The league is over, and Hoffenheim's training base is a little deserted compared to usual. All echelons have started to have holidays, and only the first teams are using the entire training base.

However, the atmosphere outside the training ground was more lively than usual. Journalists from all over the world flocked to this training base adjacent to the bullpen to shoot interviews and report to fans around the world about the preparations for the Champions League final team.

Hoffenheim's press officer Marcus Siegel has become one of the busiest people during this period. He needs to receive more than a dozen news media outlets from all over the world every day, and also organizes press conferences to satisfy those curious media. He knows that this is a good opportunity to expand Hoffenheim's influence and popularity around the world, and it must be done well no matter what.

More than fifty people were often squeezed into the press conference, which could only accommodate twenty-five people.

However, he could feel their contempt for Hoffenheim from media from different countries around the world - after all, Hoffenheim's opponent in the final is Barcelona, ​​Barcelona, ​​which is now the glorious football world. No one will have hope for Hoffenheim.

Even if it is a media from China. Chu Zhongtian played for three seasons at Hoffenheim and brought a lot of Chinese media to the team. Siegel was able to accurately distinguish the differences between Chinese journalists and Japanese journalists and Korean journalists. He even asked Chu Zhongtian to learn a few simple Chinese conversations to express friendship to Chinese journalists, such as "Hello", "Thank you", "Goodbye", and "Great".

In the past, these Chinese media were Hoffenheim's most die-hard fans, but now they are full of doubts in their conversation and questions. They don't believe that Hoffenheim can defeat Barcelona.

Even if Chu Zhongtian, whom they called "national heroes", this is an impossible task.

Chu Zhongtian has attended a press conference, and he expressed his confidence at the press conference. But there are few reactions below. Everyone thinks that it is just a way to boost the morale of the team, not that they really want to defeat Barcelona.

It is one thing to be afraid before fighting, and it is another thing to be afraid of defeating Barcelona.

Catalan media reports in recent days have believed that Barcelona's winning of the championship is a foregone conclusion.

German media also believe that Hoffenheim is too forced to challenge Barcelona's dominance. All they can do is to lose better in the finals.

Chinese media only care about Chu Zhongtian becoming the first player in Chinese football to stand in the Champions League final. The result is not important, but this significance is significant enough. Even if you can't win the championship in the end, Chu Zhongtian is enough to remember history, not to mention that he may win the Golden Boot Award in the Champions League. Now he has nine goals, while Messi has eight. In the eyes of Chinese media, it is no big deal to lose to Barcelona. As long as Chu Zhongtian can score in the final, widen the gap with Messi, and win the Golden Boot Award, it will be enough to make the Chinese people happy.

※※※No matter how the media viewed them, after Hoffenheim spoke at Chu Zhongtian, the whole team determined the goal of striving for the championship, and the whole team was training according to Rangnick's plan.

Some people think that getting a fourteen-day break before the final is a good thing for Hoffenheim. But that is not the case.

If you have a choice, Rangnick hopes that the league will end on May 22, leaving the team with a week's rest time just enough. The rest time will only cause the players to lose their game state. A season of fatigue cannot be recovered by these fourteen days alone.

In order to prevent the team from losing the rhythm of the game, Rangnick arranged three games in these fourteen days, two of which were put into the evening, exactly the same as the time of the Champions League final. This is to allow the players to adapt to the games played in the evening and enter the rhythm of the game as soon as possible.

Of course, the opponents in these three games are not strong, all of them are amateur teams in the Rhine-Neka region. The Bundesliga season has ended and all the teams have been disbanded, while other regions in Europe are still in the middle of the season. They want to play their own league and cannot play a warm-up match with Hoffenheim, so they can't find any warm-up opponents with enough weight at this time. Practicing with amateur teams is mainly to maintain their state and accumulate confidence. Such warm-up matches do not care about the value of the opponent. Another very important requirement is that injuries are absolutely not allowed.

If you are injured before the Champions League final, the impact on the team's combat effectiveness will be too great.

Hoffenheim's bench depth is not deep. The ability to play to this point depends entirely on the main players overdraw their energy and perseverance. It can be said that everyone is tired of playing to this point, but in the last game, they have to grit their teeth and persevere.

Therefore, before the warm-up match, Rangnick had to repeatedly remind the opponent's head coach not to hurt Hoffenheim's players.

This is not difficult to achieve. Hoffenheim is now the pride of the Rhine-Neka region. The amateur teams in this area admire them and love them too much. How can they be injured?

※※After the day of training, the teammates took a shower in the locker room, changed their clothes, and left each other. Today is May 24th, and there are less than four days left before the final.

