It was a little different from what everyone expected. Chelsea did not launch a fierce attack at the beginning of the game, which can be seen from the movements of their two full-backs.

After the start of the game, Ashley Cole and Ivanovic did not rush to attack, but stayed in his half. This must have been specially reminded by the head coach. It seems that Ancelotti still plays a safe card. He knows how powerful Hoffenheim is at his home court, especially their offense. In order to avoid conceding the ball shortly after the opening, he chose to be safe and conservative.

The opponent's defensive formation is very compact, and Hoffenheim has no good way to penetrate easily, so Chu Zhongtian is not in a hurry. Anyway, they are the ones leading the way on the promotion, not Chelsea, so they are not in a hurry.

Since the opponent did not press the whole line, Chu Zhongtian led the midfield to fight against Chelsea in a position, slowly entangled with the opponent.

He wants to see how long Chelsea's patience will run out of energy.

Fifteen minutes after the game, both sides did not have many shots, and most of them were entangled in the midfield. Sometimes Hoffenheim had the upper hand, and sometimes Chelsea's offense seemed very threatening. But there were not many times when they could really threaten the goal.

Ancelotti's calculation is to avoid losing the ball first, and then use counterattack goals based on the concealment of the ball. As long as one can score, Hoffenheim has the advantage of away goals, as long as we have the advantage of leading the overall score, no matter how many away goals the opponent has, it is not worth fearing.

Ancelotti knew that Hoffenheim was a team that was attacking in the bones. They would not give up on offense in the away game, let alone at home. He was not in a hurry. Hoffenheim would definitely attack. As long as they attacked, there would be many loopholes in their defense line. This can be seen from the first round. If Hoffenheim had not been able to defend the game in the end, Chelsea's offense would still be effective. At home, they would never shrink their defense anymore, and then it would be Chelsea's chance.

Fifteen minutes passed, and Chelsea's offense did not improve much, and Ancelotti was not in a hurry.

Twenty minutes passed, and Hoffenheim still did not attack with all his strength. Of course, there were attacks, but the two full-backs, like Chelsea's full-backs, did not push up. They always maintained five people in the defense, so there was not much space and opportunities left for Chelsea.

Twenty-five minutes passed, and Chelsea still did not find any obvious loopholes. Ancelotti knew that Hoffenheim was competing with him for patience... Chu Zhongtian was indeed competing with the opponent for patience. Anyway, Chelsea's defenders did not press forward, so there was much less space to use. Even if he wanted to organize the offense, he had to judge the situation. What if the offense was not cut off by the opponent and directly counterattacked?

Therefore, he slightly modified the instructions of head coach Rangnick, and did not rush to attack and score a goal, but instead fought with Chelsea in the midfield. In terms of the control ability of the midfield, Chu Zhongtian was confident that Hoffenheim was not losing to Chelsea. At worst, everyone would just waste it like this, and it depends on who would waste it in the end.

In the 30th minute, Ancelotti knew that he could not wait any longer. The opponent was clearly trying to kill time. Even if it was 0:0 in this game, they advanced, and he was eliminated.

He was just wondering why Hoffenheim, who has always been keen on attacking from the first minute of the game to the last minute of the game, suddenly became calm... Now that I can't figure out this problem, just don't think about it, just attack first! It seems that something needs to be done to attract the opponent to attack, and only when both sides attack against each other will have room behind me to use.

Ancelotti stood up from the coach's seat and sent a signal to the team to attack.

Chelsea players waited for thirty minutes and finally waited for this signal. Fullbacks Ashley Cole and Ivanovic, who had been out of the center line, began to intervene in assists.

Once these two full-backs move, Hoffenheim's defense pressure suddenly increases. Previously, Hoffenheim's defense only needed to defend one wave of attacks. As long as Chelsea's first wide attack was ended, this offense would be over. Moreover, because the full-back does not push, Chelsea's wide attack lacks changes, and the intentions are easily guessed, and Hoffenheim's defense is relatively simple.

It's different now. After the full-backs pressed up, their offensive routines have changed a lot, which has increased the difficulty of Hoffenheim's defense on the sidelines.

Everything has good and bad.

Although the defensive pressure has increased, Hoffenheim also gained room for offense.

Chelsea had just used the wing attack to threaten Hoffenheim's goal, and then Enyema threw the footballer to Chu Zhongtian. Chu Zhongtian did not wait or hesitate and directly passed the football to his right side and Chelsea's left side. On this wing path, there was Quaresma who was good at dribbling and as well as Chelsea's full-back Ashley Cole had just assisted and had not had time to withdraw - no matter how fast a person was, he could not run over the flying football... After Quaresma received the ball, he made a cross, and Van Nistruy, who was circumventing in front of the goal, formed a shot. Although it hit high, this was the most threatening attack by Hoffenheim after more than 30 minutes of the game.

In the process of competing for patience between the two sides, Chelsea, who was behind, could no longer hold back, while Hoffenheim took advantage of the situation and fought against them.

Although Chelsea was very calm before, the full-back couldn't say that he wouldn't go up. Now, once the head coach issued a general offensive order, he would just give up and ignore anything.

