Dhe whistle, which echoed through the empty Leipzig stadium at 10:54 p.m., was a relief for the RB players. Completely exhausted, but happy they hugged each other. Coach Julian Nagelsmann embraced everyone he came across, knowing full well that his players had created certainties on an evening that initially produced fewer facts than planned in Group H.
3-2, RB had won a close game against Manchester United in the end and thus reached the round of 16 of the Champions League. Whether as group winners or second, the Leipzigers shouldn’t find out at first. Which was because the parallel game between Paris St. Germain and Basaksehir was interrupted after a few minutes. The reason was an incident on the sidelines, which will reverberate longer. Loud protests came from the bank of the Turkish club after the referee’s decision. When the referee tried to attribute the protests to a person, the fourth official referred him to Basaksehir’s dark-skinned assistant coach Pierre Webo. The word “negro” was clearly audible.
This was followed by tumults, Basaksehir’s players refused to continue playing after lengthy discussions and went into the dressing room. The Parisian professionals followed them. Up to the end of the Leipzig game and beyond, nothing happened on the lawn in Paris – everything pointed to a breakdown. In the late evening, the official announcement of the European Football Union (Uefa) came that the game would be played on Wednesday (6:55 p.m.) with a new team of referees. Paris had nine points before the game and thus still had a good chance of making it to the round of 16.
From a sporting point of view, the events in Paris faded into the background from Leipzig’s perspective. RB had qualified for the knockout round with a show of strength at the end on their own – for the second time in a row. Less than two minutes had passed when the ball was in the English goal for the first time. A cross from Marcel Sabitzer flew over United’s extremely poorly stocked defensive chain through the penalty area to Angeliño, who was running along with it, who scored 1-0 with a volley. The early lead gave Leipzig a lot of self-confidence, the players certainly let the ball run through their own ranks.
Manchester never got into the game at all, with United being left behind in almost all situations. They had nothing to oppose the Leipzig pace, especially on the flanks, RB inflamed enormous pressure and repeatedly tore gaps in Manchester’s formation. Angeliño was almost always involved when things got dangerous. So also before the 2-0. The Spaniard crossed from his left side back into the back of the defense, where Amadou Haidara was able to complete freely (13th).
Manchester looked like an overwhelmed sparring partner at this point, just a few minutes after the 2-0 Emil Forsberg should have brought about the early decision, but the Swede missed from a short distance (16). This was preceded by another flank from outside.
United found no answer to the Leipzig attack, the tentative attempts to bring their strategist Bruno Fernandes into play, destroyed Leipzig by intensely guarding the Portuguese. So Manchester’s lecture seemed unimaginative, even that Leipzig could equalize the result from the first leg (0: 5) was no longer excluded. A goal by Willi Orban was rightly not given due to an offside position of the Leipzig defender (29th).
Trouble keeping the pace
The closer the break came, the more it became apparent that Leipzig would have problems maintaining the high pace of the early stages. Manchester took control in midfield more and more, but without becoming dangerous. That only changed when Fernandes scored a free kick against the crossbar (68th). Substitute Justin Kluivert prevented a possible riot by the English with the 3-0 (69th) – they thought.
Twenty minutes before the end, the game seemed decided, but what followed was characteristic of RB in this Champions League season. As in Istanbul a week ago, Leipzig completely lost control and almost lost a secure lead within a few minutes. First of all, an extremely flattering penalty was provided by Fernandes’ connection (80th). Ibrahima Konate had touched Greenwood in the running duel, which the referee classified as worthy of a penalty. Just a few moments later, Paul Pogba, who had been substituted on shortly before, rose after a corner at the most and scored with his head to 2: 3 (82nd).
But Leipzig did not allow itself to be put on the defensive afterwards, Manchester no longer came up enough to turn the game around. United are eliminated because in a direct comparison PSG are ahead.
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