They exist, the fans of the still young Bundesliga company RB Leipzig, and like fans in other places, they see their team every week in an obligation to deliver. On Friday evening, in the An der Alten Försterei stadium in Koepenick, you could see it well; the Leipzig fans were there on the battlements. At least in a figurative sense. In the literal sense of the word, after the game they had just climbed the fence of the guest block, disappointed, bitter, angry. And even if you couldn’t hear what they were shouting because the Union fans celebrated the 2-1 victory against Leipzig too loudly, you could be sure that their body language was at least that way outspoken were like the boss of the company, Oliver Mintzlaff. “That was a shitty game,” raged the otherwise so finely articulating manager.
“Desolate”, “catastrophic” – these were other attributes with which Mintzlaff considered the performance of his team. They hit the core of the performance. The Leipzig team came into play for one single reason: Because Union goalkeeper Andreas Luthe made a brutal mistake of concentration and, when the score was 1-0, let Christopher Nkunku’s shot, which didn’t seem to be difficult to hold, bounce over him ( 13th minute). Before that, the Unioners had, as the saying goes, bought the guts from the Leipzigers and took the lead after a wonderfully choreographed corner – through Taiwo Awoniyi (6th), who plays as if blessed by a higher power; he has already scored nine goals this season. The goal for the final 2-1 result also followed a corner. Union left-back Niko Gießelmann fit into the back area, the Leipzig defense wasn’t paying attention, a really not particularly intimidating shot by Max Kruse was deflected by Konrad Laimer and finally shot into goal from close range by Timo Baumgartl.
Currently directing his team to the top of the table: Union playmaker Max Kruse.
(Photo: Annegret Hilse / Reuters)
Otherwise, Union again looked like a team that knows what it wants and implemented the clear ideas of the coach – Urs Fischer – and, above all, in the end created so many chances that Leipzig was really well served with the narrow defeats. Leipzig, on the other hand, played again like a team that wanted something different from the coach, in this case Jesse Marsch. And since this impression was not made for the first time this season, the fact that Marsch is in quarantine at home because of Corona could not serve as a mitigating factor. In total, Union is now in the top third of the table with 23 points; Leipzig, on the other hand, slipped into the gray midfield after only 18 points from 14 games. With “one of the three or four best squads in the league”, as Mintzlaff noted, Leipzig suffered three defeats in a row – in Hoffenheim, against Leverkusen, now in Köpenick.
“We won’t wait until Christmas,” said Mintzlaff
“If you play Leipzig the way we did, then it shows that we are playing good football at the moment. We are right up there,” said Union playmaker Max Kruse. His team can now go into the last Conference League group game against Slavia Prague with confidence (Thursday, 9 p.m.). It’s about moving into the knockout phase. Leipzig, on the other hand, will host Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday (6.45 p.m.) – and must secure third place in order to qualify for the Europa League.
Whether with or without a march is a question that currently only depends on the corona infection of the coach from Wisconsin / USA, which has not yet subsided. Assistant Achim Beierlorzer, like other coaching team members, has been hoping for a free test for a few days now, on Friday this meant that the third coach, Marco Kurth, had to give the field commander. Without luck.
Oliver Mintzlaff also made a sentence about the march that made people prick up their ears. “It’s a difficult phase now,” said the boss, “but we’re not going to bury our heads in the sand and somehow wait until Christmas is and hope that things will get better in the new year.” So does the march wobble? Good question. The history of RB Leipzig is so short and has so far been so successful in sport that there are no precedents for crises. It was Mintzlaff who chose him as coach after Julian Nagelsmann was released for Bayern. According to the laws of the industry, however, Marsch no longer has too many cartridges in its belt – although Mintzlaff also expressly called the team to account. It is now a matter of “drawing the right conclusions,” said Mintzlaff. But on Friday he sounded badly that the consequences would gradually become a matter of time.