RB Leipzig celebrated an important victory for morale after the severe setback in the Champions League.
Jesse Marsch sits in the first car on the roller coaster of football. 1: 4 against Bayern Munich, 3: 6 at Manchester City, 6: 0 against Hertha BSC, 1: 2 against FC Bruges, now 3: 0 (0: 0) against VfL Bochum: The American coach has at RB Leipzig I’ve experienced pretty much everything in the past few weeks, only one thing not – constancy.
After a convincing last 20 minutes with three goals against the Bochum promoted team, at least the whistles at half-time were quickly forgotten on Saturday evening. Marsch called his players together in the center circle after the final whistle and shouted: “We haven’t stopped! We’re going on!” In any case, the connection to the international places has been established.
Attackers Andre Silva (70th) and Christopher Nkunku (73rd / 78th), who had recently been substituted on, made Leipzig cheer late. The VfL remains on a relegation place. “That’s just not enough. Not everyone knows that you have to defend your own goal at a corner,” said goalkeeper Manuel Riemann at Sky.
Marsch had criticized the instability of his team in advance. But he also made himself responsible: “It’s my job to give the boys confidence.”
RB Leipzig started with a lot of momentum
Leipzig started with a lot of momentum and had plenty of opportunities. Angelino, who was suspended against Bruges and sorely missed, ran freely towards Riemann, but messed up the ball (3rd). Referee Robert Hartmann (Wangen) withdrew a penalty for Leipzig immediately afterwards after video evidence.
RB was not slowed down by this. The Saxons were very present in the duels, switched quickly after winning the ball and got the best opportunities every minute. Bochum had strong support in Riemann, which parried well against Emil Forsberg (8th) and Yussuf Poulsen (15th). The guests were lucky when Forsberg hit the crossbar (11th).
After the 7-0 debacle in Munich, Bochum threatened the next significant defeat against a Champions League starter. Unlike at FC Bayern, the team of coach Thomas Reis survived this urge phase of the favorite unscathed.
The guests calmed down the game with simple passes, gained more possession of the ball and freed themselves from the great Leipzig pressure. During this phase, RB lost security, feeds became less precise, and body language betrayed growing frustration. Nkunku (29th) forgave negligently and overlooked the detached Poulsen. The audience also became restless.
After the break, RB acted less determined than before. The people of Leipzig often made wrong decisions at the crucial moments. Silva broke the spell with her head after a corner, Nkunku made everything clear.
RB Leipzig – VfL Bochum: The voices
Jesse Marsch (trainer RB Leipzig): “It was a real fight. We had more fun in the second half and scored three goals. The game would have been easier with an early goal. But it’s not bad if we have to fight for everything.”
Thomas Reis (VfL Bochum): “We were lucky that we didn’t fall behind early. We kept the game open as far as we could in the second half. Obviously, the win is not undeserved. We would still have liked to take a point.”
