In fact, this game doesn't look like a Champions League group match. Both coaches and players performed very calmly before the game, with no swearing or off-track tricks.

When the two coaches met at a press conference the day before the game, they shook hands and greeted each other.

Aussel's captain and general Pedreti also praised Chu Zhongtian in front of the German media, believing that he is an outstanding player who can rank in the top five among the midfielders in the world today.

Hoffenheim players also followed Rangnick's instructions and did not show any underestimation and disdain in front of the media.

At the press conference, Fernandez also recalled his first experience in leading the team to Hoffenheim, saying that at that time he never expected to meet this team again in the Champions League. Then he praised the team, believing that Rangnick's work is excellent. Hoffenheim is today, which is inseparable from the hard work of this excellent coach.

It's been so long that it's the first time that someone agrees with Rangnick's job so much. Before, everyone always said that this was Ditma Hope's team, but later it was changed to say that it was Chu Zhongtian's team alone. Rangnick seemed to be insignificant, and anyone who came here could achieve such a result.

Since Hoffenheim appeared in the German Football League, in addition to their dazzling halo, there have been constant controversy, from a series of insulting nicknames such as "nova", "mercenary", and "bitch army", to the personal relationship between the team boss and the chairman of the German Football Association was also the focus of everyone's discussion. Now it is the dispute over who this team is.

Before the game with Ausselle, they had a rare quiet time. There was no dispute about who the team was, nor did they have any verbal battles with their opponents.

The atmosphere before the game was very friendly.

"I'm not even used to it..." Some media reporter sighed.

This is a pure football game, and nothing else is involved.

※※※When the game was about to begin, the Rhine Neka Stadium was full, and there were still people waiting for the tickets outside the court, but they were destined to be disappointed.

The players on both sides have finished warming up on the court and have returned to their respective locker rooms.

The live broadcast was playing warm-up music before the game, allowing fans to pass the boring time before the game.

Hoffenheim players are listening to Rangnick's final arrangement in their lounge.

"Remember, patience!" Rangnick stretched out his right index finger and said to the players, "This game is about patience. This game will also be a game where you learn to gain experience. In the future games, we will have many opportunities to face teams that cannot be defended. You must learn how to deal with such teams."

Rangnick emphasized patience, of course, does not mean that Hoffenheim will give up the fast football style in this game. Fast is the characteristic of Hoffenheim and must be persisted. However, in different occasions, the definition of fast is different. Hoffenheim will not have too many opportunities to fight back in this game, and there should be very little room for them to play speed. So how to get up quickly? At this time, fast means that when opportunities appear, you must be fast enough, resolute enough, and be able to grasp quickly, and then form an opportunity to threaten the opponent's goal.

Fast means being fast at this moment.

Of course, what kind of moments should be fast, what kind of moments should not be fast. This is Chu Zhongtian's specific job, he is responsible for mastering the team's rhythm. Rangnick never said too much in this regard. He believed and relied on Chu Zhongtian's inspiration and experience.

※※※On the other side, Fernandez was also giving his disciples a pre-match speech.

"Our purpose in this game is to ensure a draw, but you all know that only one point is not promising for us." Fernandez changed his low profile in front of the news media and proposed the goal of winning. "So, except for three points, no other result can be accepted."

After being drawn to the death group, many Auxerre players felt very disappointed. Although they said they were already very satisfied to participate in the Champions League. But are there really players who think so? After finally reaching the Champions League, of course they all hope to go further as far as possible.

Losing 0:2 away to AC Milan and 0:1 home to Real Madrid. Facing the top two teams in this group, they are unable to make the best of it, but facing Hoffenheim, a third-level team with similar strength, if they don't have the mentality of striving to fight, they can really go home after the group stage.

Even if you cannot qualify in the group, you must strive to win third place in the group and then participate in the knockout stage of the League Cup.

When Hoffenheim regarded Aussel as the target, did Aussel also regard Hoffenheim as the target - they did not regard both sides as the target, should they also regard Real Madrid and AC Milan as the target?

In order to get three points, Ausselle's tactic in this game was to counterattack defensively. Fernandez, who had always been very low-key before, hoped that this would help paralyze Hoffenheim players and make them underestimate the enemy.

Fernandez is still very confident in his team's defense. Last season, the team conceded only 29 goals, making it the team with the least goals in the Ligue 1. In order to defend Hoffenheim's offense, Fernandez started training a week and a half in advance and made many corresponding arrangements for Hoffenheim.

Just like when Chu Zhongtian and Ibisevic were interviewed by reporters, he said that when facing the teacher's team, he would not show mercy, but would do his best, Fernandez would not show mercy to Hoffenheim who had Chu Zhongtian and Ibisevic, and would also give his best.

