Domenico Tedesco, enlisted last December to make up for the mistakes of the Marsch management, has turned Leipzig inside out in just a few months. The coach, who was born 36 years ago in Calabria but moved to Germany as a child, has managed, despite his lack of experience, to straighten out a season that, for the Roten Bullen, seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. Suffice it to say that on his arrival the team was sailing in the right-hand side of the standings, far from the top positions.
And that could now turn into the most glorious ever for an ambitious but still very young club, having only been founded in 2009. In 24 games at the helm of German Leipzig he has picked up sixteen victories and barely managed three defeats, regaining fourth place – which he will have to secure in the next three Bundesliga games – and reaching the German Cup final, where in less than a month’s time he will compete for the trophy with Freiburg. But the finals could even ‘double up’, considering that Gulacsi and his teammates will also be engaged in the penultimate act of the Europa League after having brilliantly overcome the obstacles Real Sociedad and Atalanta in the previous rounds. Barcelona’s surprising elimination paves the way, at least in theory, for Leipzig, who are qualitatively and technically superior to the other teams remaining in the game, as the bookmakers’ antepost odds also confirm.
It would be a mistake, however, to underestimate the pride and enthusiasm of their next opponents in the semi-finals, Rangers, who were already able to overturn the predictions in the round of 16 by knocking out the highly favoured Borussia Dortmund, another club relegated from the Champions League. The swaggering Scots then got the better of Red Star and Braga in the double-header, taking advantage as usual of the pitch factor: playing at Ibrox is never easy for anyone, which is why Leipzig will have to try not to make life difficult for themselves in the first leg.
James Tavernier ©️Ansafoto
The Prediction
Leipzig’s positive streak came to an end last Saturday after fourteen matches: Union Berlin avenged the defeat of a few days earlier in the German Cup by taking advantage of the Roten Bullen’s physiological decline due to too many close commitments. But there are plenty of reasons to dismiss it as an incident on the road. There will be an immediate reaction against Rangers, against whom Leipzig should be able to win by at least two goals: the Scots’ untight defence will struggle to contain the verve of players like Nkunku and Dani Olmo, who have been devastating in the last period.
The Leipzig-Rangers line-up probables
LIPSIA (3-4-1-2): Gulacsi; Mukiele, Klostermann, Gvardiol; Henrichs, Laimer, Adams, Angelino; Dani Olmo; Nkunku, André Silva.
RANGERS (4-3-3): McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Bassey; Kamara, Lundstram, Jack; Ayodele-Aribo, Sakala, Kent.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-1
