After the goalless draw on Saturday, Thomas Letsch’s team had two reasons to be pleasantly surprised. Above all, there was goalkeeper Manuel Riemann, who had used all the fingers of his two hands before the game to recall the goals conceded in the games against FC Bayern and Mönchengladbach. And who not only came out of this 0-0 without conceding a goal, but also undisputedly with the honorary title of employee of the day.
In the 27th minute Riemann first parried Xavi Simons’ penalty, then in the 61st minute that of substitute Emil Forsberg. Sometimes he’s “already a little wizard, the Riemann,” said Leipzig’s Christoph Baumgartner after the final whistle. Bochum’s coach Thomas Letsch, on the other hand, said his keeper “just has a great feeling,” and in any case it’s “no coincidence that he has such a good one Quote: Riemann has now saved eleven of the 23 penalties taken against him in the Bundesliga.
The second pleasant surprise for the Bochum team was the opponent, who, on the one hand, acted as expected with 77 percent possession of the ball and a towering field superiority. Who, on the other hand, was surprisingly rarely able to translate this superiority into real danger. Apart from a remarkable header from Yussuf Poulsen (77th, final stop: little magician), apart from the two penalties that resulted in the final whistle being missed, there was nothing left in memory of the continuous drive of Marco Rose’s team, whose work ethic can still be rated as impeccable this season.
International break? 80 percent of Leipzig’s squad are active in national teams
Despite the significant loss of points (especially when the competition from Stuttgart and Dortmund won), this same Rose held back from criticism. Apart from the two penalties, it must be said that his team made some wrong decisions – but in his experience it was also the case that “usually” games like this one against Bochum end up 0-1 lose, and more importantly, his players are simply tired after a very good block.
As an example, Rose dedicated himself to the esteemed player Xavi Simons, 20, who, especially at such an age, could not be “a miracle worker”, although he has already presented himself as such often enough this season. At the end of a tough week of English home games, which began with the remarkable 2-2 draw against FC Bayern for RB and continued bearably with the 3-1 defeat against Manchester City, Simons was now back on the pitch and countered like a wonderwuzzi the little witcher came up short. It happens – and I didn’t want to overestimate Rose in view of a predominantly strong start to the season after a lot of squad restructuring and relevant injury absences (Dani Olmo, Benjamin Henrichs and Willi Orban, who has just extended his contract until 2027, were still missing).
After this start to the season comes what, from the point of view of many players, is still called the “international break” in a presumably irritating way. In any case, 80 percent of Leipzig’s squad are active in national teams, and when coach Rose asked his wonderwuzzi when he would most likely have to play next, he said: Wednesday. At Bochum, only Takuma Asano had to be put in a taxi to the airport immediately after the end of the game. That’s how Thomas Letsch reported it and concluded with a statement that can be confirmed again in the press at this point: He just “told that beautifully,” didn’t he?