Hoffenheim celebrated their victory at Westphalia Stadium, a victory worth remembering because they defeated this opponent who had always disliked them for some reason, and they avenged both inside and outside the court.

However, Dortmund fans don't have to be too frustrated, because they successfully made Hoffenheim pay a heavy price - the team captain, the absolute tactical core Chu Zhongtian was automatically suspended for one game because of the accumulated number of yellow cards; Weiss, known as the "German Gattuso", was sent off for one game; midfielder Salihovic sprained his knee during the game, and after diagnosis, his left knee lateral ligament was torn and he would miss the game... This series of injuries made head coach Rangnick quickly troubled.

Hoffenheim has always played 433, and these three people are basically the main players in the midfield. One of these three people is injured and two stops. Hoffenheim's midfield will be replaced in full. The biggest problem for Hoffenheim is that the strength gap between the substitute lineup and the main lineup. If you change to a midfield starting lineup, except for Eduardo who can also guarantee strength, no one else can replace the original candidate. Needless to say, Chu Zhongtian has proved this fact. He is completely irreplaceable in Hoffenheim. Although Weiss plays a right forward, his role in the midfield is the same as Gattuso back then. Gattuso is also a right forward, but he is mainly responsible for midfield defense. What's more, Weiss can also participate in the offense in addition to defense. So far, he has assisted six times, which is a great thing for a defensive player.

To make matters worse, Hoffenheim's opponent in the next round of the league is the powerful Werder Bremen. This team once defeated Hoffenheim by 5:4 in the first half of the season, but it was not an easy opponent... So when Hoffenheim lost to Bremen 0:2 at their home court, it was not so surprising.

Before this game, Hoffenheim was the only team in the Bundesliga that was unbeaten at home, and they were unbeaten in ten rounds. The last time they lost was on November 9th. In the 12th round of the league, they lost 1:2 away to Hertha Berlin.

Hoffenheim has never lost again since then, including a game like tied Bayern Munich 2:2 away, a 2:1 home win over Schalke 04, a 4:1 home win over Leverkusen, and a 4:3 away win over Stuttgart.

It is indeed a pity to lose the game with Bremen, because their unbeaten home body was also broken. You should know that after the last round of the league, Hoffenheim fans also mocked Dortmund for being unbeaten at home. Unexpectedly, retribution came so quickly... Without Weiss in this game, Rangnick could arrange other engineers to come out, but without Chu Zhongtian, he could not find the second core. Without Chu Zhongtian, Hoffenheim suddenly became the level of the German second division. Their midfield lacked a clear brain and a metronome to control the rhythm, and only knew how to rush forward. As a result, the experienced Bremen seized the opportunity to counterattack twice in a row, scoring two goals in a row, ending the game.

Bremen seized the life-saving straw - after the winter break, they only scored three points in six league rounds, which was the worst team after the winter break. However, this time the away victory over the league leader Hoffenheim, clearing them and getting rid of the crisis for the whole team.

After the game, Ibisevic talked about Chu Zhongtian's absence in an interview with reporters. The biggest reason for the team's loss: "He is not here, I don't know how to run..."

Fortunately, Chu Zhongtian only automatically suspended one round, and Weiss will return in the next round, while their opponent is the relatively weak Frankfurt.

The last time he played against Frankfurt was on "China Day", Chu Zhongtian scored his third goal in the Bundesliga in that game.

But this time, Hoffenheim's entire team obviously had not recovered from the psychological shadow of breaking the home unbeaten record. The team seemed absent-minded at the beginning. Although they relied on an O'Brassi's goal to lead, the team's performance did not improve. After Frankfurt equalized the score, the team seemed too impatient and wasted opportunities many times.

After Chu Zhongtian sent the football several times, he wanted to continue to seek cooperation with his teammates, but his teammates chose to shoot long distances blindly or break through forcibly, resulting in losing possession.

Rangnick kept making gestures off the court to calm the players, but he couldn't control the players' emotions off the court.

Chu Zhongtian saw that the team was getting more and more anxious, so he simply stopped passing the ball forward, so he kept passing it back. The central defender passed the ball to him, and he passed it back. No matter how many opportunities there were in front, he just didn't pass the ball forward. His teammates didn't come back for a moment, and he didn't pass the ball forward for a moment.

This scene fell into the eyes of the commentator. He thought Hoffenheim was very satisfied with the away point, and some negative games started... It was not until the end of the game that the team had recovered a little bit of normality, but there was too little time left for them. In the end, Hoffenheim could only accept the fate of being tied by Frankfurt on the road...※※ "Your performance in this game is really bad!" In the away team's locker room, Rangnick criticized his team. "Have your brains not been freed from the home loss to Bremen?" He leaned in the ears of several players who did not perform well in this game and questioned them.

The players questioned lowered their heads and did not dare to vent their breath. They all knew that if this gentle and kind "professor" really started to get angry, it would not be a joke. Otherwise, he would not have said such horrifying words as "we must have bloody scalp" to Bayern Munich.

