After Tuesday’s loss in the first round match of the UEFA Champions League (CL) group tournament to the Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk, the head coach of the German Bundesliga team RB Leipzig, Domenico Tedesco, was dismissed from his position on Wednesday, the team announced.
“The decision to release Domenico Tedesco was very difficult. Under his leadership, the team had a good second half of last season and managed to qualify for the Champions League,” the club’s CEO, Oliver Mincliff, was quoted as saying on the club’s website. “Under his leadership, we also won the German Cup – our first major trophy. He was part of our best season in history.” It is reported that his assistants Andeas Hinkel and Max Urvantsky have been released along with Tedesco. The new head coach has not yet been confirmed.
It has already been announced that on Tuesday, in Group F of the UEFA Champions League main tournament of the new season, RB Leipzig beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1:4 (0:1) at home. Under the leadership of Tedesco, in the second half of last season, RB Leipzig was the best team in the Bundesliga – under his leadership, 36 points were won, the team rose from 11th place to fourth and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League, where they recognized the superiority of Glasgow Rangers from Scotland.
Last season, under the leadership of the 36-year-old Tedesco, the Leipzig team won an average of two points per match in the Bundesliga, but this season the team got five points in the first five games and started the CL with a defeat at home. In total, under the leadership of the Italian-born German specialist, RB Leipzig played 38 games, won 21, drew eight times and lost nine.
Before joining the Leipzig team on December 9 last year, Tedesco worked for two seasons with the Russian Premier League club “Spartak” Moscow, and previously also managed “Schalke 04” Gelsenkirchen. “RB Leipzig”, which is in 11th place in the Bundesliga, will play their next match on September 10, when they will host the vice-leader “Borussia” Dortmund, while the next match of the UEFA Champions League is scheduled for September 14, when they will visit the current title holders “Real” Madrid from Spain.
