Liverpool, Manchester City, Spurs and Chelsea face differing challenges in a Champions League group stage that is likely to be one of the last in the competition’s current formatThe Champions League returns on Tuesday with Liverpool back at the stadium where they won their sixth European crown last year. Atlético Madrid will represent a formidable obstacle as Jürgen Klopp and his players attempt the unlikely feat of reaching a third successive Champions League final in addition to claiming a first English title in 30 years, though of the four English teams aiming for a place in the last eight it could be argued that Liverpool have been best favoured by the draw.It is true that Tottenham’s opponents, RB Leipzig, have...
It was not a spectacular clash but an intriguing draw left us hungry for more and showed Leipzig are worthy title rivals“There was a lot in it but at the same time,” said Thomas Müller, “there was nothing in it.” One of Bayern’s very sharpest minds (and tongues) hit the nail on the head for the umpteenth time in a career every bit as interesting off the pitch as it has been on it. As Munich waited for a storm to brew, meteorologically as well as metaphorically, the Bundesliga’s big clash of the season to date simultaneously gave and took away, delivered and let down, satisfied and left you hungry for more.It felt as if the whole occasion had been...
The Bundesliga leaders sleepwalked to defeat and now have Bayern, Mönchengladbach and Dortmund hot on their heelsThis week Julian Nagelsmann had his players sit through a presentation on the importance of good sleep to athletic performance. Some supporters might have felt RB Leipzig had already overindulged on that score during the Bundesliga’s hibernation period, with only a couple of high impact contributions from the red-hot Timo Werner rousing them from their slumbers against Union Berlin last week to take the points that maintained a healthy lead at the top of the table.Seven days later and Leipzig were still having trouble switching on for the full duration of proceedings, although the order of service was inverted this time around. Nagelsmann’s team...
Bundesliga title pretenders were battered by the champions but stole a draw and know now how much they must improveIt had promised so much, and yet had been such hard going. “It was,” said Leipzig’s coach, Julian Nagelsmann, “like a run in the forest without much football” for his team. For all the pre-match excitement that they might be facing Bayern Munich at the right time, catching them before they were settled into their season stride, much of this felt ominously familiar for those hoping for a meaningful Bundesliga title race again. The leaders versus the champions looked, for a large chunk of early Saturday evening, like the also-rans against the lords of the manor.This was no evening for anybody...
Feted, then slated, Timo Werner has since become one of Europe’s most sought-after forwards with LeipzigIt was, as Leipziger Volkszeitung put it, “an almost perfect Sunday”. Before the home game with Eintracht Frankfurt, RB Leipzig had big – and surprising – news, with the announcement that star forward Timo Werner had put pen to paper on a contract extension until 2023. It was followed by something that wasn’t a surprise at all, Werner celebrating in the most fitting way possible, giving his team the lead inside 10 minutes.The goal was the perfect reminder of why he is so highly prized, inside and outside the club. Marcel Sabitzer’s corner was helped on at the near post by Yussuf Poulsen – behind...