Based on his understanding and analysis of Hoffenheim, the style of Hoffenheim is "fast", and they are very good at fast attacks. Therefore, in order to avoid being caught by the opponent in the defense loophole and making a quick counterattack, Fernandez asked his team to be strictly guarded and defended. There is nothing to do with the four defenders, so that they can avoid too much space behind the defense line and give the opponent a quick counterattack.

In addition, try to pass the midfield as easily as possible and quickly when attacking, rather than entangling with Hoffenheim's midfielders in the midfield. Pedreti and Chu Zhongtian are not of the same level, and they will only be surrounded by Chu Zhongtian and Sana in the midfield. This is not a wise behavior.

As long as you can hold on and don’t lose the ball, the victory of the game will most likely belong to Ausselle. Because the Hoffenheim players who have been smooth sailing recently are not prepared enough when facing difficulties, they will become impatient. If they are impatient, they will not be able to play well in football.

Fernandez believes in Chu Zhongtian's psychological quality. But as he said before, football is a sport of eleven people. No matter how outstanding Chu Zhongtian performs, his other teammates do not cooperate with him, Hoffenheim may not be able to win. Chu Zhongtian's psychological quality does not mean that other Hoffenheim players are strong in psychological quality. Chu Zhongtian is still unyielding in the face of difficulties and able to deal with them calmly does not mean that other Hoffenheim players can do this when facing adverse situations.

Therefore, for Fernandez, if you want to defeat Hoffenheim, the key point lies not in Chu Zhongtian, but in Chu Zhongtian's teammates. This is different from the coaches of most other teams. Generally, Hoffenheim's opponents will think that since Chu Zhongtian is the core of the team and the most threatening task, if you want to defeat Hoffenheim, you must start with their core Chu Zhongtian.

Fernandez did not do it, but instead opened up a new idea. He did not need to curb Chu Zhongtian's passing organization, but only took strict precautions when Chu Zhongtian shot. This would mean that the team's defensive pressure was much lower and the energy required was not that great.

Ausser's main energy in defense was placed on other players, Salihovic, Ibisevic, Quaresma, Sana, Kolarov, Serna... on these people. Although these people are also excellent, there is still a big gap between them in terms of personal qualities and it is obviously much easier to defend them than to defend Chu Zhongtian, an all-around warrior.

Therefore, this will have better results.

※※※Players on both sides followed the referee into the stadium under the leadership of the captain, and the Champions League theme song rang out on the spot. Rhine Neka was filled with joy.

After queuing up for the reporters to pat them, shake hands with Aussel's captain Pedreti, exchange the team flags and pick the sides, Chu Zhongtian put the team flags on the sidelines. Then he did not return to the court directly, but ran straight to the coach Ausselle next door, and then hugged the old coach Fernandez in front of many media.

He used this method to thank Fernandez for his kindness and cultivation.

"Oh! Look, Chu and Fernandez hugged each other! This is a scene full of warmth..."

The commentator was also a little surprised.

However, the Hoffenheim fans in the stands were not jealous. Instead, they stood up and applauded Chu Zhongtian. Chu Zhongtian values ​​affection and friendship, and they also like it very much. Because this means that Chu Zhongtian will also love Hoffenheim deeply, and it will not be so easy for him to leave.

Fernandez was a little surprised. He didn't expect Chu Zhongtian to hug him so impatiently. He patted Chu Zhongtian's back hard.

"Try to show your best side, Chu!" he said to Chu Zhongtian. He wanted to defeat Hoffenheim, but he wanted to defeat the best Chu Zhongtian.

"I can, teacher!"

Chu Zhongtian and Fernandez separated, then ran back to the court and gathered his teammates. He had some words to add before the kickoff.

"The opponent's defensive formation will be very compact, so we must run more than usual, and run more horizontally to pull their defense line." Chu Zhongtian said to everyone. "Don't play football while standing. You have to run at any time. Only when you run have time and loopholes to exploit."

After giving this order, he waved his hand to let everyone go and prepared to kick off.

On the other side of the field, Aussel's captain Pedreti also brought his teammates together, and he also had something to say.

"Guys, we must win this game! Our opponents are not weak, so we must unite. I hope the forwards will also actively return to defense. Defence is the key in this game!" Pedreti shouted loudly. The Rhine-Neca Stadium is really noisy, and Hoffenheim fans don't listen to singing for a moment. If he doesn't speak loudly, his teammates may not be able to hear what he is saying.

※※※After everyone stood in their respective positions, the referee and the fourth official off the court made a good match and blew the whistle to the start of the game.