Because another game played at the same time has ended, Hertha Berlin defeated Leverkusen 1-0 at home, so Hoffenheim's lead has been narrowed to two points, which is a very dangerous signal for Hoffenheim. There are still ten rounds left in the league, and the game time has entered March. It can be said that it has entered the sprint stage. If you want to compete for the championship, the subsequent league basically cannot be lost because their competitors have also begun to exert force. Wolfsburg has been unbeaten in seven rounds after the winter break, with one of them winning six consecutive games. They have quietly climbed to the third place in the league, squeezing Hamburg, Bayern Munich and other teams behind.

This is also why Rangnick is so angry that he can't wait to criticize the team after the game.

As the league leader, the pressure is extraordinary, and what is even more terrifying is that once they lose the first place in the league, it will be very, very difficult to retake it. Rangnick does not think that this young and inexperienced team can do that.

Do young Hoffenheim come to take over? They lack experience but not lack motivation. When the game is played well and the situation is beneficial to them, they can often create miracles with this momentum. Just like in the first half of the season, they have defeated strong opponents and seized a point at home. This momentum is both the team's weakness and their point. Rangnick must make good use of this double-edged sword.

So according to the characteristics of the team, the safest way is to keep the team in the first place in the league until the end of the league, so they will naturally be the league champion.

But this method is too much pressure. Rangnick can only pray that the club's psychologists can play their role and be more lucky at the same time.

Now that Frankfurt has not scored three points in the face of the weak team, what should I do when facing the strong team in the future? It’s not that Rangnick cannot allow failure, but that he cannot allow failure on the targets he should get.

You should know that in the last two rounds of the league, Hoffenheim's opponents are opponents like Bayern Munich and Schalke 04, and in the last round they will challenge Schalke away. If the competition for the league championship remains until that time, then it is hard for him to say what will happen at that time. Perhaps the huge pressure will make the team perform poorly and lose those two key games... In order to be on the safe side, it is necessary to get as many points as possible from opponents who can score points and accumulate the lead. If you are lucky, maybe Hoffenheim won the championship ahead of schedule before the game against Bayern?

※※After being criticized by Rangnick, Hoffenheim's performance improved. In the next 25th round of the league, they defeated Hannover 2:1 at home. Hertha Berlin, which was originally ranked second, lost in this round, but Wolfsburg continued their winning streak. They defeated Bielefeld 3:0 away, which was already their seven-game winning streak. Wolfsburg also replaced Hertha Berlin and ranked second in the league, and was still three points away from Hoffenheim.

But the victory of this game also came at a price. The main striker Obasi was missing four games after two games back due to tearing his butt muscle fibers... Salihovic has not recovered from injury yet, and Obasi is missing for four weeks here. The many troubles since Hoffenheim's winter break have made the German media sigh whether they have been cursed... The next game seems to have really proved this - they are indeed cursed.

On April 4th, in the 26th round of the league, Hoffenheim challenged Hamburg away.

"Oh-the post! Sanogo's shot hit the post!"

"Sanogo's shot - hit the post again!! The change of line was blocked by goalkeeper Rost with his legs... Sanogo's luck in this game is really bad! This is his second goal post! Obasi's thigh muscle strain, and Sanogo returned to the starting lineup, but his luck is really bad..."

"Demba Ba made a cross at high speed, and Sanogo received the ball on the right side of the penalty area...shot! Oh my! Still the post! The third post!" This time the commentator couldn't help laughing, "Ha! Since the Bundesliga began to count the number of hits on the post in the 1993-1994 season, no one has hit the post three times in a game!! Sanogo did it! He created history, but he must not want such a history..."

Rangnick also picked up his head off the court, unable to believe everything he saw. The probability of the same person hitting the goal post three times in a game is too low... If everyone thinks that just this means Hoffenheim is cursed, it would be a big mistake.

In the 55th minute, central defender Yaisler was injured in his knee while fighting with his opponent and was unable to hold on to the game, so he was carried off the court. Rangnick asked Pogatz, who was originally playing left-back, to play central defender, and then replaced Ibertberger to play left-back.

As a result, Ibercberger had just played for fifteen minutes and was injured in the game, so he was unable to hold on. Rangnick had to let Pogatz go back to play the left back, and let the young Brazilian central defender Fabricio who was loaned to the winter break come on the court to play the central defender... "In one game, two defenders were injured in one knee, and Sanogo's three-foot shot at the post... This is simply incredible. I have to doubt whether Hoffenheim was cursed by some mysterious force..." The Bundesliga commentator also shook his head hard and sighed.

The game was played like this, which greatly hit the fighting spirit and desire to win. The Bundesliga broadcast is the best football broadcast in the world, and their game is like making a movie. At this time, they artistically gave Rangnick a close-up.

