RB Leipzig celebrated a successful dress rehearsal for the Champions League cracker at Manchester City at the explosive and emotionally charged reunion of Max Eberl with his former club Borussia Mönchengladbach. On Saturday, the 100th day of Eberl’s tenure, the DFB Cup winner won 3-0 (0-0) against Gladbach, who had recently been weakening.
Eberl, who left Gladbach in January 2022 after 23 years as a player and sports director and finally joined RB last December, followed the goals of Timo Werner (58th), Emil Forsberg (71st, penalty kick) and Josko Gvardiol (80th minute). ) in the stands next to former RB managing director Oliver Mintzlaff. RB goalkeeper and ex-Gladbacher Janis Blaswich (53rd) also saved a penalty after video evidence from Alassane Plea.
The people of Leipzig, who continue to have their sights set on the premier class ranks in the Bundesliga, are going into the round of 16 second leg of the Champions League at City on Tuesday (9 p.m. / Prime Video) with a tailwind, where they are after the 1-1 in the first Duel create the big surprise and want to move into the top eight in Europe.
While Eberl warmly greeted his former employees on the Gladbach side before the game, the away fans who had traveled with him received him less warmly. “Eberl is a son of a bitch,” they sang when he was in the run-up to the TV interview. And the 49-year-old criticized the followers in turn.
“I made no secret of the fact that I was ill. If this topic is then simply negated and it is simply summarized as a change from Gladbach to Leipzig, it is simply wrong,” said Eberl sky: “This happens from people who put others in their crosshairs, run through the cities with iron bars and light fires.”
The Gladbach ultra group Sottocultura had previously described Eberl as a “character pig” who had switched “to the evil side of football”. At the same time, with reference to Eberl’s burnout diagnosis, which caused him to turn his back on Gladbach, the group wrote about “his invented ‘disease’, which then coincidentally and appropriately paved the way for him to Leipzig”.
Renewed hostility from Gladbach fans against Eberl
On Saturday, the fans also added banners. “Empty words only for appearances, for us only a bull pig” or “Miracle healing by Red Bull. When lies become a business model” was read in the block. But the game in the first round also offered a lot in terms of sport.
Leipzig relied on possession but struggled to create chances, carelessly inviting the visitors on several occasions. First Marcus Thuram (10th) failed from an acute angle at Blaswich, before Werner (11th) shortly afterwards checked Gladbach’s keeper Tobias Sippel on the other side – then Willi Orban’s blackout followed. Leipzig’s captain left Thuram (33rd) in a dangerous position, whose shot went just over the bar.
Even after the break, Gladbach continued to have chances that RB gave them too easily. Jonas Hofmann ran towards the goal completely alone and was only straddled at the last moment by Leipzig’s David Raum. Referee Matthias Jöllenbeck initially saw no foul, corrected himself after viewing the video images, with Blaswich suspecting the right corner at the penalty and parrying against Plea. Only five minutes later, Werner refined a wonderful solo with a powerful shot under the crossbar. Forsberg then raised after Plea brought down Amadou Haidara in the sixteen. Gvardiol put the finishing touches.
RB Leipzig – Borussia Mönchengladbach: The voices
Marco Rose (RB Leipzig coach): “For me, it’s a very well-deserved win because of how much I played. We struggled in the first half to become a real goal threat. We always had to watch out for transition situations. It was important for us that Janis saved the penalty. I had the feeling that a jolt went through the team. It’s a win that’s important at our stage.”
Daniel Farke (Borussia Monchengladbach coach): “Losing the game 3-0 is hard to accept. It was a good away game for a long time. RB controlled the game in the first half, but we didn’t allow any clear chances to score. We had chances that are very rare in Leipzig We weren’t effective enough. When you’re playing at that level, you have to be effective.”
RB Leipzig – Borussia Mönchengladbach: The data for the game
Leipzig: Blaswich – Henrichs, Orban, Gvardiol, Raum (77. Halstenberg) – Haidara (87. Simakan), Laimer (87. Kampl) – Szoboszlai, Forsberg (87. Olmo) – Silva, Timo Werner (76. Poulsen). – Coach: Rose
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