After the coup against Real Madrid, RB Leipzig almost made it into the knockout phase of the Champions League. Now they still need a point against Shakhtar Donetsk next Wednesday in Warsaw to reach the round of 16. With the 3: 2 gala on Tuesday evening against the royals, wintering in the Europa League is definitely secured.
“We’re not there yet, we’ve worked out a final in Warsaw against Shakhtar, now we have to take the last step,” said a satisfied head coach Marco Rose, who applauded his boys in the background while the fans around the stadium celebrated the players and sang, “Oh, how beautiful it is.”
RB had delivered a brilliant performance against the defending champion. Josko Gvardiol (13th minute), Christopher Nkunku (18th) and Timo Werner (81st) scored the goals for RB in front of 45,228 spectators. Vinicius Júnior (44′) and Rodrygo (90’4) penalized for Real. At the same time, Celtic Glasgow played 1-1 against Donetsk – so Leipzig is not through yet despite a three-point lead over the Ukrainians.
Werner: “That’s exactly how you have to play against big teams”
“We have exactly what we wanted. We have it in our own hands, we don’t even have to win,” said Werner at DAZN. “We’ve always found solutions, posed problems for Real – that’s how you have to play against big teams.” Although Real kept coming back after being 2-0 down, according to coach Carlo Ancelotti “played as they wanted. They took risks. But in the end it didn’t work out,” said the successful coach, who “didn’t want to blame his team”. . Real was already in the round of 16 with ten points before the duel and rested some stars.
For RB captain Willi Orban, the “brave game with the ball was the key. Real don’t like chasing the ball like that at all”. Werner saw it that way too. “We’ve always found solutions, posed problems for Real – that’s how you have to play against big teams.” His national team colleague Antonio Rüdiger from Real was critical: “We slept for the first 15, 20 minutes. Two corners, two goals, then of course it will be difficult. And then too many simple mistakes. We were just not ready to end the duels win what they have won. We don’t need to make excuses either”.
