Third game, third defeat: Without any tips from soon-to-be boss Jürgen Klopp, RB Leipzig suffered its next setback in the Champions League against its former club FC Liverpool. Leipzig lost the highlight game 0-1 (0-1) on Wednesday despite a late rally and remains without a point in the premier class. In the race for the knockout round, coach Marco Rose’s team is now coming under increasing pressure. Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez (27th) inflicted a bitter defeat on Leipzig.
“Overall, we were very unclean in the final third and lost a lot of unnecessary balls. With a bit of luck we might have been able to take a point,” said RB goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi. We’re not having any luck in the Champions League. “We have to make sure that luck is on our side in the next games.” Since RB had already lost at Atletico Madrid (1:2) and against Juventus Turin (2:3), they have to play in the upcoming away game on November 5th Celtic Glasgow now urgently need to get points in order to at least make it into the top 24 and thus into the play-offs in the second half of the league phase.
“I will do anything but not call Kloppo. He needs some rest,” Rose had previously said about ex-Liverpool coach Klopp, who will be head of football at Leipzig’s main sponsor Red Bull from January. Rose didn’t give the impression of needing help recently; things were going smoothly in the Bundesliga. As a result, compared to the 2-0 win at FSV Mainz 05, he only brought Benjamin Henrichs into the starting line-up for Lukas Klostermann, who had a gastrointestinal illness.
Despite the change, the RB defense was initially compact against the attack line around superstar Mohamed Salah. When Liverpool had a lot of possession, Leipzig fought aggressively in the duels – and quickly found depth in their counterattacks. Amadou Haidara (14th) first tested Reds keeper Caoimhin Kelleher, five minutes later Benjamin Sesko (19th) narrowly missed taking the lead with a flick after a wild outing by the Irish goalkeeper. And RB even scored a little later – only Lois Openda ( 26.) with his powerful shot offside, before Nunez pushed Salah’s header over the line just a minute later and Leipzig was caught off guard. The Saxons were now hardly dangerous themselves while Gulacsi kept them in the game. In desperate need, the Hungarian first directed a header from Nunez (32′), then one from Virgil van Dijk (37′) over his goal.
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Immediately after the break, Leipzig was able to thank Gulacsi once again when he cleared from close range against Cody Gakpo (49th) after a mistake by the RB defense. The Leipzig team improved a little after that and gained more control of the game, but they still found it visibly difficult to create big chances for a long time.
But shortly after Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister (70th) almost increased and hit the crossbar, RB suddenly turned up the heat. Almost out of nowhere, Sesko (72′) appeared in front of Kelleher – the goalkeeper barely saved. And did it again about a minute later when he defused a remarkable shot from Xavi. The supposed equalizer from Openda (83rd) did not count due to an offside position.
