club, because the current Hoffenheim is really good. Because the current Hoffenheim is slowly and continuously cultivated by itself; And it was really competitive, winning the half-marathon championship that Schalke 04 coveted but couldn't get enough of. It's even a fierce assault on the league championship!

It's a big game for Rangnick, for Demba Ba, for the Hoffenheim players and for the Schalke 04 players, who need to prove themselves and who need to put in a satisfying performance in the 2008 Zuihou game.

In this game, Hoffenheim and Schalke 04 both lined up the traditional 433 formation, Hoffenheim, teenager Volsa replaced Gustavo to start, Schalke 04 center forward Kuranyi was injured, and Altentop Jr., Demba Ba and Asamoah formed a front-court attack combination.

In the first twenty minutes of the game, the more experienced Schalke was firmly in control of the tempo; In the third minute, Schalke attacked on the right, Asamoah received a teammate's header and volleyed the ball high with the outside of his instep on the left side of the penalty area; In the ninth minute, Altentop's cold shot in front of the penalty area was confiscated by the home team's goalkeeper Haas.

The fierce battle between Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich has indeed affected them somewhat, and now it is the first half of the game, although the team has repeatedly emphasized, but at this time, the players of Hoffenheim, who had already won the halfway championship, are still a little underestimated; Especially in the last round of the game at the Allianz Arena, this is also the reason why the Hoffenheim players are proud. In fact, the two goals conceded in that game can also explain some problems, the mentality of Hoffenheim's players really needs to be adjusted, for these young players, they are really a little self-aggrandizing now, and these young 'nouveau riche' are completely carried away by the current good results.

Hoffenheim coach Rangnick roared angrily off the pitch, and the Hoffenheim players had behaved quite badly since the start of the game; Maybe the physical impact is a reason, but there has been no decent attack since the start of the game, which is an unforgivable reason for Hoffenheim, who has won the Bundesliga in attack, this is not a problem with the physical condition of the players, but the attitude of the Hoffenheim players is not good enough, they are too proud and complacent!

Schalke 04's defense is definitely better than Hoffenheim's players imagined, and Hoffenheim's attack is not as invincible as they imagined; The overly complacent Hoffenheim players finally understood that it is okay to be proud, but not in the game, at least if they continue to be proud like this, then this game will be difficult to say!

Hoffenheim's players are starting to pick up their attitudes and their performances in the game are slowly improving; In the 23rd minute of the game, Ernst hugged Eduardo and received the first yellow card of the game; Salihovic's left-footed shot went around the wall and went straight to the bottom right corner of the goal, and Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer reacted quickly and flew to block the ball with his fingertips; Hoffenheim then took a tactical corner, Xiao Qing received a corner kick from Eduardo and hit the goal with his left foot on the edge of the penalty area but failed to control the height. In the 27th minute, Jones maliciously hit someone and fouled and received a yellow card, and Schalke 04's tough defense was sometimes based on more fouls!

Hoffenheim have found the feel of the game, and while it is true that they were passive at the start of the game, they have now found a familiar rhythm and their attacks are improving. Hoffenheim fans are starting to get more and more excited now, because Hoffenheim give them the impression of a crazy attacking team, and as long as they find their rhythm in the game, the goals will come soon!

In the 36th minute, Hoffenheim used the front set-piece to launch a fast attack, Ibisevic poked the ball to Xiao Qing on the left side of the penalty area, and Xiao Qing shot low with his right foot and grazed the post; Two minutes later, Xiao Qing split the ball to the right, and Edu won the ball in the same position before turning and volleying wide of the post.

Although he failed to score for a while, the effect was still good, and Hoffenheim's attack was becoming more and more threatening. But at this time, Hoffenheim, who thought they would score in one go, was hit first, and their attack was indeed getting more and more fierce, but their defense may not have made any progress.

In the 40th minute of the game, the passive Schalke 04 took the lead, Altentop turned at the edge of the penalty area and passed to the middle with the outside instep, Hoffenheim made an offside error, Asamoah took the ball and scored with a low shot into the near corner of the goalkeeper; Schalke 04 seized their chance in a passive situation and now they have a 1-0 lead on the road!

Although it was true that they fell behind in the first half, it was indeed a more shocking thing; However, they are also well aware of their own team's defensive strength, so falling behind at home is not a fatal blow for Hoffenheim, and the goal conceded only makes them more challenging in the first half of the game.

In the second half, Hoffenheim first made substitution adjustments, Gustavo replaced the underperforming Volsa, at this time, Hoffenheim can only stabilize his position and then attack. Schalke 04 began to strengthen their defense after taking the lead, and 1-0 was definitely an acceptable score for them.

Hoffenheim tried to get back on the scoresheet, but their luck seemed bad; Just four minutes into the second half, Hoffenheim's main striker Edu suffered a muscle strain in his left leg; At this time, Weiss was very good at taking on the role of the best twelve, and he replaced the injured Edu.

God can't get along with Hoffenheim, it's all half-way Zuihou, but the player is injured in a game; Schalke 04, who have taken the lead, are obviously not willing to be equalized, so they need to defend more resolutely to completely freeze Hoffenheim's attack!

Weiss was unlucky, having been given a chance to break down the wing shortly after he came on the pitch; But Schalke defender Raphinha kicked him straight from behind, and Weiss, who rolled a few laps on the grass, almost crashed into the dugout! The foul immediately caused protests from the audience, and the referee quickly showed a yellow card to settle down. Although the referee did temporarily suppress the anger of the players of the two teams, the smell of gunpowder began to completely diffuse! (To be continued......)