With the birth of the first goal, Hummels finally understood a simple truth:
This wasn't Werder Bremen where he served as captain and core; this was Wolfsburg, centered around Mark and De Bruyne!
If he didn't follow the tactical plan, his only fate would be to rot on the bench!
Once he figured that out, Hummels significantly reduced his time on the ball, handing it over to Mark whenever he had it.
In this match, without De Bruyne present, Mark took on more of the playmaking duties.
The team's top star did not disappoint. He repeatedly dribbled on the left to draw in the defense, creating a strong side before passing to teammates in open space or on the weak side, thus creating local numerical advantages.
As Wolfsburg kept shifting the ball from side to side, the Cologne defense was run ragged, looking like it was on the verge of collapse.
Finally, before the halftime whistle blew, Cologne failed to hold onto their one-goal deficit:
In the forty-fourth minute, as Mark was cutting inside horizontally, he was upended by Cologne's defensive midfield captain, Matthias Lehmann, who took both man and ball in a sliding tackle.
The referee decisively blew his whistle and brandished a yellow card at him.
However, Lehmann pointed at the ball with an innocent face and argued vehemently to the referee, "I hit the ball! I didn't touch him!"
But the referee's stance was firm: "I don't care, that was a dangerous move!"
"Look, he's fine..."
Seeing the decision was final, Lehmann stopped arguing and looked at Mark, who was setting up the ball. He suddenly had a brainwave: "Hey! The foul wasn't there!"
With that, he stepped forward and gave the ball in front of Mark a light poke, kicking it away.
As a veteran of the German football scene, Lehmann had fought in the Bundesliga for six or seven seasons; he knew very well that young players were hot-headed.
Especially a super talent like Mark who had found fame at a young age; they were bound to be very proud inside.
As long as he provoked his nerves just a little, he could ignite the fire in his heart.
He was even prepared to be shoved to the ground and had already thought about how he would act it out.
However, to his surprise, facing his provocation, Mark only gave a light, breezy smile, not caring in the slightest!
Instead, it was Hummels on the side who stepped forward and confronted Lehmann: "Hey! What kind of tricks are you playing?!"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean by kicking the ball away?!"
"None of your business!"
Before Mark could even react, Hummels and Lehmann were already forehead to forehead, locking Horns.
They dared to do this right under the referee's nose?
The referee blew his whistle immediately, and after separating the two, he showed a yellow card directly to Hummels, who had initiated the confrontation.
And he didn't forget to give a verbal warning to Lehmann, who had just received a yellow card.
After this little interlude, Mark expressed his gratitude for Hummels's support: "Thanks, mate."
"It's nothing... show them what for!"
With that, Hummels turned and walked away.
"No wonder he could be captain at Werder Bremen..."
Muttering to himself, Mark set the ball down, preparing to take the free kick.
"After a small conflict, Mark Lane is preparing to take this free kick for Wolfsburg..."
"The foul occurred about thirty-two meters from the goal, slightly to the left. He can shoot directly, or they can play a tactical routine..."
"This season, Lane has scored four direct free kick goals in the Bundesliga, tying with Leverkusen's Çalhanoğlu for the most free kick goals in the entire League."
"If he can score this free kick, he will overtake Çalhanoğlu!"
Ever since his winning goal in the World Cup final and his repeated direct free kick goals in the new season, all the major teams in the Bundesliga had issued a new requirement to their players:
Do not foul Mark within thirty meters of the goal!
Unfortunately, this was hard to achieve.
Because when facing Mark's breakthroughs, no one could stop him without fouling.
But once they fouled, they would give away a set piece in a good position, facing the massive threat of Mark's direct free kick!
This was one of the reasons why the nineteen-year-old Mark was so unstoppable!
Looking at the four-man wall and then the goalkeeper's positioning—which was slightly closer to the wall side—Mark immediately understood that the opponent was clearly guarding against a shot to the near corner.
"It seems Cologne has done quite a bit of research and analysis on my free kicks..."
In that case... He stood in a straight line with the ball, took a few steps back, and stood still.
Then he stared intently at the ball, his eyes sharp.
Tweet!
The second the whistle blew, he ran toward the ball!
