RB Leipzig Martín Demichelis Champions League loss to Manchester City, Digi Mart USA News: Martín Demichelis, the coach of RB Leipzig, is a proud man. On Wednesday evening he said he was proud of his team even though it lost 3-2 to Manchester City in its fourth Champions League match of the season, its third defeat in the competition.
Demichelis said there are different ways to lose. If his team had to lose, he said, it was in the way it did against the Premier League runner-up, with the best defensive performance of the season.
He said his side created many chances and was aggressive and present on the pitch. “I think we deserved more than one point,” the Argentine coach said, adding: “If you lose, you can talk for an hour and you’re still not right.”
The plan now is to win Saturday’s Bundesliga match against 10th-placed Augsburg and then enter the international break about three points behind the league leader. Leipzig’s pressure, however, comes from the familiar autumn whispers inside the club.
Many people at the Red Bull headquarters in Fuschl am See, Austria, backed the decision last summer to dismiss successful coach Ole Werner and hire Demichelis, with the blessing of then head of global soccer and now national coach Jürgen Klopp.
The transition has been difficult. The departure of winger Yan Diomande to Real Madrid and an injury to Christoph Baumgartner were painful.
Christopher Nkunku returned to Leipzig without preparation and is still searching for his form. The adjustments caused by the arrival of Roger Schmidt as Klopp’s successor will make it harder for the new coach to avoid friction and get results.
Leipzig’s results have been mixed. In the Champions League it lost 1-4 at Real Madrid and 1-4 to Como 1907, and beat Eindhoven 1-0 before falling 2-3 to Manchester City.
In the Bundesliga it has won every home game, but away from home its form has been poor. Last weekend it won at struggling Schalke 04, moving into the Champions League places in the table.
A Sport-Bild article published on the morning of the City match reported that only major sporting success could “save” Demichelis, and that former Leipzig coach and later national coach Julian Nagelsmann was waiting in the wings. The report also said the feelings Demichelis inspires are mostly negative for shareholder Red Bull.
Demichelis is the seventh coach since Nagelsmann left.
Baumgartner, who has been an important player and outspoken in recent games, said on Wednesday that the coaching debate was being made “a bit too hot” for him personally, when asked about the substitution of striker Antonio Nusa and his own. Demichelis said Nusa had reported discomfort and would have been out for six weeks had he stayed on the pitch.
Baumgartner still lacks sharpness after a long break.
Leipzig showed a willingness to fight back, equalizing twice after going behind. City led through an own goal by Castello Lukeba (37th minute) and Enzo Fernández (58th), and Leipzig replied through Ridle Baku (49th) and Nusa (61st).
In the 78th minute, however, City striker Erling Haaland scored the decisive goal to make it 3-2, which the Fuschl delegation in the VIP stand greeted with only muted amusement.
