After the game restarted, Shakhtar Donetsk, who were down 0-2, paid more attention to the marking of Lu Wenbin, who scored a brace, and the midfield also launched a Jedi counterattack.

Being able to reach the final of the League Cup, and also eliminated teams from the top five leagues such as Tottenham Hotspur and Marseille on the way, Shakhtar is not really a soft persimmon to be kneaded.

In the 39th minute, the Shakhtars played an efficient counterattack.

Their playmaker Lewandowski (non-striker Lewandowski) launched a counter-attack after cutting off Salihovic's dribble, and No. 17 striker Luis Adriano dribbled into the forbidden area, flashed Jankel's interception and hit the far corner.

Shakhtar Donetsk pulled back a point and are just one point behind Hoffenheim.

Suddenly, both the players on the field and the Shakhtar fans in the stands, as well as the Fenerbahce and Galatasaray fans who cheered for the Shakhtar team, all gave warm applause and cheers.

Just one goal down and they can see hope.

However, not long after Shakhtar's goal, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half.

At half-time, the commentators explained and analysed the situation in the final, and the vast majority still believed that Hoffenheim would win and that the battle could be resolved directly within 90 minutes.

Hoffenheim, who have super goalscorer Lu Wenbin, will make teams like Shakhtar Donetsk basically have one less player to play before the game even starts, because they must send at least two people to keep an eye on Lu Wenbin.

Coupled with the overall disparity in the overall strength of the other players, it is almost impossible for the Shakhtars from the Ukrainian league to turn the tables.

Even if they are only one goal behind now, there is not much hope.

Because, while they are likely to score in the second half, maybe Hoffenheim will score more.

Sure enough, after a 15-minute break, after the two sides changed sides and fought again, the Shakhtars inevitably gave other Hoffenheim players more opportunities when they were more closely guarding Lu Wenbin.

In the 57th minute, Salihovic dribbled the ball on the wing, and Lu Wenbin pretended to go to meet him and took the two players who were closely marking him away from the middle.

Salihovic then sent a long pass to the other side of the big penalty zone, which was picked up by Eduardo.

Eduardo used his flashy dribbling skills to get past defender Rattle and into the penalty zone, then feint his shot in the penalty zone, shaking the other centre-back and goalkeeper hard before passing the ball into the gap on the other side of the penalty zone.

The unmarked Demba Ba burst in from just outside the no-go zone and fired a volley into the corner of the six-bar zone before defender Srna was looking to clear the ball and slotted the ball into the Shakhtar Donetsk goal.

Goalkeeper Pyatov, who was shaken by Eduardo, couldn't save it, and could only watch helplessly as the ball went into the net.

In the 57th minute of the second half, Eduardo assisted striker Demba Ba to score another goal, and Hoffenheim led Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 and regained a two-goal lead.

Hoffenheim fans in the stands were already chanting for the winner holding up models of the UEFA Cup.

However, Shakhtar Donetsk, who dominate the Ukrainian league, are not the kind of team that can collapse after two goals, even against a Bundesliga champion like Hoffenheim.

And they also want to win the championship, and they also want to win the first European trophy for Shakhtar and Ukraine.

Therefore, the next Shakhtar players finally cut off the ball at the feet of Lu Wenbin, who was not good at dribbling skills, in the 76th minute through crazy pressing, and finally played a successful counterattack.

Fernandinho broke the ball and passed forward to the forward midfielder Judson, who is also very skilled as a Brazilian player, and is the brain and attacking heart of the Shakhtar team.

Gustavo's top grab was tricked by a bulltail from Judson, and then before Nelson came up to grab it, Judson made a feint to pass to striker Adriano, tricking both Nelson and Gustavo in Adriano's direction.

However, Judson crossed the ball to Isinho, a striker who came in from the wing on the other side.

Isinho received the ball from outside the penalty zone and shook it past Jaisler into the penalty zone, and calmly hit the far corner in the face of the onrushing goalkeeper Ozcan.

Estcan, who was expected to pounce on the near corner, could only sit down, but his foot did not touch the ball.

The ball rolled into the far corner and Shakhtar Donetsk pulled a goal back again stubbornly, leaving Hoffenheim just one point behind.

They saw hope again.

In the frantic celebration of the Shakhtar players and fans, Lu Wenbin in the front court clenched his fists.

The goal just now started when he was cut off by Fernandinho, and he has a certain responsibility.

While no one will blame him, he feels he should have made it easy to clean up with a goal. At the same time, seal the win for the team completely.

It's now the 76th minute, with little time left in regulation and Hoffenheim can score one more goal to regain a two-goal lead, and the win will be sealed.

Next, Lu Wenbin strengthened his running speed and running range.

With 19/19 running off the ball and barely enough pace at 14/16, Lu Wenbin's run made it even more uncomfortable for the Shakhtars to mark.

In the 85th minute, Lu Wenbin successfully ran out of the gap outside the forbidden area, received a pass from captain Salihovic, and came with a powerful long-range shot.

Thankfully, goalkeeper Pyatov did well and saved the ball off the line.

Hoffenheim won a corner and Shakhtar Donetsk's men breathed a sigh of relief.

Trailing by just one goal, even with only a few minutes left, there is always hope.

If you're two goals behind, you're basically going to lose.

Eduardo, who is only 170cm tall, went to take a corner kick, and Salihovic, Paljic, Demba Ba, Yankel and other taller people entered the forbidden area to compete for the header, while Lu Wenbin stood outside the forbidden area as a spectator, and did not want to compete for this corner kick.

Knowing that Lu Wenbin's header was not good, the Shakhtars did not use two more people to mark Lu Wenbin in this corner, only the defender Fernandinho was alone, and the central defender Kuchel marked his colleague Yankel in the forbidden area.

However, Eduardo, who was about to take a corner, raised his palm and stretched out four fingers after looking at the position of the players on both sides inside and outside the forbidden zone.

This is a corner kick backup tactic that Hoffenheim has never used in the game, and the first landing point is to find Lu Wenbin.

Because Lu Wenbin's height is not low now, and his physique is also very strong, he can stand in the forbidden area, so Ralph has trained the corner kick tactics with Lu Wenbin as the first landing point.

But after all, Lu Wenbin's header attribute is only 8/9, and it is difficult to score even if he grabs the first point, so he doesn't practice much in training, and he hasn't used it once in the game.

However, after seeing that the Shakhtars did not guard Lu Wenbin strictly in this corner, Eduardo wanted to try a new tactic with Lu Wenbin as the first landing point.

On the one hand, Lu Wenbin faced a very loose defense, and on the other hand, he also wanted to see if Lu Wenbin, who had already scored twice, could score another goal and score a hat-trick in the League Cup final.

Scoring a hat-trick in the UEFA Cup final was a remarkable achievement, as only Borussia Mönchengladbach's Heynckes had done it in the decades-long history of the UEFA Cup.