At the moment of contact, Mark's right calf tensed suddenly, his knotted muscles bulging instantly.
With a loud "thump," the ball shot out like a bolt of black lightning, streaking across the sky of the Volkswagen Arena.
Under the gaze of everyone, the ball first soared over the top right of the wall, then flew straight into the top right corner of the far post!
"What?!"
"The far corner?!"
Because the ball was too fast and he had moved a step toward the near corner in anticipation, Cologne's goalkeeper Horn only dove as the ball was already flying toward the goal.
However, it was too late!
With a swish, the ball accurately drilled into the top right dead corner of the goal, hitting the back of the net!
Immediately after, the entire Volkswagen Arena erupted in an amazing roar of cheers!
"Unbelievable!"
"An unparalleled goal!"
"The free kick from this Wolfsburg super talent reminds me of the Brazilian Juninho!"
"This is already his fifth direct free kick goal of the season!"
"From this moment on, he becomes the player with the most free kick goals in the Bundesliga and even the top five Leagues this season!"
With the direct free kick goal, Wolfsburg extended their lead at home.
Soon, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half.
Entering the locker room with a two-goal lead, the atmosphere for the home team was very relaxed and pleasant.
This season, Wolfsburg had transformed from the comeback kings of last season into the kings of the lead!
In seventeen League games, they had scored first in fourteen of them.
And in those games where they scored first, they had the last laugh!
In other words, as long as Wolfsburg scored first, they took the final victory!
After a brief halftime break, players from both sides returned to the pitch to resume the battle.
As soon as the second half began, Cologne, trailing by two goals, chose to attack!
Clearly, after spending forty-five minutes, they had figured out a cruel fact!
Under Wolfsburg's fierce onslaught, defending was futile!
So, they began to strengthen their offense, pushing their formation forward and applying high-pressure pressing.
However, Cologne's minor struggle only made Wolfsburg's attack even more ferocious.
Oh? You actually dare to fight back?!
With the pressing intensity of Cologne's players, they couldn't take the ball from Wolfsburg's defenders at all. Instead, because their formation pushed forward, they exposed more space behind them.
In the sixty-second minute, Mark swapped positions with Caligiuri and moved to the right wing.
He played a wall-pass combination with Hummels in the center, slicing right through Cologne's entire defensive line to reach the byline for a cross. Bendtner's header caused the goalkeeper to fumble.
The ball was then cleared by a defender to the area in front of the penalty box.
Arnold followed up with a world-class strike, extending the score to three-nil!
In the end, with a goal and an assist from Mark, and goals from Hummels and Arnold, Wolfsburg defeated Cologne three-nil at home, taking all three points!
Thus, while extending their unbeaten League record to seventeen games, Wolfsburg officially secured the Bundesliga mid-season championship!
After the match, the Wolfsburg players gathered in the locker room for a commemorative photo in front of the team photographer's lens.
Because this was the second time Wolfsburg had won the Bundesliga mid-season title since the 2008-09 season!
The next day.
The focus of all major German media was on the Wolfsburg team.
"The Magician Crowned Golden Boy, Wolfsburg Kings of the Half-Season"
..
"Super Mark! The European Golden Boy and the Mid-season Champion"
"The Bundesliga, the Tides Have Turned!"
The european golden boy award was recognition of Mark's stunning performance over the past year.
At the same time, it was an affirmation of German football!
As a homegrown product of the national youth system, Mark's award was definitely a result of Germany's excellent youth training.
This made the German football world and the media feel proud and honored.
Consequently, Kicker, Bild, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich Daily, and various other German media outlets, large and small, put photos of Mark holding the Golden Boy Award on their front covers!
Most media and newspapers began to heap praise on him without restraint.
"Future Superstar!"
"Super Golden Boy!"
"The Future World Number One Winger!"
"Under the leadership of Mark, the newly crowned Golden Boy, Wolfsburg has set off a youth storm in the Bundesliga."
"With sixteen wins and one draw in seventeen League matches, they have achieved an unbeaten record for the half-season!"
"Such terrifying results make people sigh: the tides have turned in the Bundesliga!"
