Soccer-‘Gutted’ Leipzig shift focus to league after Champions League debacle

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – RB Leipzig are confident their Champions League crash landing following a 7-0 loss at Manchester City on Tuesday will turn from debacle to a trigger for domestic success with coach Marco Rose quickly shifting the team’s focus to the Bundesliga.

Leipzig lost without a chance when City forward Erlinghaaland scored five goals to help them win an aggregate 8-1 victory in the Champions League final 16 tie.

Rose stated that Leipzig has little time for self-pity as the fight for the spot in next season’s competition is raging in the Bundesliga.

“I’ve been in this business long enough. It is an extremely bitter defeat. No one needed this but it happens,” Rose took over as season manager in September and turned the season around.

“It is now all about reacting appropriately. This heavy defeat can trigger things,” He added. “To learn the lessons and become motivated on the next task because the Champions League is over for us.”

Leipzig, which suffered a poor start in the Bundesliga season, has rebounded in recent months to be in third place with 45 points. This is seven points behind leaders Bayern Munich.

Their top four finish, which will lead to the Champions League group stage next year, is not secure. Union Berlin and Freiburg are also on 45. Eintracht Frankfurt is on 40.

Leipzig also have lost some ground in title race because they won only three of six last league games. Next up is struggling VfL Bochum.

“Obviously the lads are gutted but we will continue on Saturday. We will have to work through a few things but on Saturday we are back in the Bundesliga. We have goals there that we want to tackle,” Rose spoke.

The holders Leipzig have also advanced to the German Cup quarterfinals, where they will face Borussia Dortmund next month.

“Saturday things continue and we will need new energy then. It is not important not to just focus on self-pity and criticism,” Rose was added.

“On Saturday we have a chance to do things better. That’s the good thing about football. Within a short time you can do that. That’s our task basically.”

(Reporting and Editing by Karolos Gruhmann; Editing done by Christian Radnedge

The February consumer price index report shows an inflation rate of 6%, compared to a year ago.

California Governor Gavin Newsom claims he is making a multimillion-dollar deal with Walgreens to get rid of abortion pills.

Rep. Steve Toth

Alex Bruesewitz

By Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics expects to invest $230 billion over the next…

(Reuters) – Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence firm G42 acquired a $100 million plus stake in ByteDance, valuing the Chinese unlisted owner of…

By Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India plans to force smartphone makers to allow removal of pre-installed apps…

By Sarah Wu and Yimou Lee TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan is scrambling to secure its communications with the outside world against an…