The best of the young German coaches is standing on the sidelines at this moment, motionless. He looks into the field, but his eyes are confused and there is no focus. Behind him are the blurred stadium stands and the large screen. Although the score and team logo on it are very blurry, they can still see what it means. Under the team logo of the two teams are their respective scores, under the team logo of Hamburg, the score is 1, and under the team logo of Hoffenheim, the score is 0.

This shot shows everything - Hoffenheim is definitely losing this game.

This is true. Even though they were only one goal behind, Hoffenheim still had no chance to equalize the score. They even did not even show their efforts and fighting spirit to equalize the score at the last moment of the game.

But this time, after losing the game, Rangnick did not yell at his players in the visiting team locker room at Hamburg's Northern Bank Arena. He just asked everyone to finish their meals and get in the car and leave.

He really didn't have the heart to criticize anything about such a game. Everyone worked very hard at the beginning, and even when they were one goal behind, they did not give up the game. However, Sanogo's three-footed goal posts were destroying the team's confidence every time. In fact, those who are engaged in football, whether they are playing football or coaching, are somewhat superstitious. Many players even pay attention to which foot to wear first, and when they walk on the court, they are different. So when they see Sanogo hit the goal post in a row, many people will think in their hearts-it seems that God doesn't want us to win in this game. This idea has no basis, but it will subconsciously penetrate people's confidence.

Even Chu Zhongtian thought this was really evil. If he was a spectator, he would laugh at Sanogo's performance and feel very happy. But as a backward side, the three-pin post was really cruel... Then Yaisler and Ibertberger were injured continuously, completely defeating Hoffenheim's fighting spirit. After all, they are a team composed of young people and lack the experience of maintaining stability in extreme unfavorable circumstances. When they faced such a weird game, everyone was at a loss. Many people even forgot about basic running positions. Chu Zhongtian passed the football out, which was a chance to fight in normal times. Today, he could only watch the football fly out of the baseline or sideline.

The players are in a complicated mood, and so is Rangnick. This is the weirdest game they have played this season. No one knows what to say or what expression to make for this game... On the team's bus, Rangnick waved weakly: "A day off tomorrow."

This is the first time this season that there is still a holiday after losing, but no one cheered, and everyone accepted the result in vain.

Rangnick hopes to use this holiday to relax everyone. Perhaps the tense nerves have caused so many unlucky things to happen, so it is necessary to relax properly.

Looking at the listless players, he shook his head and walked back to the seat.

He has more worries than the players.

How were the injuries of Ibertsberger and Jaisler who were injured in the game? Will they miss many games? If this is the case, how should I deal with it?

These many question marks hovered in his mind, making him so tired that he didn't even want to say more.

※※※After returning to Hoffenheim, the team's first day of training. When the players were all changing clothes in the locker room, Chu Zhongtian walked in.

Everyone knows that Chu Zhongtian will come early before training every day, and then chat with head coach Rangnick, who also came early.

They are all used to it.

The atmosphere in the locker room is still depressing today, and many people have not recovered from the game with Hamburg.

"Bad news." After Chu Zhongtian came in, he looked at his teammates. He could see that everyone was not in a very high mood. Logically speaking, it shouldn't be worse at this time, but there was no way to be so realistic, so he just informed him.

"The injury report of Matthias and Andres has come out."

When everyone heard him say this, they all looked up at him.

Matthias is Jaisler, while Andres refers to Ibetsberger. They were injured and left the court the day before yesterday. The specific injuries were not known. As teammates, everyone also cared about them.

"Matias's anterior cruciate ligament shattered on the knee will definitely miss all games this season. The doctor said he will have to be on standby for at least six months..."

"Hiss-" A sound of gasping in the locker room sounded.

"Andres' medial knee ligament strain will be absent for at least four weeks. It's still a question whether he can return to the team at the end of the season."

After Chu Zhongtian finished speaking, he returned to his seat.

Suddenly, the locker room suddenly woke up from the suffocating silence that had been before.

"curse!"

Demba Ba screamed, his amazing words attracted everyone's attention, and even Chu Zhongtian turned his head and looked over.

"This must be a curse! I don't know who is casting the spell, but this must be a curse! In my hometown, we will also use this method to deal with people we hate, and we will naturally use it on the football field. Some people must not want us to win the championship, but invite a wizard to do the trick..."

Demba Ba is a Senegalese. The Black African continent is full of many mysterious phenomena. Cursing this thing is not a rare thing.

"Think about it, guys. How bad are we going after the winter break? Wellington's cruciate ligament, Yaisler's cruciate ligament, Obasi's muscle strain has not been completely cured, and Salihovic, Ibertsberger... These are all injuries, and there is also suspension, Chu and Weiss have been suspended. We have to lose one person in almost every game... Isn't this a curse? "

After he finished speaking, some teammates opened their mouths in surprise, while some teammates lowered their heads, as if thinking.

The locker room was once again trapped in that suffocating silence...

(To be continued)
Chapter completed!