In the second round of the German Cup, Hoffenheim eliminated their rivals Freiburg on penalties and advanced to the third round, where the draw will take place after the Champions League match with Inter. The competition will start at the end of January 2009.

However, the current German Cup can no longer arouse Hoffenheim's appetite, this derby Hoffenheim only used substitute players, their main goal is the league and the Champions League, the German Cup is just to keep the substitutes in shape, run in the new lineup.

Hoffenheim have only three days to prepare for the match against Bremen, heading to Milan City in Italy to take on Jose Mourinho's Nerazzurri. With a nine-goal win in the first round, Hoffenheim are interested in topping the group, so they will have to pick up points in this game. With Inter's quality, they can't possibly drop points against Panaxinnacos and Anocissos. Whoever wins the group basically depends on the meeting between the two teams.

Hoffenheim had a very good time in the league, and they became the devil of their opponents in September's devil's schedule, with seven games in the Super Cup, Champions League, German Cup, and league, Hoffenheim won six and lost one, four points ahead of second place in the league, and almost went away.

Inter Milan, on the other hand, struggled a bit, with two wins, one loss and one draw in the first four rounds of the league, ranking fourth, and losing 1-0 to AC Milan in the just-concluded derby, and two more were sent off, which put a lot of pressure on the madman Mourinho.

For Hoffenheim, this is not good news, and Inter Milan, who have been forced to rush, will definitely have to take them out of their own stadium, and they will inevitably come under more pressure at the Meazza Stadium. Although some media think that Inter Milan has always been an outsider in foreign wars and insiders in internal wars, Rangnick never thinks so, the media said that Inter is the former Inter, and the current Inter is Mourinho's Inter, this Portuguese is definitely a wizard in the coaching world, his team is never weak, the players are aggressive, the team is extremely tenacious, and whoever wants to beat Mourinho will have to pay a big price.

Although Inter Milan lost to the derby rival AC Milan in the last game, the two players who were sent off show how strong and unwilling Inter Milan is in the game, which is very different from the image of Inter's soft persimmon in the past.

Of course, the most worrying thing about Inter Milan is the head coach Mourinho, but what really makes Rangnick uneasy is the strong right side of Inter Milan, McCone is comparable to Li Huan's defender with a knife, except for the free kick and the speed is more obvious than Li Huan, the Brazilian is not weaker than Li Huan in both offense and defense, before Li Huan's rise, he has been hailed as the best right-back in the world, and even Alves, who created a sky-high price for defender transfers, can only become his substitute in the Brazilian team.

In front of McCone, there is also a very strong breakthrough ability of Mancini Jr., in the quarterfinals of Roma and Lyon in 07, Mancini Jr. eliminated the Ligue 1 team with a series of crazy cycles, can Hoffenheim's left-back Ibertsberg stop the strong combination of these two? This is a big question mark. If Ibertsberg on the left can't stop Inter's attack, then Hoffenheim's best attack on the right can keep a draw.

In the battle for other positions, Hoffenheim is obviously at a disadvantage, in the front, Inter has four center forwards, Ibrahimovic in the middle of the sky, Adriano who has returned to the prodigal son, Balotelli who is budding in the edge, and Kruz, who is far more powerful than famous, and the winger and Quaresma, the second standard king who transferred this season.

Compared with Inter Milan's luxury striker, Hoffenheim's flashy forward line in the Bundesliga is a little shabby, Ibisevic is inferior to Ibrahimovic in terms of fame and strength, Demba Ba is still unable to play, Obasi is difficult to compare with Quaresma, Saviola is at most at the same level as the current Adriano, if Ade is in a slightly better state, Saviola will be half a step behind.

Compared with the midfielders of the two teams, Inter Milan has more defenders, while Hoffenheim has a sharper attack, but because Arshavin has just joined and the cooperation with his teammates is not tacit, it is difficult to say whether he and Eduardo can break through the Great Wall of steel built by Vieri, Muntari, Cambiasso, Stankovic and others.

In short, from the overall strength of the team, Hoffenheim is at a disadvantage, and this is an encounter, Rangnick thinks that he is slightly inferior to Mourinho in the art of on-the-spot command, and on-the-spot adaptation has never been Rangnick's strong point.

After the games against Bremen and Borussia Dortmund, Rangnick and his coaching staff began to study the Champions League clash against Inter Milan.

