The first reactions of the protagonists after the RB Leipzig beat VfB Stuttgart 2-1:
Marco Rose (Trainer RB Leipzig): “A hard-fought and earned victory, which was also won in phases. We didn’t get into the game that well and made too many simple mistakes. We got in better then, after the 1-0 it was good of us, after the 2-0 we had everything completely under control, and then there was the penalty. We were challenged to the max against this opponent today. The boys fought on both sides. Big compliments to my team, a good win. Still, there are a lot of things we want to address and do better.”
Bruno Labbadia (coach VfB Stuttgart): “Today it is difficult for me to find the right words. On the one hand, we are left empty-handed today. And in the relegation battle, the most important thing is to score. On the other hand, we should have got a lot more points from the last three games than we did two. That must give the team a boost. We got into the game well, only allowed the first chance to score in the 23rd minute and then conceded the goal. There was a little sand in the gears, the quality of Leipzig came to the fore. But we really have to make it 1-1 after half-time with the kick-off. But the way the team reacted against such good opponents was great. It would have been great if we had rewarded ourselves with a point. Because the team was down on Tuesday and it’s down again in the dressing room today.”
Xaver Schlager (midfielder RB): “Three points are three points. That’s the most important. But that was a difficult game. VfB did very well, we did some things not so well, others well. But that was due to the opponent. They defended very well, switched well. In terms of commitment, it was still very good. It was tight, they put a lot of pressure on the back, but we held up.”
Dominik Szoboszlai (Doppeltorschütze RB): “It was a very, very difficult game. We fought to the end, but I think we can do better. But there are games like that, we have to fight, be there for each other, defend our goal until the 96th minute, because there are opponents who fight until the last minute. We work hard for that, I don’t know how much we walked today…”
Pascal Stenzel (VfB right-back): “We invested a lot, threw everything in – I take my hat off to that. Even in the last minute we pressed Leipzig hard, everyone is in high spirits. We need that. Then you can leave Leipzig and say that we lost, but we did everything we could to prevent it.”
