Leverkusen (dpa) – The Europa League final is beckoning, the cup final can already be booked on Wednesday and the Champions League is within reach.
Even before the possible first title in the club’s history, coach Domenico Tedesco earned an unofficial award at RB Leipzig. Namely that of the rotation master. Game after game, the coach throws the entire starting eleven upside down – without the quality or atmosphere dropping. So Tedesco rushes from victory to victory with RB – and maybe soon to the first cup.
“We’re happy that our squad can do that,” said Tedesco after the 1-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen, before which he left all three field players in the team. But the 36-year-old also hinted that it’s not easy to keep the ambitious and sensitive stars happy, even though almost all of them work part-time during the hot weeks of the season. “It’s important to communicate that to the players,” he said: “Broad squads are nice. But you can be sure that it means a lot of work for a staff. It also has disadvantages. But it it’s okay.”
RB series continues
Obviously. Because in Leverkusen, RB remained unbeaten in their 14th competitive game in a row and took third place from the Werkself as the best team from the second half of the season. “It doesn’t matter who starts, we always have a strong bank,” said goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, who is one of the few who never rotates out: “We can always do more.” In the top game, which was only one on paper, even Christopher Nkunku, who had been playing in top form for weeks, was given a breather. The Frenchman came at the break and set up Dominik Szoboszlai’s winning goal.
And in the current wave of success, even frequent player Gulacsi does not see dancing at three weddings as a burden. “It’s all very nice,” said the Hungarian: “We’ve never had it before, that we’re still in all competitions at such a late stage of the season. There’s nothing nicer as a footballer. It’s very exhausting, all three of us days to play. But after that there will be enough rest and we look forward to the tasks.”
And so just minutes after the final whistle on Sunday, the focus was on Wednesday when Union Berlin came to Leipzig for the semi-finals of the DFB Cup. “Wednesday is an issue,” said Tedesco while still on the pitch: “But we made a lot of changes. That’s why I think we’ll be physically and mentally fresh.”
Impressive Tedesco balance sheet
And the example of Szoboszlai shows how well the coach, who won 15 of 22 competitive games and lost only two, psychologically manages the allocation of stakes. He had a conversation with the coach a month ago because he was dissatisfied with his deployment times. Now he scored in the second league game in a row. “If you want to win titles, you always have to stay focused,” said the 21-year-old Hungarian.
Should RB reach both finals, there would still be nine important games in 31 days. “But when you’re so in the flow, it’s just a lot of fun,” said Gulacsi: “And we definitely want to keep it that way.”