Magic foot Party atmosphere – the Saxons had just passed their baptism of fire in the hell of Belgrade and secured their ticket for the knockout round earlier than ever before. “We are all just happy that we achieved a goal today after missing one during the week,” said Rose after the 2-1 (1-0) win at Serbian champions Red Star Belgrade: “That’s why we can do it classify well.” After two sporting lows in the cup exit in Wolfsburg (0:1) and the defeat at Kellerkind FSV Mainz 05 (0:2), his team “took a step forward again,” emphasized Rose: “That should help us for the coming years give a boost for weeks.” Midfielder Emil Forsberg spoke of a “great feeling” after the Saxons secured second place in Group G with their third win in their fourth game. The Leipzig team had never managed this in the premier class before the last matchday. Even winning the group is still possible in the fight against defending champions Manchester City; Leipzig will be playing at the Etihad Stadium in three weeks. “I don’t know yet how we’ll deal with the table constellation. Now comes the Bundesliga,” said Rose, who described the deafening atmosphere in the Marakana as a “cool experience” with “horny fans”. The fact that RB withstood this atmosphere in the constant rain was once again due to the different players. Youngster Xavi shone again with a dream goal (8th), Lois Openda was named Man of the Match after his goal to make it 2-0 (77th). Keeper Janis Blaswich saved the victory with a fantastic save in the final phase. Meanwhile, Openda did not yet know the exact place for his first match winner trophy. “It comes into my living room – or I give it to my mother,” said the Belgian attacker: “It’s a good feeling that we won. It wasn’t easy.” Until the game against SC Freiburg on Sunday (7.30 p.m./DAZN), in which the Saxons want to get back on track in the league, the focus is now on regeneration. “We have so many games, even the coach is tired sometimes,” said Rose. It’s good that Forsberg had the right recipe ready: “Now get a good night’s sleep and head to the ice pool.”
