Wolfsburg not only mercilessly kicked Braunschweig further into the relegation abyss, but also secured all three points.
Ending their League losing streak, the team continued to closely pursue Leverkusen, who had gone three rounds without a win, remaining in fifth place!
However, the competition for Champions League spots was becoming increasingly fierce.
Borussia Dortmund, in second place, had 48 points;
Schalke, in third place, had 45 points;
Leverkusen, in fourth, had 44 points;
Wolfsburg, in fifth, had 42 points;
Besides these four teams in the top tier, Mönchengladbach with 39 points, and Augsburg and Mainz, both with 38 points, were also lurking behind, waiting for someone to falter.
Fortunately, for Wolfsburg, the most difficult period of challenging fixtures had passed.
Starting with Braunschweig, the opponents in the next few rounds, apart from Augsburg, included Werder Bremen and Frankfurt, both teams from the lower half of the League.
It wouldn't be until the twenty-ninth round that they would face a direct competitor for a top-four spot, Borussia Dortmund.
Therefore, these rounds presented a very valuable opportunity for Hecking and his team to accumulate points.
What pleased Hecking was that the team's current performance and form were both good.
Especially Mark!
Mark Lane, who started for sixty-five minutes in this match, successfully dribbled five times, contributing one assist and one goal, once again earned the Man of the Match award.
This was also the eighteen-year-old's third Man of the Match award this season.
In this match, he completed the four match tasks of [Goal], [Assist], [Dribble], and [Man of the Match], earning him four potential points.
After the match, a delighted Mark immediately posted a handsome selfie on social media.
With the caption:
"Another victory!"
"Forward, Wolfsburg!"
Soon after it was posted, likes and comments immediately began to surge.
Besides positive comments like "Too handsome!", "I want to marry you," and "Outstanding performance," some discordant voices also appeared in the comment section:
"Beating the last-place team, what's the fuss about..."
"Another goal and an assist? Heh heh, he only knows how to bully weak teams."
"Why don't we see you dribble like that against Bayern? Is it because you don't want to?"
Moreover, whether it was due to his flashy (and flamboyant) playing style or his handsome looks, being labeled by the media with titles like "New Reus" and "German Ronaldinho" had already earned him the envy and resentment of fans from other Bundesliga teams.
Especially Reus's female fans, who directly ran to the comment section to accuse him of riding Reus's coattails,
"You nobody, how dare you try to latch onto my idol?"
"Your looks and skills aren't even worthy of carrying my idol's shoes!"
"Shameless!"
Seeing these hateful comments, Mark merely smiled them off.
He wasn't an all-powerful banknote, but a flesh-and-blood person; it was impossible for everyone to like him.
Of course, there were those who disliked him, and those who liked him.
For example, female internet celebrities who wanted to get close to him, this new star of Wolfsburg, would occasionally send provocative private messages:
"Hey, want to grab a coffee?"
"Hi, want to have some fun together?"
...And as a disciplined man, he didn't reply. He simply clicked on their social media accounts, admired their beautiful photos for a bit, and then quietly exited.
Of course, he wasn't averse to women, nor was he a eunuch.
He just felt it wasn't the right time to have a girlfriend.
Superstars like Ronaldinho, Adriano, and Neymar only started frequenting nightclubs and living it up after reaching their peak.
He hadn't even secured a starting spot at Wolfsburg yet, how could he dare to chase girls?
Besides, with his pre-tax weekly salary of ten thousand Euros, it really wasn't enough, was it?!
Was he really going to drive a second-hand Beetle to take a girl for a ride?
That would be too cheap!
Putting down his phone, Mark immediately summoned the system panel:
[Name: Mark Lane]
[Age: 18]
[Height: 176]
[Weight: 65]
[Preferred Foot: Right]
[Club: Wolfsburg]
[Owned Cards: Samba Elf, Super Sub]
[Attributes: Ball Control S, Shooting D, Passing D, Defense D, Physical D]
[Rating: Main player for a lower-tier team in the top five leagues]
[Available Points: 10]
Over the past month and a half, through systematic training and nutritious diet, he had not only grown one centimeter taller but also gained six jin in weight.
In the match against Hoffenheim, Mark completed three match tasks: [Goal], [Assist], [Dribble], earning three potential points as a reward;
In the match against Bayern, he completed one match task: [Goal], earning one potential point as a reward;
In the match against Braunschweig, he once again completed four match tasks: [Goal], [Assist], [Dribble], [Man of the Match], earning four potential points.
It is worth mentioning that, having been selected for the Bundesliga's official Team of the Week last week, he also completed the season task of [Team of the Week], earning two potential points as a reward.
[Season Tasks] are different from [Match Tasks].
The former are tasks that can be completed throughout the entire season, while the latter are tasks that can be completed in a single match.
And in the list of [Season Tasks], there are various tasks with a longer time span.
For example, after the season ends, he could be selected for the Bundesliga Team of the Year, win the Bundesliga Golden Boot or top assist provider, German Footballer of the Year, and other individual awards;
As well as winning the Bundesliga title, German Cup, Europa League, Champions League, and other championship trophies, all of which would complete corresponding season tasks and yield corresponding rewards.
Looking at the ten potential points he could freely allocate, Mark didn't even have to think; he immediately put all of them into the [Explosiveness] attribute!
The change brought by explosiveness was to make his first step of acceleration even faster!
However, when he excitedly raised it to eighty, the system actually displayed a friendly reminder:
[Ding!]
[Explosiveness attribute has reached a bottleneck!]
[To continue improving, double potential points are required!]
Hmm?!
After an attribute reached eighty, to continue increasing it, double the potential points were needed?!
That is to say, if he wanted to increase the [Explosiveness] attribute from eighty to ninety, he would need double the ten potential points.
Which would be twenty points!
Although he really wanted to curse, after a second thought, Mark felt it was quite reasonable.
Every player has a certain potential and talent, and it's not even guaranteed that they can fully realize it.
Many fans and professionals say that Pogba's potential can rival Zidane, but he might not actually reach Zidane's heights.
Moreover, even the strongest players, even the two Ronaldos or the two GOATs, have some shortcomings or weaknesses.
Just like Ronaldo's attacking attributes are maxed out, his defense couldn't possibly be as good as Kante's.
But he was different!
He could add points infinitely, increasing all attributes, and continue until they were maxed out!
This meant that he could bring every aspect of offense, defense, physical, and technical skills to their peak, becoming a true super hexagonal max-level warrior in football.
He could possess Ronaldinho's dribbling, Van Nistelrooy's shooting, Ronaldo's physique, and also Xavi's passing, Roberto Carlos's long-range shots, Beckham's free kicks, and even Kante's defense!
Seen in this light, this little trick by the system merely meant he would have to spend a bit more time and effort on his path to becoming a max-level warrior in football...