Home game in Budapest: RB Leipzig has found an alternative venue for the Champions League home game against Liverpool.
Leipzig - RB Leipzig's Champions League hit against Liverpool is saved, Plan B leads coach Julian Nagelsmann's team to Budapest: After an intensive search, the Bundesliga club has an alternative venue for the round of 16 home game against the from on Sunday Jürgen Klopp found trained English champions.
This was confirmed by the European Football Union (UEFA).
A possible 3-0 defeat at the Green Table is also averted.
Instead of in Leipzig, RB must set the course for the quarter-finals of the premier class in Hungary - at least the national players Peter Gulacsi, Willi Orban and Dominik Szoboszlai can expect a "home game light" in the Puskas Arena on February 16 (9:00 pm).
Champions League: Leipzig with home game in Budapest
Budapest was one of two options that club boss Oliver Mintzlaff had brought into play.
The alternative of playing at Tottenham Hotspur in London has been discarded.
Budapest had already served as an alternative venue for NK Celje from Slovenia against Irish Dundalk FC in the Champions League qualifying last August.
The option to swap home rights with Liverpool FC did not materialize.
"We asked Liverpool whether we could swap home rights, we couldn't for various reasons. We have to accept that and are looking for other solutions," said sports director Markus Krösche.
Champions League: Lauterbach satisfied that Liverpool does not enter
The alternative planning became necessary because the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) announced on Thursday that the Federal Police had rejected Leipzig's application for a special permit to enter Liverpool.
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach thought that there was no alternative to the entry ban.
It was "the right decision. We are in Germany to fight the B.117 mutation, which plays a dangerous role in England," said Lauterbach the SID.
The mutation continues to spread on the island, other clubs are likely to struggle with the effects.
On February 24, Borussia Mönchengladbach, for example, is to receive the English top club Manchester City.
Champions League: Problems also with Gladbach - Klopp dissatisfied
Sports director Max Eberl is watching developments closely.
The foals may move to Denmark.
"As of now, we cannot play in Borussia-Park, but have to look for an alternative location. We asked FC Midtjylland, but also other clubs," Eberl emphasized.
Meanwhile, Liverpool's team manager Jürgen Klopp had little understanding for the political decisions at home.
He regards an exception to the entry ban as justified.
"I think with everything we do here, our record of cases and our discipline, it would be absolutely reasonable to make an exception," said Klopp.
The decision will be accepted.
At the same time, however, Klopp pointed out the safety standards at Liverpool, which in his opinion would justify an exception.
"Maybe it is good for Germans who are not on the subject: we are not infected, we have the same problems as you," he said: "Yes, there is a new type of virus, but we are in a bubble and we could play in Leipzig without spreading the virus. "
(ank with SID)