To look at the birthplace of RB Leipzig, which receives PSG this Wednesday in the Champions League, you have to leave the city center in the direction of the orange countryside to go to Markranstädt, about fifteen kilometers away.
This is where the story began.
What a kid of ten years old who goes on bike slips and the mothers of the nursery installed in front of the shabby ticket office ignore: “The RB Leipzig?
No, no, it's just the girls here.
This is confirmed by a calendar stapled at the entrance.
No need to look for yellowed photos of ancient epics, indeed.
Red Bull simply bought in 2009 the license of the club which played in the fifth division in this small stadium.
And too bad if the SSV had to leave the last division a year later.
“It doesn't bother me,” Karsten says, restraining his husky.
It's good for the region and it's good for Leipzig.
I am a RB supporter and my daughter plays at the academy.
"Ten meters behind him, on one of the perimeter walls, there is still a" Fuck RB "graffiti, hastily placed there.
An anti-RB tag, at SSV Markranstädt, the club whose license Red Bull has bought./LP/YL
Just like the takeover of this little neighbor, the Austrian firm has done things quickly and well since 2009. With four climbs in seven seasons and then three Champions League qualifications during the first four years in the top flight , including the semi-final lost to Paris this summer (0-3).
A success that inevitably makes you cringe in a country very attached to "Traditionsvereinen" ("tradition clubs").
As soon as he took over, Dietrich Mateschitz twisted German football's arm by circumventing the rule which prohibits an investor from holding more than 50% of a club's shares.
To do this, he entrusted the actions to employees of the group or to relatives.
The name, officially “RasenBallsport Leipzig” (“Grass ball sport”) is also a rough make-up in the face of the ban on commercial naming.
Its location was chosen by expediency.
On the advice of his friend Franz Beckenbauer, the billionaire has set his sights on this region where the separation of the country and the economic crisis had left football in pieces.
"Love knows no division"
Everything but a coincidence.
“The people of Leipzig have always looked for something to believe in,” says Mucki, 20.
This is where the reunification protests began.
Most Chemie or Lokomotive fans have continued to follow these clubs and some are building up in opposition to RB, showing particular pride in being in the lower divisions.
But people in the region and more generally in East Germany have turned to RB a lot, even if the club has nothing to do with the former GDR in its identity.
A few years ago there was no big industry or top level football here, although it was very present historically.
This is where the German Football Association was founded.
"
And make no mistake, Leipzig is not a devastated industrial wasteland.
Its population has increased by 20% in twenty years and it is asserting itself as a new financial and cultural center which has sometimes earned it the nickname "New Berlin".
A new development that fits well with the sparkling image sought by the brand.
Among the most established football fans, the dilapidated installations of the "Lok" confirm a form of local opposition skilfully orchestrated by the residents of Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth division.
“Love knows no division” greets visitors at the entrance, then “Welcome to the blue and yellow city” on the side of a hangar-like grandstand.
“Welcome to the blue and yellow city” displays the Lok Leipzig at Bruno-Plache Stadion./LP/YL
To build what has become Red Bull's flagship with its Formula 1 team, the firm that manages to squeeze five and a half squares of sugar into each can of soda has bought the city's historic stadium, the Zentralstadion, and has built a brand new training center which also hosts youth teams, just across the Elsterbecken, a wide river.
This Monday night, Sebastian is watching the Under-19 training with his 3-year-old son Paul.
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“I've been a supporter since the club was created… Well, it hasn't been that long, he laughs.
I like his style.
He gave himself a great mission, bringing out very young players and always evolving in a very offensive style.
It is attractive.
I understand the criticisms but I find them excessive, there is money everywhere in football.
I arrived in this city in 2004 and didn't find myself in the Lok or the Chemie, whose fans are more politicized.
I appreciate the neutrality of RB Leipzig, where I can come with my family.
"
Sebastian and his son Paul, in training for U19 Leipzig./LP/YL
Failing to have a history, RB Leipzig has a method.
In addition to the very energizing contribution of funds from Red Bull, two men facilitated the takeoff from Leipzig to the summits: the French Gérard Houllier and the German Ralf Rangnick.
The former Liverpool and Lyon coach became the sporting director of the brand's football clubs in 2012, when his name was blown by Thierry Henry (then at Red Bull New York) to the owner.
Rangnick, a true football theorist
The former coach of the Blues then made the link with the man who had raised from the ground a similar project in Hoffenheim, another club assembled from scratch with millions.
“I don't really like talking about Red Bull, because it's a discreet group,” Gérard Houllier blows, before giving a few anecdotes all the same.
Notably that of Rangnick's arrival shortly after him: “During a meeting, I gave four names to Dietrich Mateschitz, of which Rangnick was the first.
I knew him through meetings at UEFA.
Dietrich Mateschitz wanted to go and meet him right away.
I had scheduled appointments, but he gave me no choice.
We left with his helicopter that he himself piloted for Stuttgart, we talked, and Ralf agreed to take over the sporting direction of Salzburg and Leipzig.
We set up our philosophy, our people, sometimes in the blood, because the teams were in place.
"
Rangnick is a true football theorist who has a very precise conception of how to play a team… and how to build a club.
He detailed in October in an interview with El Pais his method: “Have a clear idea of what your style should be […], recruit young players, […] recruit the best technicians, and let the professionals develop the team.
"
A square philosophy that corresponds well to the image that the winged brand wants to convey in its marketing business, detailed by Gérard Houllier: “What characterizes Red Bull is quality.
Everything must be done with this in mind.
We take the top in terms of training center, training center, stadium.
The lawn is nickel, everything is top class.
You have to demonstrate superior quality to the opponent.
"
The Red Bull Arena, formerly known as Zentralstadion./LP/YL
The next step of the RB plan will be to win a title, to establish its legitimacy and to move away from this image of newcomer who puts his feet on the table.
So far, the only line on the club's record is that of rival fans' most hated rival, who engage in an ironic or insulting banner contest.
In 2016, in Dresden, a severed bull's head was even thrown at the foot of the visitor park.
Patrick Guillou, consultant for BeIN Sports, which broadcasts the Bundesliga, sums up the recent turn: “So far, under the leadership of Rangnick, Leipzig has developed tactical excellence and a development strategy.
With Julien Nagelsmann
(Editor's note: the coach of RB Leipzig),
this system has come to an end.
The goal is now to also recruit confirmed players to win a title at the expense of Dortmund and Bayern.
"" The club displays a certain consistency in the Champions League which earns it a certain respect, wants to believe Gérard Houllier.
We recognize him for merit.
In its rapid development, in addition to its plans for a new stadium, RB Leipzig will also have to consolidate its roots.
“The club is not disconnected from the city, which has changed in recent years, but it does not create anything deeper, regrets an active fan.
We were looking to put in place a welcoming policy opposed to homophobia and racism, and club support was very limited.
He wanted to control everything, the magazine, our derivative products and sought to identify those who used pyrotechnics.
The club's slogan is
Brighter Futures
, which helps connect people to its success.
But these are things that are created when you go through ups and downs together.
This club should not only be successful in sport, it should also have a social role and care for its fans.
This would perhaps allow little bulls to bloom on the road signs in the area, rather than stickers from the city's regional division clubs.
