Champions League
Leipzig passes the stress test and ends the misery away from home
Leipzig’s Timo Werner celebrates after scoring 0:1. photo
© Jan Woitas/dpa
For half a year, RB Leipzig was without a win on a foreign pitch. The fact that they won in the heated atmosphere of Celtic Park gives hope for more.
Marco Rose was completely perplexed. “Six months? Wow!” Said the RB Leipzig coach after the 2-0 win at Celtic Glasgow. The success in the Champions League ended the away misery of the cup winners, who had not won on a foreign pitch since mid-April.
“We put those statistics aside for now. If you win here, you can win in many stadiums in the world.” And the icing on the cake is that Leipzig, after the false start with two defeats, is now in second place in the group after four games and has reaching the round of 16 in their own hands.
The new sports director Max Eberl witnessed the successful stress test in Celtic Park, which was euphoric up to the goals of Timo Werner (75th minute) and Emil Forsberg (84th). The 49-year-old will not start his job until mid-December, but dropped by Glasgow spontaneously. For a long time, Eberl sat quite emotionless in the first row of the honorary stand, but in the end he was happy with his new boss Oliver Mintzlaff about the success.
Rose: “Are anything but through”
There is a good chance that Eberl will be able to watch top class football in Leipzig next year. Even if the Saxons lose to defending champions Real Madrid in two weeks, there will be a final against Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw in early November. “It’s in our own hands, it couldn’t be easier,” said Werner. After the last two frustrating games, including a fight with coach Marco Rose, the evening in the stadium called “Paradise” was once again heavenly for the national striker.
Of course, Rose was also pleased that the situation in the group was now more relaxed. “We’ve really worked our way into it now, we’re right in the middle of it,” said the 46-year-old and warned: “We’re anything but through. We still have two games left.” Above all, the 1: 4 against Donetsk under his predecessor Domenico Tedesco led Rose as a reminder. However, RB could also be in the round of 16 if they beat Madrid at home and lose Donetsk at the same time in Glasgow.
First of all, however, we look at the national competitions. In the league Hertha BSC travels to Leipzig on Saturday, three days later HSV comes in the cup. “We want to attack again in the league,” said Forsberg. You are on the right track, you have to go into every game with 100 percent.