RB LEIPZIG BOSS EYES PREM MOVE
Forget the dubious attire, RB Leipzig boss is smart enough to trouser a win at Old Trafford tonight
THERE is good news for those who were fascinated by Julian Nagelsmann’s choice of suit for last season’s Champions League semi-final.
‘I have a special one for tonight. The trouser will not be that special but the rest is kind of special. Not as special as the suit against PSG but it is OK. It’s a bit British in style!’ he tells Sportsmail with the bellowing laugh of a man aware of the stir his outfit caused in August. ‘A friend sent me messages about it and pictures. It’s not a problem. I laugh about it.’ Special occasions require special attire. And tonight’s trip to Old Trafford for RB Leipzig and Nagelsmann will be just that. Their Lisbon date with Paris Saint-Germain was too: a first European semi-final just 11 years after their formation, the latest high in the career of the hottest prospect in football management.
At 33, Nagelsmann became the youngest manager to reach the last four of the Champions League. The pain of missing out on the final — they lost 3-0 — has faded, and now a smiling Nagelsmann reflects proudly on ‘a great result for a young club but also for me’.
Now he is plotting another European run. He is not taking Manchester United lightly despite their inconsistency this season. ‘When I analyse an opponent I do not look at the results,’ Nagelsmann says. ‘I try to find out how they score, concede, build up play, counterattack, counter-press. So the result doesn’t count for much. I don’t think any of my players will say Man U are not that good. We know their start was not that good but it is one of the biggest clubs in the world.
‘ I’ve never played at Old Trafford or been there. It will be a great experience. To be part of the stadium will be perfect. I know there will be no fans so that’s hard. But if we win the game in the Theatre of Dreams it will be perfect.’
Nagelsmann has three years left on his deal at Leipzig and a host of admirers. He admits managing in the Premier League is one of his goals.
‘It is one of the most interesting leagues in Europe. It is a big aim for me to be in the Premier League or in La Liga. My next club should be a club where I could win trophies. I’m ambitious. I’m a happy person — if I end my career without winning a trophy I’m happy as well, but I would be happier if I won trophies.’
LIfE is hectic for Nagelsmann. Seven games in 22 days mean his interests outside of football
— including mountain biking, mountaineering, snow sports and paragliding — have been shelved. Such thrill- seeker pastimes confirm he is not your average manager.
Knee injuries cut his playing career short at 20. Not long after that his father Erwin died, a tragedy that saw him take on the family’s administrative duties. It made him grow up fast. Nagelsmann wanted no further part of football after retiring and had a job offer from BMW. But his former Augsburg manager Thomas Tuchel, now PSG boss, tempted him back with a scouting job before he took coaching roles at 1860 Munich then Hoffenheim, where he worked his way up to become the Bundesliga’s youngest ever manager in 2016 aged 28.
He had to convince the doubters that he could handle the pressure at relegation-threatened Hoffenheim and his reaction to a 5-1 defeat at Stuttgart in his fifth game was pivotal.
He took the blame both in the dressing room and media, impressing his players with his humility. ‘That was the most important point, when I recognised, “OK, now they believe in me and that we can stay in the league this season”,’ he says.
He transformed Hoffenheim from relegation candidates to a Champions League side before moving to Leipzig at the start of last season, finishing third and now leading them unbeaten to the top of the table. Leipzig remain unloved in Germany due to their controversial formation in 2009 when drinks company Red Bull brought a fifth-tier club and poured money in. But if anyone can increase their popularity, it is the charismatic Nagelsmann.
Almost five years into management, he says one of his biggest objectives is to remain unaffected by his rise. Occasionally he still baffles colleagues when he enters Leipzig’s training centre singing at the top of his voice. ‘People look up and say, “Is this the manager?” Yes, it’s the manager! But I’m like that,’ he says with a smile.
And why change, given the success and lengthy list of admirers his approach has brought him? He wants relationships to be strong enough so that players can discuss personal as well as professional matters with him. ‘If you feel comfortable it is easier to listen to the gaffer and improve,’ he says.
ONthe pitch, he wants his team to ‘control nearly every phase’ and his in- game management is a key attribute. This season he has to do without the pace of Chelsea’s Timo Werner, which is partly why he is evolving Leipzig into a team who dominate possession rather than play on the counter.
The side is built around france centre back and United target Dayot Upamecano, 22, who is ‘ cool and polite’ and who Nagelsmann likens to another centre half who plays in England. ‘He is a bit younger than Virgil van Dijk but also very talented. The difference is Van Dijk scores six, seven goals a season. That is the aim for Upa.’
Nagelsmann’s football philosophy contains many moving parts but he has one special rule: ‘I like my team to play with two touches,’ he explains. ‘ If you play only one touch it is technically very hard. You can make a lot of mistakes, lose the ball and have to win it back. It can be very tiring.’
And with that golden nugget from Nagelsmann’s managerial manual, a wave and ‘ ciao, ciao’ and he is off — to plot how to add United to his list of scalps, and enhance that flowering reputation.