The next day, in the away match against Leverkusen, the entire Hoffenheim team's condition was exactly as Nagelsmann had predicted: fatigued, tense, and unable to fully concentrate. After an intense battle with Liverpool, they hadn't gotten enough rest, and then they encountered an attack that messed with their mentality; such a state was bound to lead to a loss.
Although the players tried their best, the double drain on their physical and mental energy made them appear somewhat sluggish on the field, with an increase in passing errors and less active running than usual. Meeting Leverkusen, they couldn't win even with all their effort.
Leverkusen, on their part, seized the opportunity, frequently creating threats with their home advantage and abundant physical energy. If it weren't for a few heroic saves by Hoffenheim's goalkeeper Baumann, the score would probably have already been rewritten.
In the seventieth minute of the match, Leverkusen finally broke the deadlock; in a quick counter-attack, forward Bellarabi received a through pass from a teammate and calmly slotted the ball into the net.
0-1.
The Hoffenheim players' faces were filled with fatigue and helplessness, but no one gave up; they knew that in such a situation, to fight for a point, a draw would already be a victory. Nagelsmann stood on the sidelines, his expression solemn but not impatient; he constantly adjusted tactics, trying to put pressure on the opponent in the final stages.
Finally, in the eighty-fifth minute, as the match neared its end, Hoffenheim got a rare counter-attacking opportunity. Vogt's long pass from the back found Kramarić, who had pushed forward; the latter, caught between two defenders, managed to control the ball with difficulty, stumbled a couple of steps to adjust, and then suddenly unleashed a shot. This shot was purely a gamble; for Hoffenheim today, a draw would be considered a decent result. The ball curved in a strange arc, and Leverkusen's goalkeeper Hradecky misjudged it, as the ball slipped past his hands into the net!
1-1!
Hoffenheim miraculously equalized at the last moment! Kramarić excitedly ran towards the corner flag to celebrate, and his teammates swarmed around him to embrace him, as if this goal was not just an equalizer, but also a counter-attack against all the bad luck of the past few days.
Nagelsmann on the sidelines also smiled, clenching his fist forcefully. He breathed a sigh of relief; under such circumstances, for the players to grit their teeth and persevere until the end to get a point was already an extraordinary performance. After the final whistle, Nagelsmann, uncharacteristically, didn't criticize anyone in the locker room, but instead praised the entire team's fighting spirit.
"Guys, under these circumstances these days, what you've achieved is truly remarkable," he said, looking around at the tired players. "We've experienced too many unexpected things these past two days, but that's football; sometimes luck isn't on our side, but as long as we persevere, there will always be a turning point."
...
In Hoffenheim's dormitory, Oliver watched the entire live broadcast of the match. When Kramarić scored the equalizer, he immediately jumped off the sofa, excitedly pumping his fist. He was genuinely happy to see the team hold onto a draw. Although not being able to play left him with some regret, the team not losing was already the best outcome. After turning off the TV, he lay on the bed, replaying key moments of the match in his mind, thinking about how he would have handled those opportunities if he had been on the field. As he thought, Oliver couldn't help but enter the system space to train again.
The next morning, the team returned to the Hoffenheim Training Base, and Oliver arrived early at the locker room to welcome everyone home. Teammates walked in in twos and threes, still showing some fatigue on their faces, but their mental state was clearly much better than the day before.
Kramarić saw Oliver, smiled, and patted him on the shoulder: "How about it, weren't you itching to play yesterday?"
Oliver hugged Kramarić and said jokingly: "Yeah, seeing you guys play so hard, I really wanted to rush out and help."
"Don't even mention it, when I was playing, I was thinking, if you were on the right wing, the outcome really might have been different," Gnabry said.
...
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The Hoffenheim family is always harmonious, no matter where they are. The players who returned from battle could now rest for a few days, but Oliver had to continue to intensify his training. After the away draw with Leverkusen, Nagelsmann gave the entire team two days off to allow the exhausted players to adjust their condition. However, Oliver showed no signs of relaxing; with four days left, he wanted to continue to refine himself. In the next League round, they would host Bundesliga hegemon Bayern Munich.
And Nagelsmann had already clearly told him: "You will start against Bayern."
This was considered compensation for Oliver's rest and also a sign of trust in him. Subtly, Oliver felt he was already a "tough-match player"; he hadn't played many games since his debut, but his opponents had all been formidable. Facing such an opportunity, Oliver was both excited and nervous.
Excited because he could finally step onto the field again, especially against a top opponent like Bayern; Nervous because he was aware of his current weakness: speed.
Yes, speed.
In that Champions League qualifier against Liverpool, although he ultimately became the Man of the Match with his excellent positioning and ball control, the recovery speed of Mohamed Salah, Arnold, and others still gave him a hard time. Especially the Pharaoh, Oliver failed to keep up with him twice. There were also several times when he had clearly shaken off defenders, but was caught up by the opponent in the last few steps, forcing him to slow down and reorganize the attack.
During the post-match review, Nagelsmann, after observing Oliver's performance, was blunt: "Oliver, your technique and awareness are already excellent, but your speed still needs to improve, especially on the wing; explosiveness determines the success or failure of many opportunities."
Oliver deeply agreed.
So, while his other teammates enjoyed a rare holiday, he went to the training ground alone and began his "speed-up plan." He opened the system and carefully browsed the skill store. Because he had only played one Champions League match recently, after training these two days, he only had a total of just over 2600 points left. With the idea of spending points where they mattered most, he finally spent 950 points to purchase the [Basic Explosive Acceleration Training Pack].
