Sunday April 4th 2021
Leipzig’s jam in the top game
Like a joke without a punchline
By Ullrich Kroemer, Leipzig
For the first time, RB Leipzig was better than Bayern in a direct duel. But the Leipzigers can’t buy anything from that because they don’t have a goalscorer to really attack Munich and the championship.
When it comes down to it, the players at FC Bayern can also be very pragmatic craftsmen. Manuel Neuer proved that even before the top match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich (0: 1) kicked off when he knotted a torn mesh in the goal net in the Leipzig stadium with a towel.
“In the lockdown you were at home for a longer period of time, so you repair one or the other. I tried to find a quick solution,” reported the world goalkeeper on ZDF. The team of referees was only satisfied when a stadium employee rushed over with cable ties, so that the game kicked off four minutes late.
But just as pragmatically as Neuer dealt with the crack in the network, the Munich team also dealt with the superiority of the Leipzig in this title duel. Instead of wanting to set off a playful fireworks display, the designated champion simply shifted to plugging holes in the defense, defending them compactly and winning efficiently. With a seven-point lead, Bayern can only take their ninth championship in a row if the season is canceled or the players suddenly go on strike.
“We were the better team”
Never before this season have the Munich team radiated less goal danger than against Leipzig. The fact that Bayern only have 46 percent of the ball and only play 469 passes in a game – acting as an underdog, so to speak – does not happen too often. But a good phase between the 30th and 45th minutes was enough for the guests to score the goal of the evening with Leon Goretzka’s powerful shot from the ambush (38th).
The rest of the lot belonged to RB. The challenger found both better in the game and in the second half, when the Leipzig played furiously for 20 minutes, pressed Bayern, but three or four top chances by Christopher Nkunku (48th), Dani Olmo (52nd, 53rd) and Marcel Sabitzer (58.) awarded. But no hit from 14 shots in the direction of the goal are simply not good enough for all playful class to want to become German champions. Leipzig’s game was like a well-presented joke in which the narrator forgot the punch line.
“We were the better team, we scored better than Bayern in almost all relevant statistical values - except in the crucial statistics of goals,” said RB coach Julian Nagelsmann somewhat pissed off. “I don’t have to earn respect, I want to win. It’s about using our chances to score more goals. That’s a step we have to take.” The 33-year-old not only reflected on the lost title duel against Bayern, but also on games against Cologne (0-0), Dortmund (1: 3) and Mainz (2: 3). The Leipzigers have now scored 31 fewer goals than Bayern. “The difference is too big,” emphasized Nagelsmann.
“The team showed character and mentality”
The realization that the team actually has everything – just not a scorer – is ripening in the RB control center on Cottaweg. All other top teams in the Bundesliga have at least one clipper that has a decent double-digit goal rate. At RB they tried their hand at a more variable counter-draft with 16 different goalscorers this season. But the example of wanting to become champions without a striker must be considered a failure after the unnecessary bankruptcy against the Munich team.
Because with someone like Erling Haaland, who had decided against the mapped out Red Bull career path and for Dortmund, Leipzig would probably be at the forefront. In the crucial phase of the season and against top opponents, RB lacks the self-image of a thoroughbred striker to score goals. “If we had someone who scores 15, 16, 17 goals, we would not have lost the game today,” said Nagelsmann.
An order to the manager Oliver Mintzlaff and sports director Markus Krösche to find such a man. Brian Brobbey (19), signed by Ajax Amsterdam, could one day develop into such a clipper – but certainly not in the coming season. In order to be able to realistically attack the title, RB needs a center forward who is strong and experienced at the top level, such as Frankfurt’s André Silva.
So RB is only the slight consolation of having made it harder than seldom for the Munich team and of committing to the last possible title, the DFB Cup victory. “The team showed character and mentality, we have to take that with us,” said Mintzlaff. A little Bavarian pragmatism would also be very practical.
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