Marco Rose has been talking with some real enthusiasm about Ange Postecoglou, the style of football that Celtic play and the stars in our team that stand out and impress the RB Leipzig’s Head Coach.
Rose has unquestionably steadied the ship at Leipzig after the club endured a terrible start to the season which included a 4-1 home defeat to Shakhtar that has undoubtedly put the Bundesliga side on the back foot in this Champions League group. Rose came in after the Shakhtar shock result and got his new charges playing better in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium before Real Madrid did to RB Leipzig what they had previous inflicted on Celtic, inflicting a few late sucker punches to show why they are the street-wise European Champions.
So RB Leipzig go into the double header against Celtic knowing that if they come off worse in these matches they can just about forget reaching the Champions League knock-out stages this season.
Yet getting past Celtic tommorrow night will, according to the Leipzig boss, be no mean feat and unusally perhaps he knows that he will be facing a team that will not be defensively minded but will instead trade blows with his own side and wait to see who has scored the most by the end of what promises to be an engrossing Champions League encounter.
“They have a team which is very active on the pitch off the ball with a lot of pace. They are very attacking with a clear idea. They are hard-working. They have two or two or three lads from Japan. It’s fun watching them,” Rose told the media ahead of their match against Celtic, as reported by RB Leipzig.
“It’s obvious how important those guys are for Celtic. They are small, very agile, very good at one on ones. I had a Japanese player with me in the past (Takumi Minamino at RB Salzburg) and he symbolises the great mentality they have and they can play very well. Of course we will highlight such actions. We have to defend well. We accept the fight.”
On Ange Postecoglou, Marco Rose is full of praise for the Celtic manager and the brilliant job he is doing at a club he admires so much. “I admire him. His idea of football is very exciting. I like to watch Celtic because they are attacking. They play similar to us the way they interpret football. They like to put opponents under pressure to win balls. The transition is fast with great counter-pressing.
“They are very aggressive in possession with 4-3-3, they have clear structures and ideas, but also with clear objectives to be very attacking. That is why he has been doing a great job at a great club.
“Celtic have been a great team effort off the ball and in possession. Furuhashi, for example, is very dangerous in front of goal. In position six, McGregor has been doing a great job. He can relieve pressure playing very clearly. Other lads can make the difference.
“It’s just a great team and not a team that thinks defensively or about parking the bus. It will be our task to put them in difficulties. We will find spaces and we will try to take advantage.”
Dismissing the transfer talk linking his players with moves to England, Rose instead returned to tomorrow’s match and knows that if he’s pointless after matchday three then it is going to be extremely difficult to qualify for the knock-out rounds.
🎙️ Marco Rose at the #RBLCEL press conference: “Celtic are an attacking side and have a clear playing style. They’re really fun to watch. They’re a good footballing team and we’re set up for them.”
🔴⚪ #WeAreLeipzig pic.twitter.com/ghNm4kX4cJ
— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) October 4, 2022
“Everything happens quickly. If you don’t win any points, you don’t get into the next round. But we have a home match in a full stadium and we must show the right attitude to leave the pitch as the winner. If we don’t get three points it will be very difficult for us.”
Final training session ahead of @CelticFC 🏃♂️⚽
🔴⚪ #WeAreLeipzig pic.twitter.com/0XdUiMDIFH
— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) October 4, 2022