"Wolfsburg has become a third power capable of winning the Bundesliga, alongside Bayern and Dortmund!"
— Bild.
Meanwhile, Sport Bild stirred things up by comparing Mark with the previous German Golden Boy, Mario Götze.
The two were similar in age, both were attacking players, and both were currently the hottest stars in the world of football.
They compared the personal stats and achievements of the two so far this season:
Halfway through the season, Götze had made fifteen appearances in the Bundesliga, scoring only four goals and providing two assists;
While Mark had made fifteen appearances in the Bundesliga, scoring a staggering twenty-one goals and providing eight assists!
In terms of goals alone, Mark was second only to Cristiano Ronaldo (who scored 25 in La Liga) in all of Europe's top five Leagues!
Götze's goal tally wasn't even as high as Wolfsburg's center-back Naldo.
From the perspective of individual performance and tactical status, Mark was the core figure in Wolfsburg's mid-season Bundesliga title.
Whereas Götze was merely a tactical victim struggling under Pep's Bayern system..
Therefore, Sport Bild concluded that Mark had already surpassed Götze and was even a long way ahead of him on the road to becoming a superstar!
Of course, this was just a hypothetical comparison.
Strictly speaking, the two had different positions and responsibilities on the field.
Mark was an explosive winger, mainly active on both flanks, dribbling to break through and finishing plays.
While Götze played more as an attacking midfielder this season, moving between the center and the half-spaces to provide creativity for Bayern. Furthermore, the amount of ball possession the two received in their respective teams was vastly different.
At Wolfsburg, Mark was the absolute core on the wing, and almost all attacks in the final third went through his feet.
At Bayern Munich, the attacking core was the flying wings of Ribéry and Robben, and Götze was just a supporting player.
However, for the sake of clicks, the media wouldn't report these deeper facts.
They would only write that Mark's goal and assist data were more explosive than Götze's.
That proved Mark was stronger than Götze!
He was the strongest among all young players in the world of football today!
After Mark won the Golden Boy Award, the entire football world focused on the City of Cars in Lower Saxony.
Fans from other countries also started searching for Mark's name on search engines.
They really wanted to know what level this nineteen-year-old German star—who was being hyped by the usually rigorous German media and had defeated many geniuses, prodigies, and supernovas to win this year's european golden boy award—actually was!
Consequently, within just a few days, a massive number of fans flooded Wolfsburg's official website and social media accounts, with their follower count jumping by over a hundred thousand.
And the number seven jerseys in the club's official fan shop were completely sold out!
They even received over ten thousand orders from other countries!
As experts in selling cars, Wolfsburg's publicity department naturally knew this was a rare opportunity.
To take the chance to expand the club's influence, the publicity department immediately edited a highlight reel of Mark and put it on the club's official website.
In the highlights, Mark was either showing off his footwork on the wing, toying with defenders, or dribbling past several people to cut inside and shoot.
Goals and assists, he could do it all!
And this video surpassed a million views in just twenty-four hours!
Of course, as Wolfsburg became the mid-season Bundesliga champions, other Wolfsburg players besides Mark also gained more exposure and attention.
For example, De Bruyne, the core of Wolfsburg's midfield this season whose assist count led the Bundesliga, also received widespread praise.
Many believed that the reason Wolfsburg was so invincible on their path to the title this season was largely due to the performances of Mark and De Bruyne.
One was the top scorer in the Bundesliga and the dribbling king of the top five Leagues;
The other was a super midfielder who ranked first in the League for assists and key passes;
With Wolfsburg sweeping the top of both charts, the massive contribution of the two to the team was clear to see.
Of course, it wasn't just goals and assists that contributed to the team; excellent defense was also one of the important reasons why Wolfsburg could reach the top of the Bundesliga.
Compared to last season, Wolfsburg's defense was much better this season.
The addition of two new defensive signings, Sebastian Jung and De Vrij, made the team's defense even more solid.
Especially De Vrij, whose center-back partnership with Naldo featured complementary roles and functions, making people very at ease.
This resulted in Wolfsburg conceding ten fewer goals than at the same stage last season!
If there were a vote for the best signing of the season, many Wolfsburg fans would cast their vote for De Vrij!