RB Leipzig is a bit like Kylian Mbappé in a 2018 interview with
Canal +
: “You don't talk to me about age.”
The giants of Europe, such as FC Barcelona, Real Madrid or Liverpool, opponents of the German club on Tuesday in the knockout stages of the Champions League (9 p.m.), have more than a century of existence.
PSG removed the year of its creation, 1970, from its logo a few years ago.
As if his relative lack of history shamed him.
Leipzig, which will celebrate its 12th anniversary this year, assumes its youth.
A toddler in the deep end, which relies on energy drink company Red Bull, attacked football after investments in motorsport.
A bet pays off: Leipzig will look Liverpool in the eye on Tuesday.
"They (Liverpool) remain slightly favorites against us, based on their European experience."
RB Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann.
Respect, Julian Nagelsmann's men won on the European scene last summer.
Leipzig eliminated Atlético de Madrid in the quarter-finals (2-1), during Final 8 in Lisbon.
Before surrendering to a better armed Paris Saint-Germain (0-3).
“Leipzig has improved from season to season.
They are doing well and are now looking for trophies, ”complimented Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose Manchester United team finished 3rd in Group H in the Champions League behind ... Leipzig, who beat him in the sixth. and last day (3-2).
The players of Saxony especially made a strong impression against PSG, which they found a few weeks after the Final 8. A home victory (2-1) and a defeat at the Parc des Princes (0-1) despite a domination without sharing.
All with young shoots who adhere to an ambitious project, without 5-star recruitment.
But even with the support of Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, Leipzig is struggling to find a seat at the table of the biggest clubs.
Upamecano's transfer says a lot
"It will take a lot of things to happen for a team to finish the season in front of Bayern", noted, lucid, Nagelsmann before a spectacular draw with the Bavarians in early December (3-3).
Second in the Bundesliga, Leipzig is 7 points behind the defending champion.
“Let's not talk about it anymore,” Nagelsmann repeated at the end of January after a defeat in Mainz (2-3).
At best, Leipzig inherits the role of springboard that Borussia Dortmund has long held, considered the number 2 German club and which has seen its stars, including Robert Lewandowski, end up at Bayern.
This is precisely what Leipzig is experimenting with by selling its French defender Dayot Upamecano (23), whose formalization fell last week.
Under such conditions, difficult to compete with the ogre of Munich, whose hegemony has lasted since 2013. According to various sources, Leipzig has already recorded the arrival of Mohamed Simakan (20 years) to succeed Upamecano.
The Strasbourg defender has potential, but he will not help Leipzig to shake up the established order.
In the Champions League, where the truth of two home and away matches is not always that of 34 days of the Bundesliga, does RasenBallsport Leipzig have a better card to play?
The Final 8 of last summer suggests so.
But the favorite costume is not to Nagelsmann's taste.
“They (Liverpool) remain slightly favorites against us, based on their European experience,” recalled the German coach.
For now, the famous experience will rarely be an asset in the Leipzig round.
In a competition dominated by historic clubs, which PSG has hoped to win in vain for 8 years, the Saxony club is making its way.
Without looking too far.
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