Soccer Champions League: Leipzig with two faces against Manchester City

The British reporters sat on their chairs in the catacombs of the Leipzig stadium on Wednesday night and wanted to hear answers from Pep Guardiola. How did it happen that the Champions League title contenders lost control after a crushingly strong first half and only drew 1-1 with RB Leipzig? Guardiola’s team also failed to win in the trade fair city on the second attempt.

Guardiola didn’t even want to get involved. “There’s a fundamental misunderstanding that after a half like the one we played, you ask why the second was so bad. Why don’t you say: RB Leipzig just did well after the break?” Guardiola asked the group. “They haven’t lost many, many games in a row here. They beat Real Madrid here. This is the Champions League and Leipzig is a top team. We’re happy with the result.” After the final whistle, he gathered his players directly on the pitch and called out to them, too: “Cheer up! Why are your heads hanging? That was a really good game.«

Each team gave the other a lesson in their strengths for one half and suffered in the other half. In the first 45 minutes, Manchester City’s one-billion-euro ensemble played cat and mouse with Leipzig. The hosts just ran after them and had to endure ball relays lasting minutes. “Obviously, 26 percent possession is abysmal,” admitted Rose. “We weren’t in the Champions League mode.” Six Xaver Schlager vividly explained why it was so difficult to hold balls against this playful superiority. »The more you run, the harder it is to own the ball because your heart rate is extremely high. Then you make the wrong decisions, like I did.« The otherwise consistent hit had wanted to play the ball »in the front foot« of his neighbor Konrad Laimer, because miracle striker Erling Haaland was already lurking behind him. But the idea resulted in a fatal bad pass that led to Riyad Mahrez making it 0-1 in the 27th minute.

Relief did not come about because the Leipzigers themselves did not come into the pressing. “It wasn’t forbidden to attack higher, but someone has to start with it – at the right moment, with the right intensity,” criticized Rose. But Leipzig shifted the responsibility from one player to the next. “We weren’t brave enough in the first half,” complained the coach.

In the half-time break, he apparently hit the right note, at very different volumes. “Semiloud” was the speech, the coach described: “Started quietly, got a little loud, quieter again – then really loud.”

It was again noticeable that RB, like against Bayern Munich, needed a half to get used to the opponent’s quality and rhythm and only gained momentum when things couldn’t get much worse. “Then you’re woken up during the break, you go out, you’re more relaxed, you’re more secure with the ball. Maybe you feel like you have nothing to lose,” explained Emil Forsberg.

It speaks for the mentality of Leipzig that they regularly manage to show a different face after a weak start. Suddenly there was pressing, power and self-confidence going forward – everything that also characterized Joško Gvardiol when he towered over the city defense in the air and scored to equalize (70′).

But what is the draw worth for the second leg in three weeks? The learning effect is great for both teams. “We’ve got a few days to shake,” Rose said. “And don’t play such a first half again!” Schlager emphasized: “We now know how they play and how to play against them,” and laconically followed: “It will certainly be fun.”

By the end of the evening – it was almost midnight – the British reporters had run out of breath. Nobody had any more questions. “You’re not creative today,” joked star coach Guardiola. In three weeks we will see which team is more creative and can impose their game on the opponent for more than 45 minutes.