In the Warsaw cabin, the bass pounded to the new catchy tune “Leipzig on fire” and on the night flight home the party continued with Captain Willi Orban’s birthday. The mood at RB Leipzig is more than splendid after moving into the round of 16 of the Champions League.
The team is unbeaten ten games in a row, still in the premier class and in the cup and on the way up in the Bundesliga. “We always have quality. Now we have mentality, passion and attitude on the pitch. That’s where everything comes together,” said playmaker Emil Forsberg.
“It depends a lot on the coach”
The Swedish international also named the trigger for the release of the extra percentage: “It depends a lot on the coach. He came, pushed us a lot, takes us with him every day in training. Then you get going and we follow him. ” When Marco Rose took up his position in Leipzig almost two months ago, the world looked a lot bleaker. The euphoria of the cup victory fizzled out mercilessly, coach Domenico Tedesco had no more solutions and had to go.
For Rose, saying yes to Leipzig was not a matter of course. After all, it was about a job in his hometown. Thoughts of the daughter, who could possibly be bullied after defeats at school, shot through the 46-year-old’s head. In the end, the positives outweighed Rose’s analysis and he signed a contract until the summer of 2024. The interim conclusion after eight weeks: Leipzig hit the bull’s eye with the coach.
Rose managed to close various construction sites in the team in a short time. He drove out the selfishness of fine spirits like Dominik Szoboszlai and gave the team a much more intensive and active style of play. In 13 games across all competitions, Leipzig scored an average of 2.23 points. Restricted to the Bundesliga, this would be an almost masterly result. RB took the lead nine times in these games and left the field as the winner.
Rose is far from there
In addition, the trainer can be taught. As in the case of Christopher Nkunku. “He gave me a helping hand,” Rose explained. “In the first two games he played offensively on the left. Then he came to me and said he had to be closer to the goal because he felt more comfortable there. He scored straight away and that makes the coach happy too To have taken his player’s advice.” The French international also scored the important first goal in the 4-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk.
Rose is mostly relaxed on the outside. After reaching the last sixteen of the Champions League and the associated hook on the first goal of the season, he gave a little insight into his emotional world. “I’m responsible for the big picture and of course I’m a bit relieved that it’s going that way,” said Rose. But there are many people responsible for this, whom he would like to thank.
Rose is far from there. At some point he wants to do the same as his predecessor Tedesco and win a major title. “I want us to develop further, to get better, to become sharper, to become an absolute top team that is always there on the spot. It’s a big challenge,” said Rose. Currently, there is a tendency not to describe this challenge as impossible.