Because they know very well that this is on the away game. If they cannot score a goal in one go and shake their opponent's fighting spirit, then as time goes by, the situation will become increasingly unfavorable to them.

So even though they knew that such an attack would be captured by the opponent, they couldn't care about the loophole behind them. Now they were all full of thought - scoring a goal!

※※If Rangnick was Mourinho, he would be happy to let the opponent press his team to play and then wait for an opportunity to fight back. This is a very exciting approach.

But he is Rangnick after all, and he is the type of coach who is completely opposite to Mourinho. Seeing that Chelsea attacked, he also let his team attack.

For a moment, the two sides fought against each other on the court, and the battle was exciting.

Of course, various goals opportunities have also begun to appear and increase.

In the 37th minute, Chelsea midfielder Lampard suddenly shot strongly at the front of the penalty area. The football penetrated through the defender's crack. Nyema couldn't save it. The football finally hit the post and bounced out, which shocked Rhine Neka's stadium stands.

But soon, Hoffenheim fans shouted loudly: "Give them some good looks! Retaliate!!"

Amid such shouts, Chu Zhongtian organized an attack. After attracting the attention of Chelsea defenders in the middle of the midfield, he suddenly flew the ball to the side, Kolarov, who was inserted from behind, crossed the Chelsea defense line, and then made a cross. This time, Ibisevic followed up in the middle, and his header was close to the goal, allowing Cech to drag it out with one palm!

"Both sides have a chance! The game will be much better than the first thirty minutes during this period!"

In the first thirty minutes, the commentator complained that Chelsea was conservative, and then complained that Hoffenheim was also conservative. This was not like a life-and-death knockout match, but it seemed like a warm-up match, although it was very lively, neither side scored a goal in the first half.

When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, the score on the big screen on the scene was 0:0.

Technical statistics show that the two sides are almost equally divided, with Hoffenheim's possession rate slightly higher than the ball, 51% vs. 49%. The shots are the same as both sides, each with seven times. Chelsea has a slight advantage in the number of shots, with four kicks, while Hoffenheim has three kicks.

From this data, we can see that the two teams are evenly matched, so it is hard to say what will happen in the second half.

※※※ Back to midfield, Ancelotti's first thing to do was to adjust his tactics and tell his players to strengthen the offense in the second half. How to strengthen it? Starting from the wing, after becoming active on the side in the first half, the offense changed significantly, but the time was too short and no goal was scored. But Ancelotti knew that this was right.

On the other side, Rangnick was also telling the players how to attack.

"Chelsea's wing offense is very active, and there are a lot of room to use behind them, so we will make a firm decision to make use of this! After breaking the ball, we will pass to the side where their full-back is not there. We must follow up in time in the middle and seek cooperation with the wing players!"

If there is more, Rangnick doesn't need to say anything more. With Chu Zhongtian in the team, he can save a lot of effort. Although Chu Zhongtian is only twenty-seven years old and has only been in the professional league for seven seasons, his experience is so rich that he is like a veteran in his thirties. He knows what to do under what circumstances on the court, and he rarely makes mistakes.

Before appearing in the second half, Chu Zhongtian said to his teammates: "Now there are two and a half games left before Wembley. Guys, stick with it!"

※※※The second half begins, and the two sides change sides and fight again.

This time is different from the first half. I have no patience in the competition. As soon as I started, both sides directly fought against each other. They both wanted to take advantage of the loopholes in the opponent's defense line and scored a goal first.

Lampard dunked Chu Zhongtian, who had been following him all the time, and did not continue to dribble the ball forward because he knew that the Chinese was very tenacious and that as long as he hesitated a little, he might be intercepted.

So he had just dunked Chu Zhongtian and immediately passed the football out. Sure enough, he had just passed the ball, and Chu Zhongtian rushed up again, and now he was out of stock.

Lampard gave the football to Drogba in front. Drogba leaned against defender Simunic to protect the football. Seeing that he could not turn around, he had to pass the football backward to Maluda who came to pick him up. Maluda had moved to the middle. After receiving the ball, he wanted to pass a penetrating pass. However, Hoffenheim's defense line was very tightly organized and did not reveal any room to use. At the same time, Chelsea's teammates were still almost in line with the running. Basically, they stopped running after reaching the Hoffenheim defender.

They stood there and waited for their teammates to pass the ball to them. Especially on the wing, everyone was afraid of offside and waited on the sideline. Such obvious intentions would easily allow Hoffenheim players to defend. As long as they were stuck in the inside, even if the football was passed, the players on the wing would not have any good methods. In a forced cross, they would most likely be pushed out by Hoffenheim's central defender. If they broke through, they would not have such a high success rate. Although Hoffenheim's full-back was stronger than defense, it did not mean that they could pass by wooden stakes at will.

It's not just that. While strictly guarding the formation, Hoffenheim's midfielder and central defenders are still actively pressing the players to get the ball.

Maluda controlled the football. After just observing it, he was under tremendous pressure. Sana and Comper snatched Maluda one by one and the other. In order to protect the football, Maluda had to turn around and protect the football in front of him. When he turned around, the football was protected, but he also lost the opportunity to attack.

