RB Leipzig: The voices for the 0-1 defeat at FC Internazionale

Milan. RB Leipzig is facing an early exit from the Champions League. The Bundesliga club suffered its fifth defeat in its fifth game with a 1-0 defeat at FC Internazionale. The chances of making it to the knockout round are only minimal in the three remaining games of the new league system. The current crisis with five competitive games without a win in a row was matched by Leipzig’s central defender Castello Lukeba’s own goal (27th), which gave Inter a deserved victory.

This is what players and coaches said after the final whistle:

Peter Gulacsi (RB Leipzig): “The defeat was a bit unfortunate. If you lose with an own goal, it’s very, very bitter. Inter were already the better team at that stage. We did much better in the second half and had chances to equalize. It is a phase we are in. We have to stick together now and get out of this together. You can always lose against Inter here, they are a brutally strong team. You noticed what quality they have when they really put the pressure on for 20 or 25 minutes in the first half. But after that we went our own way and showed our quality. We hope that we will get a corresponding result soon. In the end you don’t know how many points you need to get further. We have to make sure we absolutely win our home game this year and then we’ll see what’s still possible.”

Willi Orban (RB Leipzig): About the game: “That was a tough task. When you go to Milan with four defeats, you know that the team is not full of self-confidence. We needed something, especially at the beginning. But we worked our way in and tried to gain some control with good ball teams. The opponent was always dangerous – especially through set pieces – but generally we defended well. Unfortunately, we weren’t really a threat to score. When you’re 1-0 down against an Italian team, it becomes incredibly difficult. They defend extremely well in the box. We tried it. But the bottom line is that it’s currently too difficult for us to exploit the big opportunities. We talked a lot after the game in Hoffenheim and we’ve already seen improvements in some areas. Unfortunately, it’s a small step without the corresponding reward.” To the coach: “I can’t imagine a better coach for us at the moment. I think the team has a responsibility now. We have a lot of young players, but they now have a duty to take the next step and become more emotionally mature. I think this is the first crisis we have had together with the coach. We have to give him that much trust. Now we boys are challenged, including the young players. We currently have an incredibly small squad, it’s not easy. But we have to come out of this stronger.”

Yann Bisseck (Inter): “We had a good match plan and relied on our strengths. In the end we defended very well – it doesn’t always look pretty, but in the end it’s result football. We deserved to win. We have a great goalkeeper at the back who you can always rely on. But I think that the entire defensive group is doing really well at the moment. We train a lot about how we should react tactically in which situations. The fact that we still have a clean sheet after five games definitely takes a bit of luck, but we deserve it.”

Benjamin Lauth (DAZN expert): About the first half: “I saw a very strong Inter. The Leipzig team tried to come out briskly and put a bit of pressure straight away. That worked for a few minutes, but then Inter took control. There were too many crosses, too many set pieces – so Inter dominated the game.” For the second half: “Leipzig’s second half was much better, but Inter were too good, too clever and played it down confidently. This is simply a top team across the board.” On Benjamin Henrichs’ foul that resulted in the free kick making it 1-0: “That’s not a foul for me. The linesman is standing right next to him. Let it go, it’s the Champions League.”

Marco Rose (Trainer RB Leipzig): “We saw a first half in which we were still looking for confidence. We made one or two simple mistakes too many and as a result we weren’t as involved in the game as we would have liked. In the end we get an own goal to make it 0-1. We fought back in the second half and it was good – without us having any absolute power. We had the feeling – even in the last few weeks – that we were missing something in many areas. We were a bit sharper today, but it’s still not enough to take anything away at the moment. I think it would have been possible today, but we’re going home empty-handed. Overall, I view the situation very differently. We don’t want or need to sugarcoat anything. But we still know what certain things can be attributed to. We are here to fight our way out of this, we will stand together and we will get through it. We currently only have 14 healthy players because ‘Casti’ (Castello Lukeba) is suspended for the next Champions League game, even only 13 – we’ll need everyone.”

Simone Inzaghi (Trainer, Inter): “We have to wait and see how the others play on Wednesday. We are on a very good path. But we shouldn’t start calculating now. It is very important for us that we kept a clean sheet for the fifth time. The boys really wanted this. One goal more or less can mean a lot in the table. I was very afraid of this game. Until Saturday they were the best defense in the Bundesliga. Praise to my team, they did well against a very good team. Praise also goes to everyone who came off the bench.”

LVZ