After finishing the shooting, Chu Zhongtian returned to the locker room. There were few people in it. He greeted the only few teammates, took off all his clothes, and pulled his bath towel into the bathroom.

There was already a person there, Luther Van Nistruey.

Seeing this respected Dutch veteran, Chu Zhongtian raised his hand and greeted him: "Hi, Luther."

"You've finished practicing, Chu?" Van Nestroy didn't look back, and he continued to rub the foam on his hair.

"Yes." Chu Zhongtian responded, then walked to the nozzle next to Van Nistruey and unscrewed the faucet.

The warm water sprinkled on him, and his tired body relaxed after training all day, and an indescribable comfort climbed into his heart.

After Van Nistruy cleaned up all the foam on his head, he was about to pack up and leave.

Chu Zhongtian was applying shampoo on his head.

Van Nistruy turned off his dragon head, turned around and walked out. When he walked to the door, he suddenly stopped and said to Chu Zhongtian as if he had just remembered something, "By the way, Chu. I forgot to thank you."

Chu Zhongtian was a little surprised: "Thank you for me? Thank you for what I do?"

"If you didn't work so hard, how could I still be in the Champions League finals in the last year of my career?"

Chu Zhongtian smiled and said, "It has nothing to do with me working hard alone, right? If it weren't for everyone, what could I do alone?"

"Of course, I want to thank many people, but the person I want to thank the most is you. Everyone can see your role in this team. Are you Chinese always so modest?"

Chu Zhongtian decided not to be modest, and he smiled and shrugged.

"This is the last game of my career. I will cherish it very much whether I can play or not. Thank you, Chu. See you tomorrow."

He waved his hand and said goodbye to Chu Zhongtian.

"Goodbye, Luther." Chu Zhongtiandao.

He started to shampoo his hair again. As he rubbed it, he suddenly remembered something - this was the first time Van Nistruei, the king of small penalty area, participated in the Champions League final in his career!

Although Van Nystruei has been famous for many years, he has always been the world's top center at his peak, winning the Golden Boot Awards in the Eredivisie, Premier League and La Liga. But such an outstanding world-class player has never played in the Champions League final... When he was in Eindhoven, due to the strength of the team, his team could not reach the Champions League final. After transferring to Manchester United, Manchester United also fell into a low point after the 1999 triple-championship, and his performance in the Champions League was very mediocre. Later, he went to the Champions League giant Real Madrid, but encountered the darkest years in the past 20 years, and ended in the Champions League in the last 16 years.

Finally, he came to Hoffenheim and planned to "spend his old age in peace", but he didn't expect that the first Champions League final in his career was when he was nearly 35 years old, in his last season... No wonder he had to thank himself... A person's career always has one or another regrets. Van Nisstrui has many regrets, including the World Cup, the European Cup and the Champions League. These regrets were originally not possible. He must have been unable to participate in the European Cup and the World Cup. The Champions League was also unplanned. Unexpectedly, Hoffenheim entered the final this season, and one of the many regrets was finally compensated... Maybe his goal of winning the championship will also arouse some resonance with him?

It's perfect to say goodbye to your career with a Champions League trophy.

It seems that there is an extra reason to win the championship...※※※The next morning, Chu Zhongtian met Van Nistruy in the parking lot of the training base.

"Hi Luther, good morning."

"Good morning, Chu."

After saying hello, Chu Zhongtian asked him: "Luther, how do you think...uh, how about using a Champions League trophy as a commemoration of retirement?"

Van Nistruy stared at Chu Zhongtian for a few glances, then nodded: "I think it's pretty good!"

Chu Zhongtian grinned and said, "Ha! Then that's it!"

※※※In Barcelona, ​​the capital of the Catalonian region, it is also a busy scene.

All the reporters around Hoffenheim training base are less than half of the same here. Barcelona is the focus of world attention. In recent years, Barcelona has been recognized as the world's number one team. Their football is pleasing to the eye and makes countless fans yearn for it. The Spanish national team formed by them has swept across Europe and the world football, winning the European Cup and the World Cup, making Barcelona's football popular all over the world.

The whole world is discussing Barcelona, ​​Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Guardiola.

Many opponents even raised their hands to surrender before they were fighting.

China's "The Art of War" says: Therefore, it is not a good person who wins every battle; it is a good person who defeats others without fighting, and it is a good person who is good person who is good.

Barcelona's football has reached the state of "a defeated the enemy without fighting".

Despite this, Guardiola and his assistants still study every opponent seriously and maintain enough respect for each opponent. Perfection makes people unable to pick a single bone.

Now he is watching Hoffenheim game video with his assistant coach Bilanova. This is already three days in a row that they have done the same thing.

