While Zenit St. Petersburg repeatedly missed good chances to score, Hoffenheim's ability to take them was much higher.

In the 38th minute, Lu Wenbin finally ushered in his first goal of the game.

Eduardo's breakthrough resulted in a foul and Hoffenheim were awarded a well-placed free-kick.

Lu Wenbin, who did not use the system skill for the previous two free kicks, turned on the special skill of the system this time and directly hit the ball into the dead corner of the Zenit goal.

Malafeyev couldn't reach the whip and could only watch the ball go into the net.

Hoffenheim took a 2-0 lead over Zenit St. Petersburg in the first half, and there was no sign that Zenit could knock Hoffenheim out.

With a 2-0 scoreline, the two sides went into halftime.

After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and fought again, with the impatient Zenit attacking more fiercely, but there were more holes in the backcourt.

Originally, there were two people to mark Lu Wenbin, and the fullbacks also had to assist, so Zenit's backline put more pressure on Paljic, Demba Ba, Eduardo, and Copado.

In the 68th minute, Eduardo shook down Zenit defender Anyogoff on the line of the big penalty zone and passed the ball to Copado, who was inserted in the back row and in space.

Copado met the ball from near the penalty spot and the ball flew through the penalty area like an arrow into the goal.

Although Malafeyev judged the right direction and touched the ball, the distance was too close and the force was too great for him to get the ball out.

The ball hit his fingertips with a slight refraction, but it flew firmly into the goal of Zenit St. Petersburg.

Hoffenheim led Zenit St. Petersburg 3-0 in the 68th minute, a real reaction to the gap between the Bundesliga first and the Russian Premier League side.

After this scoreline, Zenit's players finally had emotional swings.

The belligerent polar bear warriors also have to wonder if they can eliminate Hoffenheim.

Advocaat on the sidelines also had an ugly face and felt a little desperate.

After taking away the core main forces of the golden generation such as Arshavin, Zenit's strength has indeed declined too seriously.

The team that eliminated Bayern Munich 5-1 last year and eventually won the title, but now they were easily beaten 3-0 by Hoffenheim in 70 minutes, which is full of injuries, how can there be any sign of defending the title?

However, Advocaat has no choice, he can't surrender and admit defeat, right?

The history of European competition is not without a goal deficit of three away goals, and there are precedents of successful comebacks after returning home, most notably in the 2003/2004 Champions League quarter-finals between La Coruna and AC Milan.

Deportivo La Coruna suffered a 4-1 defeat away to AC Milan in the first leg, losing three goals.

But after returning to home in the second leg, Deportivo La Coruna gave AC Milan a 4-0 comeback, successfully turning the game and sending the super giants AC Milan home.

Therefore, Zenit was not fully sentenced to death.

If you can score an away goal and keep the score 3-1 until the end. Back at home, Zenit only needed a 2-0 win to knock Hoffenheim out.

Then there is even more hope.

As a result, Advocaat shouted for his players to keep attacking and try to score an away goal.

Of course, Hoffenheim can't score any more goals at the back. If there are not enough personnel, they will be supported by running.

Advocaat asked all players to increase their range of movement, and immediately counter-attack after losing the ball in front, even if they can't grab the ball, they must delay Hoffenheim's counter-attack.

Since Bayern Munich took the lead in using the tactic of double-man marking Lu Wenbin and demonstrated it to other teams, Lu Wenbin's goal count has indeed dropped a lot, but it is not completely absent.

No one can really kill Lu Wenbin in 90 minutes, so that Lu Wenbin can't get a chance to shoot.

In addition to the free kick in this game, Lu Wenbin is also pursuing sports goals.

Although he has already scored a free kick and can be promoted as long as he keeps the win until the end of the game, the UEFA Cup game experience is too high, and an extra goal is 40,000 experience.

What's more, 3-0 is still in danger of being overturned by the opponent back at home, but if it is 4-0, Zenit will be dead.

Therefore, Zenit was stepping up his running, and Lu Wenbin did not stop.

Anyway, he will definitely be able to upgrade after this game, and the fitness problem will be solved, so there is no need to cherish it.

Under Lu Wenbin's continuous running, when Zenit still failed to score, Lu Wenbin finally ran out of a gap and got a good chance to shoot.

In the 82nd minute, Lu Wenbin ran out of a short gap near the corner of the forbidden area by suddenly changing direction and throwing away the defenders, and Eduardo, who cooperated with the tacit understanding, passed the ball over at the right time.

Lu Wenbin grabbed before the opponent's defender cleared the ball, and the ball crossed a weak arc in the air, just bypassing the fingers of Malafeev who jumped to save, and drilled into the dead corner of the goal.

Lu Wenbin scored a brace and led Hoffenheim to a 4-0 home lead over Zenit St. Petersburg, a score that would have put the second leg out of contention.

Subsequently, Ralph replaced Demba Ba with Walsa at the back, changing the formation of 442 double midfielders to strengthen the defense.

As for Lu Wenbin, he still has to stay on the field and continue to contain the opponent's backline.

In the last ten minutes, although the Zenit players attacked desperately, Ralph's timely change of formation played a key role, and Volsa once sacrificed himself to block the gun's eye and blocked the opponent's heavy bombardment.

After three minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, and Hoffenheim beat defending champions Zenit St. Petersburg 4-0 at home in the first leg of the UEFA Cup quarter-finals.

When the match ended, the entire Rhine Neckar Arena erupted in applause and cheers.

The German sports TV commentator also announced: "At the end of the game, Hoffenheim defeated the defending champion Zenit St. Petersburg 4-0 at home under the leadership of captain Lu Wenbin, basically declaring the suspense of the second leg lost." Zenit will need to score at least four goals when they return to their home stadium and not allow Hoffenheim to score before they can be dragged into a penalty shoot-out to eliminate Hoffenheim. But for Zenit St. Petersburg, who has already lost the core players of the golden generation such as Arshavin, it is a difficult task to complete. Therefore, we can declare that Hoffenheim has advanced to the last 8. ”

Indeed, anyone who watched this match and this score would have no expectations for a turnaround for Zenit St. Petersburg.

Even the Russian TV commentator summed it up disappointedly: "Zenit St. Petersburg lost 4-0 away to Hoffenheim without even scoring a single away goal. To advance to the last 8, we can only hope for a miracle to happen. ”