Late twist gives Leipzig wings
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Eleven years into existence, German club stuns Atletico 2-1 to reach semis
KOLKATA:: At least one of the finalists in the Champions League will be a first-timer after RB Leipzig set up a semi-final with PSG. Both have relatively short histories, but PSG’S 50-year story seems ancient in comparison to RB Leipzig which was formed in 2009.
After Eric Choupo-moting’s late goal took PSG through in this competition reformatted due to Covid-19, Tyler Adams broke the deadlock in the 88th minute in Lisbon on Thursday for Leipzig. For the second time, RB Leipzig had breached one of the toughest defences in Europe. Atletico Madrid had neutralised Dani Olmo’s 50th minute goal with Joao Felix’s 71st minute penalty, but this time there would be no reply.
RB Leipzig is a story few thought was possible when energy drinks giant Red Bull took over amateur club SSV Markranstaedt. A story which grew from an idea of owning a portfolio of clubs. A story which has at its heart adroit recruitment of young players. A story now given wings by a coach who turned 33 last month. It is also the story of a club which took in its stride the loss of its highest goalscorer for the season when Timo Werner went to Chelsea for 47.5 million pounds.
And it is a story that football, a sport which sets great store by history and tradition, would turn up its nose to. In 2016-17, their first season in Bundesliga, Leipzig were perhaps the most hated club in Europe. The reason: in theory, German clubs can’t be owned by companies and here was a corporate promoting its brand through one.
MODEST START
Leipzig were the opposite of Leicester City winning the Premiership, it was said. The assessment wasn’t fair–leicester were bankrolled by a billionaire–and Bundesliga had clubs like Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg which were backed by corporate giants, but there was no masking the antipathy.
Leipzig said they had a modest ambition in their first Bundesliga season: avoid the relegation zone. They finished second. This term, they were third after leading at the winter break.
Leipzig are part of a group of clubs which also has football teams in New York, Salzburg and Sao Paulo. It is an idea that predates the City Football Group, owners of Manchester City and Mumbai City FC, by five years. All Red Bull clubs share the shirt colours and Salzburg and Leipzig have met in the Europa League in 2018. Adams was a trainee at New York Red Bulls; midfielder Marcel Sabitzer, whose assist fetched the first goal, and centreback Dayot Upamecano were groomed at Salzburg. Ralf Rangnick
is the group sporting director having coached Leipzig before. Jesse Marsch, now coach at Salzburg, was Rangnick’s assistant at Leipzig.
The group looks to recruit players under 24. That is how Peter Gulasci, Erling Braut Haaland,
Werner, Sadio Mane, Naby Keita, Yussuf Poulsen, Emil Forsberg and Benno Schmitz came to either Salzburg or Leipzig. Goalie Gulasci is a typical Leipzig player: not getting a game in 41 matchday squads at Liverpool, joining Salzburg in 2013 aged 23 and moving to Germany in 2015.
“The only way for a club like us…to get the best players is to find young talented players and give them a chance to play in the first team,” Christoph Freund, Salzburg’s sporting director, told The New York Times last September.
Like Salzburg, Leipzig is a team with little stardust. In 2017-18, at least six Bundesliga teams paid more than Leipzig’s 55m Euros salary budget. But their growing stature can be gauged from Upamecano signing a new deal and defenders Lukas Klostermann and Marcel Halstenberg staying since they were in Germany’s lower tiers.
The teams often play the same way: high tempo, aggressive pressing, swift transition and not too many square passes. Looks slick when it comes off, as it did late in the quarter-final when Sabitzer passed to Angelino and his cut-back found Adams in space against a team known for its ability to deny it.
“They had great determination, enthusiasm and freshness… We are going out fairly and we have to congratulate our opponents,” said Atletico coach Diego Simeone.
On joining this season, having given Hoffenheim a 12-month notice, coach Julian Nagelsmann didn’t go for an overhaul. Instead, he looked to expand attacking options and got Werner to drop deeper. Werner responded with 34 goals. After he left, Nagelsmann is using Sabitzer and Christopher Nkunku to add width to the attack. “Some players will be able to step out of Timo’s shadow now,” Nagelsmann told sports website The Athletic.
In that interview, Nagelsmann said it would be easier to advance this term given the single-leg format. On Thursday, he said: “I’m not going to say anything about the title. But of course, we do want to reach the final now.”
Having beaten Spurs in the round of 16 and Atletico and being at a club that has shaken football’s established order, Nagelsmann can afford to dream.