In desperation, he had to pass the football back again.

But under Sana's press, his pass did not pass to his teammates, but to Quaresma!

Hoffenheim's reaction was very fast after suddenly intercepting the ball. On another side, Salihovic had already run forward, and Quaresma did not drive the ball himself because he had a midfielder Mikel in front.

He passed the football sideways, and the football fell to Chu Zhongtian's feet. Chu Zhongtian did not drive the ball forward because there was another Chelsea midfielder Essin in front of him. He didn't even look up and directly sent the football to the left side of the team. After passing the ball, he ran forward alone.

When Salihovic received the ball on the wing, he was not under too strict control because at this time the Chelsea full-backs rushed forward to attack and were desperately returning to defense.

Salihovic's speed is not fast, but it doesn't matter. Hoffenheim's overall speed has bought him time. He dribbled the ball from the wing, attracting Essin and centre-back Alles.

Then he passed the ball horizontally to the middle, and the football fell to Chu Zhongtian who was coming to pick him up.

Seeing Chu Zhongtian receiving the ball in the 30-meter area, the Hoffenheim fans in the stands burst into loud cheers: "Chu! Chu!"

Chu Zhongtian stopped the football, then swung his feet to shoot a long shot. Mikel dared not be defensive, and turned around and planned to use his back to block the opponent's shot. Unexpectedly, Chu Zhongtian was just a fake move. After dunking Mikel, he did not shoot vigorously, nor did he directly divide the side, but suddenly passed with a pass!

The football passed over the Chelsea defense line and fell into the penalty area behind them.

Ibisevic and Van Nystruei were both in the center, firmly suppressing Chelsea's defenders, but from the direction, the ball was not passed to them, because Chu Zhongtian passed the ball to the ribs.

"Ricardo Quaresma!"

The commentator yelled.

The Portuguese winger who had just passed the football to Chu Zhongtian had already entered the penalty area at this time. He broke into the ribs. After Salihovic and Chu Zhongtian attracted the attention of other Chelsea players, he appeared in the penalty area without any idea. Chu Zhongtian passed the football, and he stepped forward in time, and then received the football!

"No offside!"

"It's really not offside!"

Quaresma didn't even go to see the lineman. He knew very clearly that he was not inferior to the position. He only passed through the Chelsea defense line after Chu Zhongtian completed the pick pass.

Everyone's attention was attracted by Quaresma who suddenly inserted into the penalty area. Cech abandoned the goal and attacked, center back John Terry, midfielder Mikel and full-back Ashley Cole rushed towards Quaresma like nails attracted by magnets.

But Quaresma did not shoot, but instead passed the ball horizontally to the center of the penalty area!

How could Van Nisstruy, who had been waiting there, let it go when facing such a relaxed opportunity? He pushed the ball from the side and the football rolled into Chelsea's goal!

"The ball went in-"

“goooooooooooooooool!!”

"Hoffenheim went through a series of beautiful passes, and Van Nistruy scored a goal!"

"1:0! Hoffenheim leads Chelsea 3:2!"

After scoring the goal, Van Nistrue was very excited. He rushed to Quaresma who passed the ball to him. Quaresma hugged him and waved at Chu Zhongtian. That meant: Come up and celebrate, buddy!

Of course, Chu Zhongtian would not not go to celebrate. He ran over and hugged his two teammates, and then more teammates surrounded them in the center, and everyone cheered and celebrated the goal together.

They expanded their lead in the advancement battle!

"Van Nistruy! Van Nistruy! He scored his second goal in this Champions League! It is also his 62nd goal in the Champions League! He is the second best scorer in the history of the Champions League!"

"This experienced Dutch veteran appeared at the most important position! Although he was thirty-four years old, he could no longer run fast, but his outstanding front-door awareness still allowed him to appear in the most dangerous place on time!"

European commentators were singing praises to the Dutch veterans, and some praised Quaresma's selfless assistance.

Chinese commentator He Ping set his sights on Chu Zhongtian. He fully played the role of the "offensive transit hub" throughout the attack. When he stole the counterattack, it was his precise long pass that made Hoffenheim's attack suddenly clear, and the opponent's defense line was also pulled open by his pass. The already limited force had to be dispersed into the width of the entire court, so it was naturally stretched and there would be gaps in many places. When he touched the ball for the second time, Hoffenheim's attack had already hit a very dangerous area, and everyone thought

Chu Zhongtian will shoot directly - he doesn't have that reason - but he cleverly created an opportunity to Quaresma with a pick-by-stop pass. His pass to Quaresma gave Quaresma a chance to have a single shot, which also attracted Chelsea's defensive attention, thus freeing up space for Van Nistruy who was circumventing the middle, allowing him to easily score. The entire offensive process is like one link after another, and any link has been carefully planned and indispensable. In the end, the goal was naturally drawn in such a series.

In He Ping's view, Chu Zhongtian once again demonstrated his role as the core of the team's organization in this offense, and it was reflected very vividly.

"This is the core of the midfield!"
Chapter completed!