With a trembling hand, Marco Rose spills the water from his glass in front of the TV cameras. Amused and with a little drama, RB Leipzig’s coach answers the question about his tension before the cup hit against SC Freiburg.
And then calmly says to the curious reporter: “You’re not serious, are you? So I give the impression that I’m super tense?” The coach feels more anticipation for the groundbreaking week for Leipzig, which begins in the cup semifinals with a repeat of last year’s final.
In the game on Tuesday (8.45 p.m. / ZDF and Sky) in Freiburg, the last chance for the title of the season could burst for the Saxons. Four days later, the Champions League prospects of both clubs are discussed in the same place. As fifth in the table, Leipzig is under more pressure than fourth Freiburg, especially since RB still has to play at Bayern. “That’s why we can’t afford too much now,” said RB sports director Max Eberl.
“The Boys Are Hot”
Rose doesn’t want to charge the final sprint any further. “You don’t have to make less or more of it than it is. I don’t know why there should be more explosiveness in it because of last year’s final,” said the coach, adding: “I don’t think I have to stir up emotions, the guys are hot, similar to the people of Freiburg.”
Freiburg’s Christian Streich sees it very similarly. “We mustn’t drive ourselves crazy. We know Leipzig, even if we don’t know who is playing,” he said on Monday. “We’re ready to tackle this game. There’s only one game going on in Germany at the time. We’re incredibly ambitious to play a good game,” said Coach Streich, explaining the situation before possible revenge for last season’s final, which was only lost on penalties.
In front of Streich – known as a volcano on the sidelines – Rose tends to “take cover”, as he said with a grin. “Christian is emotional, I’m emotional. We both can probably laugh about ourselves after the game – especially when something goes really wrong again.”
After the early exit in the championship race, the people of Leipzig want to take the opportunity again in the cup. For this they switched off Borussia Dortmund after FC Bayern had previously failed. “Of course the Champions League is important, but if you have such a chance to get back into the cup final, for the fourth time in five years, then you want to grab the chance,” said RB captain Willi Orban.
SC-Keeper wants to go to Berlin again
For Rose, too, his first year in RB is about “a lot, about prestige, about a title”. When the Saxons won the cup with coach Domenico Tedesco, he celebrated his daughter’s youth inauguration. Freiburg captain Christian Günter, one of the tragic heroes of the lost final in Berlin alongside Ermedin Demirovic with the missed penalty, announced: “The hut will burn. We will do everything we can to take the next step.” SC keeper Mark Flekken wants to “relive the flair in the Olympic Stadium, hopefully this time with a better outcome.”
But Leipzig’s Kevin Kampl wants to “put a spanner in the works” for Freiburg. After being substituted in the final, he saw the red card on the bench for complaining. Then, after winning the title, he drew the displeasure of many fans nationwide when he dumped the contents of his main sponsor’s can into the pot.
Not only because of this action, the sympathies throughout Germany should rather lie with the people of Freiburg. Striking: After the first cup win, almost all Bundesliga competitors silently acknowledged the RB coup without congratulations.
On the way back to Berlin, Christopher Nkunku could become an RB guarantor. The lively Frenchman reported back in time and scored for the first time since his injury to make it 1-0 against Hoffenheim. Since the rest of the offensive around Timo Werner is currently lacking in efficiency in front of the goal, Rose is hoping for the lightness of the ball magician. The coach also calls his plan B: “If that’s not the case, then we have to scratch, bite, spit and also achieve narrow victories like against Hoffenheim.”
