Champions League
“Simply awesome”: Leipzig’s round of 16 heroes celebrate
Leipzig coach Marco Rose is proud of his team’s performance. photo
© Jan Woitas/dpa
For the first time, RB Leipzig moves into the knockout phase of the Champions League early. But the victory in Belgrade also shows what the team still has to learn.
When Marco Rose began to praise his team, the new day had arrived Belgrade has long since arrived.
“We only have one currency and that is results and victories. They really performed well, I saw a confident team that wanted to play football. In the end we fought, that’s part of it,” said the coach from RB Leipzig after the 2-1 win at Red Star Belgrade. The fourth round of 16 in the premier class was therefore perfect, but until now this had only ever been achieved on the last group match day.
Rain, atmosphere and a battle victory
Xavi Simons and Lois Openda scored for Leipzig, Benjamin Henrichs gave the hosts hope with his own goal in the impressively loud Marakana Stadium as usual. “Everything was just great. Rain, atmosphere and a battle victory,” said captain Emil Forsberg. The Swede also promised that he didn’t want to give up the two remaining games: “It’s also about respect. We want to show our best side.”
This also includes further development of the team. Because despite all the joy, we did not close our eyes to the fact that the exploitation of opportunities was once again poor. “The boys are honest with each other and of course we ask ourselves why we can’t win the game,” said Rose. “That has to be our goal if we want to take the next steps. There are things we want to do better.”
Victory in Belgrade a kind of liberation
However, Rose must have been proud of what a mature performance Leipzig showed in the difficult and emotionally heated atmosphere. In the past there have always been games in the European Cup where we had problems due to the oppressive atmosphere.
The defeats at Besiktas Istanbul, Olympique Marseille and Glasgow Rangers are the outstanding examples from a negative perspective. In this respect, the victory in Belgrade is also a kind of liberation. “This gives us a boost,” said Rose, looking ahead to the coming weeks.