“We need the ball!”
For average football spectators, San Sebastián is still more of a closed book. If you open it, the name Alexander Sörloth is on page five. It is the Norwegian who came to Leipzig as a Halland replacement in the summer of 2020, had no luck there and was loaned to Real. But it is not set here either.
Whether with or without Sörloth – how do the Spaniards actually play? RB coach Tedesco revealed his findings on Wednesday: “You have deep paths behind the chain,” he explained. “They keep trying to get into the pits. Also through individual actions.” Tedesco’s recipe, on the other hand, is relatively banal: “We need the ball a lot and often, we have to keep the opponent away from our own goal.” Because: “If we let a Spanish team have the ball, then they know what to do with it.”
Premiere for the new rule
There seems to be a lot of work to be done on Leipzig’s 5-man defense chain. A chain that may also have to be torn apart and reassembled. Because behind defense chief Willi Orban there is a big question mark after “a few cold symptoms and a missed training session as a result.
After all, conceding a goal doesn’t weigh that heavily from now on, since the away goals rule has been abolished. RB coach Tedesco is torn on this matter. “You can play more with an open mind, even in home games,” he said as a positive – and then added: “I’m basically against rule changes. You should leave football as it is.” Here, too, it’s all a question of perspective.