The 3:1 over 1. FC Köln puts RB Leipzig back in the thick of the fight for the Champions League. Meanwhile, Dani Olmo, a key attacking player, returns to old form
Dani Olmo is increasingly coming back to his old strength at RB Leipzig. In the cup against Rostock he came back with a goal, against Wolfsburg (2:0) and FC Bayern (2:3) the 23-year-old was involved in some offensive actions – and in the 3:1 over Cologne the creative player was the decisive man.
“The first weeks of the new season were tough, but now I feel good and confident,” said Olmo, who was directly involved in all three goals against FC. However, Olmo was not credited with a scorer’s point for Leipzig’s first goal on Friday night, which visibly annoyed him at first.
Laimer knew it first
The Spaniard took a free kick 18 metres from goal and then wanted to take it himself. However, after a brief discussion with Christopher Nkunku, Olmo relented, gave the ball to the Frenchman and left in a huff. “I motivated him,” Olmo joked on the “DAZN” microphone after the game. Letting Nkunku shoot was ultimately the right decision, his offensive partner flicked the ball beautifully over the wall and put RB in the lead.
Of course, Olmo was happy with Nkunku about the 1:0, but he really wanted to add a goal of his own. “I told Konni at half-time that if I have the ball 20, 30 metres from goal, I will shoot. I was very confident because of the warm-up and the first half,” said Olmo, who followed his words with action after 54 minutes. About 20 metres from the goal, he took a right-footed shot that hit the bottom left-hand corner.
Shortly afterwards, Olmo was also instrumental in making it 3-0 when he crossed the ball into the penalty area, tunneling past Jan Thielmann and setting the ball up for Angelino.
After a little more than an hour, Olmo had to call it a day, watching from the bench as RB continued to play forward, but could not keep the score at nil. Timo Lemperle made sure in injury time that in the end a Leipzig player had to be annoyed. “It is bitter for the goalkeeper to concede a goal with the last action. We had good control but should have had more possession at the end. In the last ten minutes we were too sloppy,” criticised captain and keeper Peter Gulacsi.
Tedesco criticises the “ping-pong game “
The goal conceded was absolutely avoidable, even according to coach Domenico Tedesco. “When it was 3-0, we went 4-0 extremely often, which is ok, it speaks for the players. But in four or five situations you could have just stopped and played back. Then you don’t get involved in this ping-pong game. We still have to learn that,” said the Leipzig coach.
In the battle for the top flight, Leipzig have nevertheless come out confidently, the first time this season the Saxons are in a Champions League place, but Union Berlin and Freiburg can reclaim it as early as Saturday. “A nice snapshot, but nothing more,” Tedesco put the brakes on the euphoria ahead of the upcoming English weeks.
