T10 good minutes were enough for defender Real Madrid – and RB Leipzig were again empty-handed in the Champions League. RB followed up on the gala performance against Borussia Dortmund (3-0), ran, pressed and invested a lot in the game, but Timo Werner and his colleagues didn’t score.
New coach Marco Rose had to take stock of his Champions League debut with Leipzig: “In the end you always get what you deserve.” Two strong actions by Fede Valverde (80th minute) and Marco Asensio (90th + 1) turned the game upside down and handed Real to the late substituted former world champion Toni Kroos with minimal effort to win 2-0 (0-0).
“The level of my team only became apparent in the last ten minutes. The most important thing was not to concede a goal, so we didn’t push too hard, it wasn’t a fantastic game, but we had everything under control,” said Real coach Carlo Ancelotti, admitting: “Leipzig played very well, we did somewhat entrenched, we put more pressure on in the second half. We’re at a moment of the season where we can’t ask that much from the players, but they have to play smart and with their heads.”
“Hook on, Saturday it’s on”
For RB, after the 1: 4 debacle at the start against Donetsk, there is a false start with zero points in Group F. Rose did not want to deal with the first defeat in his second game as RB coach for a long time: “Hook on Saturday we continue in Mönchengladbach.”
So after the debut against Dortmund, it’s again against a former club. The 46-year-old needs the full conviction and power of his team again. He doesn’t accept excuses: “We still have one day less to prepare against Gladbach. But we won’t change our ways, even if it costs grains.”
RB was stronger than the royals in almost every respect in the traditional Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. RB would have deserved a lead at the break. But Christopher Nkunku failed with his first action against Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Then Timo Werner (11th/30th), Emil Forsberg (21st) and again Nkunku (28th/34th) didn’t score. It happened the way it had to. A strong individual action was enough for the Spanish champions to tip the statics of the game. With his right, Valverde let Abdou Diallo out in the penalty area, with his left he pushed in to take the lead. Asensio increased.