"The game begins! I think in a sense, maybe the competition between these two teams can determine the qualifying situation of this group! Hoffenheim defeated AC Milan at home in the last round, disrupting the qualifying situation of this group. Now, except for Real Madrid with six points, AC Milan and Hoffenheim both have three-pointers. Hoffenheim temporarily ranks third in the group because of the disadvantage of goal difference. However, in this round, they face Auxerre, the weakest strength in the group, and the chance of winning is very high. AC Milan will challenge Real Madrid away. Mourinho's team is in good shape. Their core player Cristiano Ronaldo is also in a purple state, and AC Milan plays away is in danger. If Hoffenheim defeats Auxerre in this game and AC Milan loses to Real Madrid away, then this group will be even more eye-catching..."

At the beginning of the game, Ausser drove the ball. Because he knew that the opponent was going to play a defensive counterattack, he would definitely defend the ball at the beginning of the game and would not give himself too many opportunities to attack. Therefore, Chu Zhongtian was not interested in taking the kick-off right at the beginning of the game. He won the right to pick the side and gave the power to kick off the ball to Ausser.

Ausser's first offense ended quickly. As the pre-match analysis said, Ausser's mind was not on the offense at all. They were worried about losing the ball too early, so even if they were asked to kick off the ball, they did not invest any troops, and the two full-backs did not participate in the attack at all. Midfielder Pedreti passed the football big foot to the side, and then made a cross from the side. The midfield forward Yellen barely fought for the top, but before he could reach the top, the football allowed the goalkeeper Nyema to confiscate.

After completing this attack, Ausserl wanted to recover quickly like a tide. When Nyema had not kicked off, he could no longer find any Ausser's player in Hoffenheim's half.

Such a scene made Chu Zhongtian, who was very familiar with Fernandez, feel quite unfamiliar. When he was at Metz, Fernandez never let the team play such football.

Because of the lack of pressure in the backcourt, Chu Zhongtian did not let Enyema drive the football in front with his feet. Anyway, it was useless to drive it over, and there were people everywhere. He ran outside the penalty area and waved to Enyema to pass the football to him.

He decided to take the ball and test Ausselle.

After receiving the football, he turned around and faced the attack direction, then raised his hand and made a gesture to the whole team to control the ball.

After the ball control gesture, he did not rush to pass the football forward, but passed it back and forth with the central defender, moving the team's front line forward little by little. He passed the football to the central defender Comper or Simonic, ran forward about five to ten meters away, and then received the football from the central defender. After the defenders passed the football to Chu Zhongtian, they took action in unison, running for a distance, waiting for Chu Zhongtian to pass the football over.

Just by raising the team's defense line little by little, it doesn't mean that it's too much at once.

This is more stable and will not give the opponent too many opportunities to take advantage of.

Chu Zhongtian was still observing the opponent's movements while he was in such a downward foot. He found that when he was pushing the center line, Aussel's players still had no intention of coming up to intercept the ball. It seemed that the teacher gave them the instructions that when I had not had a midfielder, they were not the midfielder... Chu Zhongtian thought so in his heart.

Since that's the case... Chu Zhongtian suddenly passed the football forward, not just behind the back and the defenders frequently.

He chose to pass the football directly to forward Ibissevic. From being in the back and down to being directly at the forward, the span was a bit large. Chu Zhongtian wanted to see how tight Ausser's defense could be at the forefront of their own penalty area.

Sure enough, Ibissevic retreated and received the ball, but the opponent's central defender also pushed it out, always sticking to Ibissevic, making it impossible for him to turn around. If he turns rashly, there is a risk of conceding the ball.

So Ibisevic passed the football back to Chu Zhongtian.

At this time, Chu Zhongtian had already crossed the center line. When he received the ball, Ausselle's striker Yellen immediately rushed towards him, which was completely different from his previous attitude towards him regardless of his concern.

Seeing that he came up, Chu Zhongtian passed the ball directly to the central defender Simunic who was still behind the center line.

When Yellen saw the football back there, he gave up on his continued pursuit, but he still stayed not far from Chu Zhongtian, ready to grab the ball and launch a counterattack at any time.

This time the attack was not done, but Chu Zhongtian already basically knew Ausser's defensive strategy - to give up the entire half-time space in the midfield and defend his half-time, especially the 30-meter area.

Their main defensive focus is in the middle. Although they know that Hoffenheim is characterized by the wing, they did not place their defensive heavy troops on the wing because it would dilute their defense line. Just like dozens of papers stacked together and a single piece of paper, of course, a single piece of paper is easier to penetrate and pierce. Anyway, no matter how sharp the attack on the wing, they still have to go back to the middle, because it is not enough to complete the shooting and scoring steps in the middle.

If this is the case, how can they make their defense loose?

Chu Zhongtian believed that it would not work when attacking in the middle lane, and he still needed to go to the side lane.

Give full play to Hoffenheim's characteristics of being good at attacking on the wing and defeating his opponents from the wing.

This is the specific offensive strategy formulated by Chu Zhongtian for the team.

After planning, he turned around and ran back, waved his hand to ask his teammate for the ball.

A new wave of Hoffenheim's offensive is coming.
Chapter completed!