When Mintzlaff comments on the criticism of RB Leipzig, his voice breaks
“How sick is that?”: RB boss Oliver Mintzlaff
Source: screenshot
While Russian athletes and teams are boycotted by many countries and associations, RB Leipzig decided not to cancel the game against Spartak Moscow. The Saxons received harsh criticism for this. Now the club boss reacted and tried to put things into perspective.
Oliver Mintzlaff was clearly touched. “Everything here has affected us too. And that kept us extremely busy. And I’m also emotionally drained,” he said.
The CEO of RB Leipzig felt compelled to justify himself at a press conference after criticism of his club’s handling of the upcoming Europa League game against Spartak Moscow on Monday. A lack of empathy, a lack of solidarity and tactlessness were the main accusations from some fans and the media.
“Of course, when you read so much shit, sometimes you ask yourself: how sick is that?” said Mintzlaff.
“If I were a journalist…”: Oliver Mintzlaff knows the right questions
Source: screenshot
The reason for the public opposition was the refusal to boycott the duels with the Russian club. While other countries such as Poland or Sweden clearly stated that they did not want to play against Russia in the World Cup play-offs, there was no talk of RB. Instead, the club sent ticket information for the game to season ticket holders on Friday morning.
Many different scenarios have been discussed at RB over the hours since Friday’s draw, Mintzlaff said. Can you compete, can you play, should you boycott, although sport is supposed to bring people together? “We tried to classify all these thoughts. But who can do that in a situation that is not only frightening but also new, when a war is raging on our doorstep in the middle of Europe?” Mintzlaff asked.
Uefa had forestalled Leipzig
Florian Scholz, commercial director at RB, had previously commented on the situation as follows: “We hope and trust that the conflict will be resolved peacefully as soon as possible. Regardless, we want to win against Spartak. We are the only Bundesliga club still represented in three competitions and we want to get as far as possible in all of them, because our goal as a still young club is to establish ourselves in the top 20 in Europe in the long term.”
Sentences that caused astonishment. “We get criticism everywhere,” said Mintzlaff, changing the subject: “Do you know what kind of criticism I have… If I were a journalist, I would have asked why there was a football game at all when there was a war. These are questions I haven’t read.”
With regard to the European Cup game, Uefa created facts on Monday evening and canceled the game. “If Uefa had sent other signals, we would have made the decision ourselves,” emphasized Mintzlaff. In retrospect, he still sees it as the right way, which has nothing to do with the fact that the club has no involvement in what is happening. A lot of pressure was put on in the background to prevent these games from taking place, says Mintzlaff.
