Thursday, March 28, 2024

Can RB Leipzig Make The Final?

RB Leipzig produced one of the shocks of the Champions League season by beating Atletico 2-1 in Lisbon this week in the Quarter Final.

Tyler Adams’ late winner means they will play Paris Saint Germain in the semi final, who won late in their quarter final against Italian side Atalanta.

The question is, can RB Leipzig surprise once again and make it to the final?

Leipzig players celebrating at full time.

RB Leipzig finished third in the Bundesliga this season, 16 points behind champions Bayern who they could meet in the final.

They also lost their striker Timo Werner who moved to Chelsea. The German international scored 34 goals in 45 appearances in all competitions this season.

Werner is now a Chelsea player.

Many thought that with his departure, Leipzig would not last long in Portugal, especially considering that their opponents had knocked out the current European, English and World Champions Liverpool at Anfield.

Instead, Leipzig won late on in the quarter final. Atletico were very defensive minded whereas Leipzig actually played some nice football.

Julian Nagelsmann already had plenty of admirers and is always in the mix in the betting odds when big clubs look to change manager.

After this achievement to make the semi finals, he will have even more fans and if Leipzig do make the final, a big job is surely on the horizon soon rather than later.

PSG will have plenty of momentum coming into the game knowing that even if they are losing late on that they can go get the win.

They won late against Atalanta which perhaps showed their lack of match fitness with a lack of competitive games played since the pandemic after Ligue 1 was cancelled.

PSG players celebratimg their win.

They will now be alot more prepared for this game. Neymar put in a good performance against the Italian side and Mbappe will hope to be fully fit and start the game.

Dayot Upamecano will have something to say. The French defender looks to be the real deal and every bit as good as he was billed up to be.

He looks strong and able to bring the ball out from the back. The 21 year old has not even hit his prime yet. He has been linked with big clubs for the past year or two and a win over PSG would look to add an extra few million to his price tag.

In an uncertain time in terms of transfers and team’s finances after the pandemic, perhaps Leipzig will be able to keep hold of their players but for how long?

If RB Leipzig are to advance past PSG, they will have to be at their best. They will have to minimise Neymar’s impact on the game. Leipzig right-back Lukas Klostermann will have a busy day on his hands.

Neymar in action against Atalanta.

Leipzig play some nice football but PSG also play attacking minded football.

As a Liverpool fan i see us perform much better against teams that try to play nice football whereas teams that play more defensively tend to frustrate us more. Leipzig may have to take that approach if they do not want to be caught on the break.

Overall, in conclusion, i think that RB Leipzig have every capability to cause a shock with the style of football they play and the players they have at their disposal but i do feel that PSG have got their poor performance out of the way and will go on to win the game.

I would like Leipzig to win as we all like an underdog story and I wouldn’t be shocked if they did, but i feel their fairytale story will come to an end next week in the semi final.

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