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RB Leipzig will desperately want to beat Aston Villa on Tuesday night after squandering all five of their Champions League games this season.
Only BSC Young Boys and Slovan Bratislava have also had no problems at league level and would possibly want to win the remaining 3 games to qualify for the play-offs. Like Villa, Leipzig have won their last two games after a long winless run.
Their play spanned six games in all competitions and even before the 5-1 home defeat to Wolfsburg on 30 November, tension was mounting on coach Marco Rose. But club captain Willi Orban remained convinced that the former Borussia Dortmund coach is the best man for the job.
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“I can’t think of a better coach for us at the moment,” he told DAZN after Leipzig’s latest Champions League defeat to Inter. “We have a lot of young players, but they also want to take the next step and be more emotionally mature.
“This is the first crisis we have had with the coach. You have to give him confidence. Now it’s our turn, guys. It’s not easy, but we’ll have to come out stronger.
Rose said: “Sometimes, even in recent weeks, we have the feeling that we are a little bit lacking in many areas. I think we were more precise today. But at the moment it is not enough to achieve anything worthwhile. ” he said, adding that he didn’t need to “dilute anything. “
“We know why certain things have happened. But we’re here to deliver, to fight our way out. We’re going to stick together and get through it. I’m very sure of that.”
Leipzig returned to their winning tactics against Frankfurt in the German Cup last Wednesday and winger Antonio Nusa claimed afterwards that he and his team-mates were under no additional pressure to impress despite their lack of spin in November.
“I don’t think we’re in crisis,” Nusa said. We may not have gotten the results, but we believed in ourselves. Today we played with a lot of freedom and composure. It was a victory for everyone, for the coach, for the fans. Hopefully we can get it out. Today we controlled to give our best and not be distracted by the pressure. “
Leipzig then showed off its cup victory by beating Holstein Keil on Saturday, its first league win since October.
“We failed to realize our full potential in November, neither as a team nor as individual players,” Orban said after the victory. “There was a lot of discussion and we focused on ourselves. Now we will have to do it temporarily because Aston Villa are already waiting for us on Tuesday. “
Rose added: “We have been playing for several weeks now with a small squad. Today’s game in Kiel was tough. In terms of the quality of the performance today, there is certainly room for improvement, but we managed to tackle the challenge successfully. It’s not always about pressing your opponents hard, but sometimes you just have to wait for opportunities to hit them on the counter-attack.
“It was difficult for us to get on the field in the first moments of the game, but as time went by we advanced. In the end, we defended and took our chances. “