This thing was a bit expensive. This training pack custom-designed a program for Oliver to improve short-burst explosiveness and acceleration, including:
10-meter sprint specific training (focus on improving explosiveness in the first few steps)
Direction change acceleration reaction training (simulating sudden stops and changes of direction during wing breakthroughs in matches)
Anti-interference sprint training (maintaining acceleration stability under slight resistance)
In the system space, Oliver repeated sprint drills over and over again.
The virtual coach's prompts kept sounding:
"Start a little faster."
"Lower your center of gravity!"
"Don't ease up in the last few steps!"
Sweat dripped down his forehead, but he showed no sign of stopping. The system's supervision was even more invigorating than weight loss courses on Keep. System training alone wasn't enough; Oliver also proactively sought out Nagelsmann and the physical conditioning assistant coach for their opinions.
"Coach, I want to focus on explosive power, especially the starting speed in the first 10 meters," he said seriously, holding the system-customized training plan.
"Do you think there's anything else that needs to be added to this plan?"
Nagelsmann carefully looked at his plan and nodded: "Good idea, but you can add some resistance training, such as dragging tires while sprinting; this is very helpful for improving explosiveness."
The physical conditioning assistant coach added: "Oliver, also, your stride frequency is actually quite good, but your stride length could be a bit larger, which would further improve sprint efficiency."
Oliver quickly wrote down these suggestions and immediately put them into practice. On the training ground, he sprinted repeatedly, strapped with resistance bands and dragging heavy tires. At first, his movements were still a bit clumsy, and he wobbled when running, but gradually, his steps became stable and powerful.
"Yes! That's it!" Nagelsmann couldn't help but shout from the sidelines, "Maintain the rhythm, don't rush into big strides, first find the feeling of power!"
Oliver gritted his teeth and persevered; although his thigh muscles were aching and burning, he still didn't stop. He knew that only in such extreme states would his body truly adapt to higher intensity demands. Improving speed not only relies on physical fitness but also requires perfect integration with footwork skills; you have to truly integrate this speed into your ball skills before you can confidently say it's your own speed.
Oliver was well aware that if he could only run fast but couldn't control the ball, he still wouldn't be able to pose an effective threat in a match. So, in addition to sprint training, he also added high-speed dribbling stability drills, which was his own idea. The training arrangement was simple, but the difficulty was not small.
Oliver's current ball control skills were at the level of a top club's main player, [S-rank].
The training content he arranged for himself also demanded that he perform like a top club's main player. He set up multiple cones in a 30-meter area, and his goal was to dribble the ball around these obstacles at the fastest possible speed while ensuring the ball remained under his control.
Initially, his success rate wasn't high; after several attempts, the ball would often go out of control due to excessive speed.
Oliver panted, wiping away sweat, "I'm still too rushed… I need to find the balance between speed and ball control."
He slowed down the pace a bit, first ensuring the precision of each touch, then gradually increasing his speed. Gradually, his movements became fluid, and the ball seemed to stick to his feet, not easily lost even during high-speed changes of direction.
Gnabry, who had just finished his underwater recovery training, happened to pass by the training ground and saw Oliver's extra training, couldn't help but walk over and tease him: "Oliver, are you putting pressure on yourself again here?"
Oliver wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled: "You know, Serge, it's not me putting pressure on myself, but Bayern is too formidable, I have no choice but to do this."
Gnabry, who came from Bayern, laughed heartily after hearing this, "Then you really need to work harder; Bayern's first team has a guy named Coman, his speed is inhumanly fast!"
"Then will you train with me later? This is your former club, and I'm hoping to learn something from you," Oliver teased Gnabry.
"No, no, no! I haven't even started for Bayern yet, um... I'm going to the restroom, I still have massage recovery later," Gnabry said before making his escape.
Gnabry indeed had never started a match for Bayern; a week after he was signed by Bayern in the summer transfer window of 2017, he was immediately loaned to Hoffenheim, as Bayern's wing positions were reserved for other players. Moreover, he did feel a bit like slacking off recently.
After Gnabry left, Oliver's training continued. High-intensity training inevitably comes with physical fatigue; without scientific recovery methods, training too hard can be counterproductive. Every evening, Oliver would strictly follow the recovery plan provided by the coaching staff for relaxation, including ice baths, stretching, fascia release, and even some simple yoga movements to relieve muscle tension.
At the same time, he used the system to constantly monitor his physical data to ensure there were no potential injury risks. The club's physiotherapist was also surprised by his self-discipline: "Many young players only focus on intense training but don't understand the importance of recovery; it's rare that you realize this."
After a week of special training, Oliver's progress began to show. In the team's recent 30-meter sprint test, his time improved from 4.12 seconds during his trial to 3.98 seconds.
Although the improvement might seem small, for a winger, this 0.1-second difference is often the key to the success or failure of a breakthrough. More noticeable was his dribbling speed. Now, he could maintain relatively stable ball control while running at high speed, and his transitions when changing direction were smoother.
Nagelsmann specifically observed his performance during training matches and nodded with satisfaction: "Good, your speed is indeed a bit faster, and your dribbling is more stable."
He had to be stable; the pressure Bayern put on him was too great, they were almost an insurmountable mountain in the Bundesliga. Moreover, Bayern's wings had superstar-level players like Coman. Oliver casually checked Bayern's player data and made a new discovery.
"Huh? This Coman was also released by Paris Saint-Germain?"
This was interesting. Strictly speaking, he and Coman were "from the same school," and both were young players released for free by Paris Saint-Germain, and both played on the wing. If there were no surprises in the lineup, in the next match, it would indeed be him against Coman.
Oliver as the right winger, Coman as the left winger, both of them Paris Saint-Germain cast-offs, the anticipation for the match was already building up.