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Against the Atlético laws: RB Leipzig beats Atlético Madrid in the Champions League:

2020-08-13T22:39:59.298Z


Atlético Madrid has been part of Europe's football elite for years - thanks in part to their sometimes dirty style of play. Outsider RB Leipzig didn't care, the Bundesliga club didn't even need Timo Werner.


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Atlético's coach Diego Simeone

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LLUIS GENE / AFP

The Simeone Laws: Atlético Madrid stands for a special kind of football that has been shaped by coach Diego Simeone for years. His team is extremely experienced, robust, strong in duels, and sometimes a bit dirty. She can use these virtues to balance out qualitative differences to better teams very well - and she never gives up. All of these components made RB Leipzig an outsider in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. After all, Atlético's midfielder Koke has played more competitive games in his career than the entire Leipzig club.

The result: a lot came down to a typical Atlético win. Then Tyler Adams came and shot Leipzig to a 2-1 (0-0) victory at the final tournament of the premier class in Lisbon. Read the match report here.

Mintzlaff's fairy tale: Oliver Mintzlaff is CEO of Rasen Ballsport Leipzig. In this role, one of his tasks is to sell the promotion from the fifth division to the quarter-finals of the Champions League as a unique and sustainable story. Before the game against Atlético, Mintzlaff was allowed to tell in an interview with Sky that his club was rated so positively in the Bundesliga because there were still so many players in the squad who had already played in the 3rd or 2nd division at RB. Part of this truth, however, is that the club, financed by a beverage company, was able to spend a total of almost 50 million euros in transfer fees for players such as Yussuf Poulsen, Marcel Sabitzer or Marcel Halstenberg in these three lower-class years.

First half: Leipzig had more possession. With Marcel Halstenberg, Leipzig had one of the rare scoring chances early on (4th minute). Overall, Leipzig was the more noticeable team. That all sounds good, but is usually not enough to advance against Atlético. For that, goals have to be found, but the Bundesliga side was quite a long way from that. The Madrilenians too, but that is part of coach Diego Simeone's calculation. Atlético doesn't want to play the game at all - and so the first Atleti trap seemed to snap shut. Leipzig raised its justified hopes.

Gulácsi's luck: In the 13th minute the Spaniards had their first and for a long time their best chance of scoring. After work by Renan Lodi, Yannick Carrasco got a free shot in the penalty area, Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulácsi closed the near corner brilliantly. Following the corner kick, the Hungarian was again the focus as he chased Saúl Níguez and hit the midfielder minimally on the heel. As a result, Níguez kicked his own leg - and fell. The game then continued for minutes and the situation was checked by the video assistant in the background. The outcry from the VAR opponents would probably have been great if the penalty had been decided so late - it would still have been justifiable.

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Leipzig's goalscorer Dani Olmo

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POOL / REUTERS

Second half: When Dani Olmo headed for the lead (50th), the missing goal in the first round was there. Leipzig led - and was then put on the defensive. Led by substitute João Félix, the Madrilenians showed their comeback qualities. The Portuguese, who trained at Benfica Lisbon, played one-two with Diego Costa, penetrated the penalty area and was fouled by Lukas Klostermann. Félix converted the penalty himself. The game became more hectic, and that actually plays into the cards of the Simeone team. But laws were broken that night.

The winning goal: Atlético would have been willing to look for the decision in extra time. All the more astonishing were the gaps on the defensive that Leipzig was allowed to use in the final phase. Sabitzer initiated the winning goal with an outstanding pass to Angeliño, the Spaniard got a lot of space on the left side. His cross pass came to Adams, who was free in the center, and his deflected shot was unsustainable for Atlético's goalkeeper Jan Oblak (88th).

Greetings to London: It's one of the stories of this Champions League season. Due to the long Corona break, there are some players who have already changed clubs and do not finish the Champions League with the previous clubs. This includes Timo Werner, who will play for Chelsea in the coming season. The national player is said to have voluntarily refrained from further appearances with Leipzig - allegedly also because he classified the chances of winning the title as low. Now his ex-club is in the semi-finals (Werner congratulated shortly after the final whistle via Instagram) and will meet Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday (9 p.m., TV: Sky, live ticker: SPIEGEL.de).

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Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2020-08-13

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