“We’re a cool team”
RB Leipzig is initially fighting for its ambitions
08/09/2023, 7:11 p.m
Cup successfully defended, a false start repaired in the league: RB Leipzig is having a successful time under Marco Rose. Now the cup winner is going into the new season badly plucked. It will be exciting to see how the new structure can be married to old ambitions.
The euphoric master announcement from the lavish Leipzig Cup Night now sounds a little different. “I would at least put my words into perspective,” said Kevin Kampl of “Sport Bild” about his bold announcement after winning the final in Berlin that he would now “win this damn championship title” with RB. After a summer with XXL upheaval and the departure of a number of top performers, the 32-year-old is building a “sometime” – at some point it will work with the shell. Before the Supercup this Saturday (8.45 p.m. / Sky and Sat.1 and in the live ticker on ntv.de) at FC Bayern, the big question is where the Leipzigers stand as self-proclaimed challengers.
“This continuous path of always taking a step forward will, in my opinion, be rewarded at some point,” said Kampl. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve always had top players who have left us. And we’ve always compensated for the departures.”
Konrad Laimer (FC Bayern), Dominik Szoboszlai (FC Liverpool), Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City), Christopher Nkunku (FC Chelsea), Marcel Halstenberg (Hannover 96) – practically half the starting eleven have left, as well as André Silva (Real Sociedad San Sebastian). The club around the new sports director Max Eberl reportedly generated more than 250 million euros to compensate for the sporting loss.
“One thing is clear: we remain ambitious and hungry, of course we want to attack the Champions League places again and also reduce the gap to Bayern in the medium term,” said Eberl recently. Together with sports director Rouven Schröder and coordinator Felix Krüger, new professionals were selected who should fit into Marco Rose’s team: Salzburg’s Benjamin Sesko and Nicolas Seiwald, Christoph Baumgartner (TSG Hoffenheim), El Chadaille Bitshiabu (Paris Saint-Germain) and those on loan of Liverpool FC and PSG, Fabio Carvalho and Xavi Simons. The club reportedly spent more than ever on Nkunku replacement Lois Openda (RC Lens). The 23-year-old Belgian scored twice in the Supercup dress rehearsal against the newly promoted Spanish first division UD Las Palmas (3-0).
“The boys are willing, the boys listen”
Reinforcements for the defense are to come. “We already have really strong defenders in the team. We need a player who also fits in qualitatively. We know what we are planning, but this decision can sometimes take a day longer,” said Schröder.
Last season, RB got off to a bad start in the Bundesliga season, so Leipzig couldn’t really use Bayern’s weakness in the second half of the season, at least in the league. The second cup victory in a row, which was very critically observed by many fans outside of Saxony, awakened the desire for more among the RB supporters. “We have a lot of new players, you can tell that in the processes, but the boys are willing, the boys listen. It will all take some time, possibly well into the season,” said Rose, whose contract was last was prematurely extended to 2025.
The coach expects solid performances for the Supercup and the first Bundesliga game at Bayer Leverkusen. “We have to earn confidence in ourselves,” said Rose. And David Raum, one of the winners of the preparation, remarked: “We’re a cool squad. We’ve got a lot of young, new players. Football unites. The mood is good, we get along well on the pitch – that gets better from game to game getting better and better and more. You see nice combinations here and there, despite the many new ones.”