RB Leipzig in the round of 16 of the Champions League: "Hopefully Timo is not seriously injured"

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Timo Werner on the ground: After 19 minutes it's over for him

Photo:

Jan Woitas / dpa

Scene of the game:

Timo Werner sat on the ground, frowned, he sent hand signals to the bench and waved them off, sometimes the Leipzig striker got up again to hobble briefly and settle down again.

Werner tried to bite through for a while.

But the foul by Shakhtar captain Taras Stepanenko in the twelfth minute, a rude stepping in that hit the ankle, finally forced Werner to resign seven minutes later.

Werner's end in this Champions League game was not a problem for his RB teammates, but the consequences are not yet foreseeable for national coach Hansi Flick and the World Cup in Qatar.

Result of the game:

RB Leipzig won 4-0 at Schachtar Donzek on the final day of the Champions League group stage and thus reached the round of 16 as group runners-up behind Real Madrid.

Read the match report here.

First half:

Shakhtar had won the first leg almost two months ago sensationally 4-1, Leipzig's ex-coach Domenico Tedesco was history shortly afterwards and things can change quickly in football: this time the Ukrainians could do little to their opponents .

Leipzig combined forward from minute one, became dangerous for the first time in the eighth minute through Werner and was allowed to start planning for the round of 16 shortly after (10th minute) after a goal from Christopher Nkunku.

Even though Donetsk increased the pressure towards the end of the first half, the team didn't fire a shot on goal.

Werner's suffering:

Shortly before Leipzig was allowed to celebrate Nkunku's 1-0 lead, the team had to be annoyed by Werner's missed shot.

From a good position, the DFB national striker only got the ball on goal unplaced, but the rebound was then used by the French team-mate.

The 26-year-old's poor exploitation of chances has been a topic of discussion for months.

And Werner's evening was to continue badly with the injury-related substitution.

Werner is to be examined in a hospital in Leipzig on Thursday, so far he is said to have complained of pain in the ankle.

"Hopefully Timo isn't seriously injured," said Nkunku after the final whistle.

Germany played its first World Cup game on November 23 against Japan, and national coach Hansi Flick nominated its squad for the tournament on November 11.

So far, Werner has been a regular player under Flick.

Second half:

In Werner's absence, another striker, André Silva, was allowed to enter the scorer list.

In a big mess, the Portuguese steered the ball into the goal from close range to make it 2-0 (50').

Silva, who was signed from Frankfurt for around 23 million euros last year, was a symbol of a weak start to the season in Leipzig, often alternating between the substitute bench and the starting eleven.

In the meantime, however, things are going better again: The goal to make it 2-0 was his eighth goal contribution since the beginning of October.

After that, RB finally had an easy game, goals from Dominik Szoboszlai (62nd) and an own goal from Valerij Bondar (68th) were the result.

The Rose student:

The attacker Dominik Szoboszlai trained under Marco Rose at Red Bull Salzburg four years ago.

The Hungarian, then 18 and an unknown, was introduced to top European football, in a round of 16 against Naples he got his first Champions League minutes.

Well, in Leipzig, coaches and students have met again elsewhere in the RB network - and the connection is obviously strong.

Szoboszlai started all 12 of Rose's games and his goal against Shakhtar underscored his place in the team.

They leave to stay:

The Champions League is over for Donetsk, but as third in Group F ahead of Celtic, the team can continue the European Cup season in the Europa League next year.

In view of the circumstances - a number of players have left the Ukrainian football league because of the Russian war of aggression, the club plays Champions League home games in a foreign stadium in Warsaw - this is an enormous success.

Players like the 21-year-old attacking man Mykhaylo Mudryk (five goals in the premier class), who is already associated with Premier League clubs in the English media, have excelled.

Outlook:

Leipzig are now unbeaten in ten games in a row in all competitions and this series allows the club to join a German quartet in the Champions League round of 16.

Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and now also Leipzig will continue to be there after the autumn World Cup in Qatar when the next European champion is sought in the knockout games of the premier class.