With one point from four games, RB Leipzig suffered an early exit from Group A in the Champions League. Nevertheless, the Saxons’ mood was not entirely dampened after Wednesday’s match.
“We should have won this game. It’s a shame again that we didn’t take advantage,” said Jesse Marsch after the 2:2 against Paris St. Germain on this 4th Champions League matchday in an interview with DAZN – sounding similar to the 2:3 after the match in Paris two weeks earlier. Nevertheless, the Leipzig coach saw the match as an “important step forward”. The performance at the start was strong, as was the response in the second half after falling behind. It wasn’t that easy to get those chances and the penalty at the end,” said the US-American.
While Marsch was “very proud” of his players’ performance, the 47-year-old was once again angry with the referees in the Champions League and even went on a little tirade: “I was really angry about the referee’s performance – right from the start. I’ve often seen all these great clubs get all the respect from the referees. The only thing that changes anything is when I escalate with my emotions. I’m saying this for the second time now at this point, that you can either swallow it all, or you react with emotion to get a little more respect. In many moments it was like he wanted an autograph from Neymar after the game. Sure, it’s great to have Mbappé, Neymar and di Maria here in Leipzig. But let’s have a normal game that you can say: It was fair. “
Haggle with chances, but no blame on Silva
The Leipzigers agreed that the penalty awarded by André Silva as early as the 12th minute, which if converted would have given them a 2-0 lead, could have swung the situation significantly in their favour. “Very important” could have been a two-goal lead, Marsch stated. Konrad Laimer also mourned the good opportunities in the first 20 minutes: “It hurts, we have these chances and they get in front of goal twice and score. But that is also quality. “
In any case, Peter Gulacsi did not want to blame the Portuguese for the missed shot – or even the fact that he had not given the ball to Emil Forsberg, who had been successful from the spot several times recently. “You can’t blame him for that. André is also a great goal scorer, he proved that last year. We always have two or three goal scorers, so we decide according to our feelings. André was really into the game, so it’s normal that he shoots,” said the Leipzig captain, putting himself in front of the attacker.
In addition, Gulacsi added, alluding to Italian national goalkeeper and European champion Gianluigi Donnarumma: “The problem was rather that one of the best goalkeepers in the world was standing there.”