Third game, third defeat: Without any tips from soon-to-be boss Jürgen Klopp, RB Leipzig suffered its next setback in the Champions League against its former club FC Liverpool.
Coach Marco Rose’s team lost the highlight game against the Reds on Wednesday 0-1 (0-1) despite a late rally and remains without a point in the premier class. In the race for the knockout round, RB is now coming under increasing pressure.
“Overall, we were very messy in the final third, a lot of unnecessary ball losses. With a bit of luck we might have been able to take a point. We’re not lucky in the Champions League. We have to see that luck is on our side in the next few games is,” said RB goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.
Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez (27th) inflicted a bitter defeat on Leipzig. Since RB had already lost at Atletico Madrid (1:2) and against Juventus Turin (2:3), they now urgently need to get points in the upcoming away game on November 5th at Celtic Glasgow in order to be at least equal in the second half of the league phase Jump into the top 24 and thus make it into the play-offs.
“I’ll do anything, but I won’t call Kloppo. He needs some peace and quiet,” Rose had previously said about ex-Liverpool coach Klopp, who will be head of football at Leipzig’s main sponsor Red Bull from January. Rose didn’t give the impression of needing help recently, as things were going smoothly in the Bundesliga. As a result, compared to the 2-0 win at FSV Mainz 05, he only brought Benjamin Henrichs into the starting line-up for Lukas Klostermann, who had a gastrointestinal illness.
And despite the change, the RB defense was initially compact against the attack line around superstar Mohamed Salah. When Liverpool had a lot of possession, Leipzig fought aggressively in the duels – and quickly found depth in their counterattacks. Amadou Haidara (14th) first tested Reds keeper Caoimhin Kelleher, five minutes later Benjamin Sesko (19th) narrowly missed taking the lead with a curling shot after a wild outing by the Irish goalkeeper.
And RB even scored a little later! Only Lois Openda (26th) was offside when he shot so hard before Nunez pushed Salah’s header over the line just a minute later and Leipzig was caught cold. The Saxons were now hardly dangerous themselves, while goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi kept them in the game. In desperate need, the Hungarian first directed a header from Nunez (32′), then one from Virgil van Dijk (37′) over his goal.
RB Leipzig turns up the heat in vain
Immediately after the break, Leipzig was able to thank Gulacsi once again when he cleared from close range against Cody Gakpo (49th) after a mistake by the RB defense. The Leipzig team improved a little after that and gained more control of the game, but they still found it visibly difficult to create big chances for a long time.
But shortly after Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister (70th) almost increased and hit the crossbar, RB suddenly turned up the heat. Almost out of nowhere, Sesko (72′) appeared in front of Kelleher – the goalkeeper barely saved. And did it again about a minute later when he defused a remarkable shot from Xavi. The supposed equalizer from Openda (83rd) did not count due to an offside position. Gulacsi made a strong save against Gakpo (89′).
Source: www.sport.de