Although Jose Mourinho has just taken charge of Inter Milan and there are not many games for them to study, it is clear from these games that there is a huge difference between Mourinho's management of Inter Milan and Roberto Mancini.

First of all, in terms of formation, Mourinho bought Quaresma and Mancini Jr. in order to replicate Chelsea's success at Inter Milan and turn Mancini's 442 into Mourinho's 433, but judging from the previous games, Inter Milan's transformation did not give full play to Mourinho's great power when he was at Chelsea.

In terms of tactics, Mourinho is still their steady counter-attacking tactics, in addition to falling behind, the first thing Mourinho has to do is to stabilize the back, in the words of Italian journalists, Mourinho is carrying forward the conservative Serie A. Inter Milan retreated to a half-court defensive cringe after taking a one- or two-goal lead. Of course, it's not that the Inter players don't have the ability to attack, but Mourinho's conservative football philosophy is reflected on the pitch, as was the case with Panasynakos. If Inter Milan are as aggressive as Hoffenheim, Panaxinakos will definitely not concede by just two goals.

In addition, Mourinho's Inter Milan is the biggest difference from Mancini, Mourinho's team is disciplined, and the whole team is a whole, like an army. In the later period of Mancini's charge of Inter Milan, he has lost his prestige in the team, and even the very respected Ibrahimovic dared to release the wild words of "Mancini and I must leave one", but in Mourinho's Inter Milan, there are no different voices, and the substitute players can not be heard in the dressing room complaining about the Portuguese, Materazzi and Vieira are by no means idle, but they have silently accepted the status of substitutes under Mourinho.

Inter Milan and Hoffenheim also have one thing in common, that is, the defense starts from the front, and the striker has to organize counter-attacks from the moment he concedes the ball.

For Hoffenheim, a lesser-known team, the striker counter-attacking is nothing, but it is not easy to make a striker like Ibrahimovic quickly rebound after conceding a goal up front. It can also be seen from this how difficult it is to break through the defense of this Inter Milan team.

However, Mourinho's Inter Milan is not without a little weakness, Mourinho has just coached, and the players who are used to playing 442 have not been able to adapt to Mourinho's 433 for a while, and Quaresma and Mancini Jr., who have just transferred this season, are more alone on the side, and the team as a whole is not well connected.

Jose Mourinho's side also have a very important shortcoming, which is a common problem of disciplined teams when they lack creative surnames without counter-attacking, especially when the opponent is stubbornly defending, and they cannot find a good way to break down the opponent's defence.

Rangnick and the coaching staff have researched that Hoffenheim must not allow Mourinho's side to take the lead if they want to score points at the Meazza Stadium, and for Mourinho, the game is only about winning and losing, it doesn't matter how you win, it doesn't matter how many goals you win, it doesn't matter how many goals you win, you just need to win. Rangnick is fully confident that if Inter take the lead in the game, Mourinho will have a bucket lined up in his own goal. Then hit Hoffenheim's counterattack.

In the face of such a utilitarian coach, Rangnick did not insist on playing offensive football, and even Barcelona and Mourinho's Chelsea in their heyday could not take advantage of attacking football, not to mention Hoffenheim, Rangnick was not arrogant enough to be stronger than Barcelona's attacking power. Although in recent games they have had very high goal figures.

Defending steadily on the counter-attack, slowly maneuvering with Inter Milan, and getting a point is also a good result. This is a tactical plan developed by the Hoffenheim coaching staff. Hoffenheim's defensive quality this season is much more solid than last season, and Hoffenheim have the capital to play a dozen defensive counter-attacks in certain important games.

If this game with Inter Milan can get a point, Hoffenheim believes that the pressure of the next game will be on Inter Milan's side, Inter Milan can not play Anossos 9 goals, Hoffenheim's crazy win is unavoidable, Inter Milan must press out to attack if they want to win the group. Then Hoffenheim will have a chance, Li Huan, Arshavin and Eduardo are all top players in the counterattack.

For Rangnick's most fearful left-sided defense, the coaching staff had no better way to do it after discussion, but to ask Ibetsberg to try not to assist and complete the task of defending well. In addition, Sarihovic and defender Gustavo were careful to protect the flanks and prevent McCone's shot after the breakthrough, while the Brazilian defender's shot from a tight angle and inside shot were very threatening. If this can't prevent McCone and Mancini Jr., Rangnick can't think of it, no matter how good the tactics are, they have to be executed, and if the players' individual abilities are too far behind, what kind of tactics are useless.

(To be continued)