Bundesliga soccer team RB Leipzig is going into the mammoth task against English champions Manchester City without fear, eight months after the 7-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
“I feel confident about my team, which wants to prove itself here,” said coach Marco Rose before the Champions League game on Tuesday evening (9 p.m./DAZN).
In the second leg of the round of 16 last season, the Saxons were badly defeated in Manchester, but that is no longer a big issue for Rose.
“We can do better,” emphasized the 47-year-old, who sees the clash with the defending champions led by goal guarantor Erling Haaland as a “barometer at the absolute top level”.
Rose: “We have to play a good game”
The Leipzig team has already qualified for the round of 16, and winning the group is theoretically still possible. Before the City game, Rose described this as “secondary.” “We don’t have to talk about picking up goals in Manchester. We have to play a good game,” said the coach, who will again have to do without striker Timo Werner. Benjamin Sesko and Kevin Kampl, who were recently injured, are fit for this.
In order to avoid a 7-0 defeat like last season, Leipzig must be more confident, especially when in possession of the ball. “What matters is what we do when we win the ball. How courageously we finish our situations,” said Christoph Baumgartner. The 24-year-old Austrian international also described the game in Manchester as one of the greatest of his career to date.