Since Hoffenheim eliminated Bayern Munich and entered the final, Guardiola has ordered scouts to collect videos of Hoffenheim's game in the Champions League this season.

He did not want videos of the league because the league schedule was too long, the team played up and down, and there was no great reference value. The Champions League matches were all games that condensed the essence. Teams participating in the Champions League would rather give up their respective leagues in advance, and they should be prepared to play in the best state to participate in the Champions League - of course, except for those games that have already advanced to retain their strength.

None of Hoffenheim's games has been qualifying ahead of time to retain their strength. They have to work hard almost every game to advance. From the initial death group to the subsequent knockout rounds, there have been several times when they faced a very unfavorable situation, but in the end they were able to escape the danger and advance smoothly.

Guardiola had already written down keywords about the Hoffenheim team in his lower notebook.

"Tenior fighting spirit" is one of them.

Now Guardiola and the others are watching the first leg match between Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich.

Hoffenheim's performance after the opening game was very bad. After being scored by Bayern Munich, he didn't even know what he should do.

"This team is not stable enough," Biranova said from the side.

"This is a common problem for all young teams, they lack experience," Guardiola said.

"Is this their trait?" Biranova asked.

Guardiola thought about it, then lowered his head and wrote on the notebook. Nodded and said, "Forget it, the uncertainty of young teams. Sometimes they can defeat all their opponents, and sometimes whatever can make them completely collapse."

"I think we can learn from Bayern Munich, put pressure on them from the first second of the game, and when we can score as quickly as possible, they will collapse. As long as we can establish a two-goal lead in the first half, no matter how hard Hoffenheim tried, we wouldn't be able to get back. We are not Bayern Munich."

Bilanova is very proud when she said this, and he does have the capital to be proud. Barcelona is really not Bayern Munich. In terms of strength, Barcelona is better than Bayern Munich. From the football tactics perspective, Barcelona's strong midfielder and the team's control ability can ensure that they always keep the football firmly on their side when they lead.

As long as they are allowed to lead two goals, the game will be over. Real Madrid led by Mourinho is so powerful that it is close to collapse after being led by Barcelona two goals. No team in this world can turn the defeat into victory when they are two goals behind Barcelona.

Guardiola also considered Bilanova's suggestion. He had to strive to secure the victory in the first half, of course this was the safest way. But the game did not always go as you expected, so you should prepare for more possibilities.

"We may also fall behind." He reminded his assistant.

"It doesn't matter. Our opponent is not Inter Milan last season, and Rangnick is not Mourinho. Even if Hoffenheim scores first, their characteristics will not allow them to shrink their defense, and they will continue to attack. As long as they continue to attack, we have a chance to score. If we compare the attack power, we are better than them."

Biranova said very confidently. What he said is still very right. The attack power of the whole world can surpass Barcelona, ​​and there is currently no one.

In addition, although Barcelona is famous for their offense, their defense is also very stable. Their defense does not rely on some powerful defenders to fight alone, but the overall coordination of the entire team. Barcelona's football is actually marked by the Netherlands' full attack and defense football, and it is very profound. In the La Liga, Barcelona is the team with the least goals conceded, which is enough to show how excellent their defense is.

Many people saw Barcelona win the championship and shouted that this was a victory for offensive football, and that defensive football had no future. However, they all ignored that without a stable defense, no matter how sharp the offensive football was, it would never win the championship. In the past 50 years of the Champions League, no team's defense line has been beaten into a sieve and can still win the championship.

Any team that wins the championship must have a balanced offense and defense. It may be a little more starry-shining on the offensive end, but the role of those unknown defensive players is equally important, or even more important.

Many awards have been awarded only to offensive players. I have to say that this is the sorrow of football. Barcelona's defense line cooperates well and is very firm. It is very difficult for Hoffenheim to break through this defense line, but their own defense line is not reliable. Simonic is too old and slow to turn, Comper is too young and too young, and Comper's strength is not first-class. Both full-backs are offensive full-backs, and offense is their specialty. Defense? What is that?

In the competition of goalkeeper positions, Valdes is also several streets ahead of Nyema. Although he has been playing as a substitute for the Spanish national team for a long time, that is because Casillas is so amazing. Any goalkeeper who plays a substitute for Casillas is a very sad thing.

So when Hoffenheim plays against Barcelona, ​​he may encounter such a situation - his defense line cannot contain the offensives of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro and Villa, and their offensive lineup is incompetent to the defense line composed of Puyol, Pique, Alves, Abidal and Valdes.

Isn't this the loss a must?

That's right, among many football analysts and comments, Hoffenheim really lost. Their outcome was decided from the moment they entered the finals. It is foreseeable. It is not difficult to predict the outcome of this game. The difficulty is to predict the score.
Chapter completed!