RB Leipzig 2-1 Atletico Madrid - Thursday 13th August, 2020 (Quarter-Final)

[Michael]

3 minutes ago, Happy Blue said:

They play at a much lower level so will be a massive shock when they face us  ..easy win for us like it was against Spain's best team too 

Play at a much lower level? I beg to differ, lol.

What I do find surprising is that Man City are actually slight favourites to win the Champions League, well with the British bookies at least, so I guess they agree with you in thinking that they are the best.

However, I am sure Bayern will have too much for them, we shall see when they inevitably meet. I don't think Lyon or Barcelona can stop either side from reaching the semi finals.

[Machado]

I stopped caring about the injected money conversation long ago. The Man Uniteds and Barcelonas have had it good for long enough... more clubs have money and can compete now... that's perfect.

Money always ruled the game anyway, who are we kidding? Modern football didn't start with Man City and Chelsea, it started when the TV money perpetuated the same clubs at the top and that's more than 50 years ago.

Personally I can't wait for more billionaire takeovers, at least we'll have more competition at the top.

[Michael]

Just now, Tommy said:

So whoever supported Red Bull Leipzig in this game, if you could block me, so I never have to hear from you again, that'd be great. 

Ok, just tell me how I can block you Tommy, I didn't know there was such an option. 

You looking forward to life in the 2nd tier next season? 

[Tommy]

Just now, Michael said:

You looking forward to life in the 2nd tier next season? 

I am, actually. 

[Michael]

Just now, Tommy said:

I am, actually. 

Actually I can imagine it being exciting from your perspective, you will be winning many more games and could actually win the league. You've already made some good signings this summer. Hartherz and Piotrowski are two very good additions.

[Happy Blue]

1 minute ago, Michael said:

Play at a much lower level? I beg to differ, lol.

What I do find surprising is that Man City are actually slight favourites to win the Champions League, well with the British bookies at least, so I guess they agree with you in thinking that they are the best.

However, I am sure Bayern will have too much for them, we shall see when they inevitably meet. I don't think Lyon or Barcelona can stop either side from reaching the semi finals.

It is weaker, City and Liverpool are currently the best teams in the world  ..ok, lets stick to facts ..Bayern's best player Sane could hardly get a game at City   ..we will DESTROY them with little effort! 

[Michael]

4 minutes ago, Machado said:

I stopped caring about the injected money conversation long ago. The Man Uniteds and Barcelonas have had it good for long enough... more clubs have money and can compete now... that's perfect.

Money always ruled the game anyway, who are we kidding? Modern football didn't start with City and Chelsea, it started when the TV money perpetuated the same clubs at the top and that's more than 50 years ago.

Personally I can't wait for more billionaire takeovers, at least we'll have more competition at the top.

I completely agree with everything you have said. I take exactly the same view.

[Tommy]

3 minutes ago, Michael said:

Actually I can imagine it being exciting from your perspective, you will be winning many more games and could actually win the league. You've already made some good signings this summer. Hartherz and Piotrowski are two very good additions.

I was very worried at first, but the first two signings look promising, and with Emmanuel Iyoah we got a Düsseldorf born and bred guy back in the squad after he's been kind of impressive out on loan in Kiel, and we also promoted Shinta Appelkamp from our own youth/reserve to the pro's. We might be successful with a squad our fans can identify with, and if not, at least we're not Red Bullshit Leipzig. 

[Michael]

1 minute ago, Happy Blue said:

It is weaker, City and Liverpool are currently the best teams in the world  ..ok, lets stick to facts ..Bayern's best player Sane could hardly get a game at City   ..we will DESTROY them with little effort! 

Nice banter mate, lets just wait until matchday when they both meet and we will let the football do the talking. Your defenders had better be ready for Lewandowski, the best forward in the world. 

[DeadLinesman]

Horrible result. 3/4 teams left in the competition who nobody should want to see win. City definitely have the edge as they’re used to playing in an empty stadium every week.

[Michael]

1 minute ago, Tommy said:

I was very worried at first, but the first two signings look promising, and with Emmanuel Iyoah we got a Düsseldorf born and bred guy back in the squad after he's been kind of impressive out on loan in Kiel, and we also promoted Shinta Appelkamp from our own youth/reserve to the pro's. We might be successful with a squad our fans can identify with, and if not, at least we're not Red Bullshit Leipzig. 

I think Dusseldorf look very well balanced as a team going into next seasons 2. Bundesliga. Dusseldorf actually had many good games in the Bundesliga, but it was their finishing that let them down on many occasions. But they have a team that should do much better in 2. Bundesliga. Kastenmaier looks like a real quality young keeper, you should try your best to keep hold of him as long as possible. There are several other very good players who can do a lot of damage in the 2, Bundesliga, I wouldn't be surprised to see Dusseldorf promoted again next season.

Rosler is a canny manager as well, I am sure he will get the best out of the team. 

[Machado]

Honest words from Koke when asked if that was a cruel end to the game. No bullshit.

“Cruel? They were much better. They moved the ball around better, were faster and more intense. We have to reflect and congratulate them”.

[nudge+]

12 minutes ago, Machado said:

I stopped caring about the injected money conversation long ago. The Man Uniteds and Barcelonas have had it good for long enough... more clubs have money and can compete now... that's perfect.

Money always ruled the game anyway, who are we kidding? Modern football didn't start with Man City and Chelsea, it started when the TV money perpetuated the same clubs at the top and that's more than 50 years ago.

Personally I can't wait for more billionaire takeovers, at least we'll have more competition at the top.

I don't want to get into a pointless discussion on this topic, so I didn't intend to reply, but I just can't keep it to myself not gonna lie, I find this point of view absolutely disgusting. There, I got it out of my system - don't mind me and carry on

[Michael]

1 minute ago, Machado said:

Honest words from Koke when asked if that was a cruel end to the game. No bullshit.

“Cruel? They were much better. They moved the ball around better, were faster and more intense. We have to reflect and congratulate them”.

Yes, credit to him for being honest.

[Inverted]

I'm not a fan of the Red Bull network, but in a sense, I'd rather have a team with basically no history, forging a new identity from scratch.

Better at least than a zombie club like Barcelona full of mediocrities who leech off and defile a once-admired history and culture.

[Happy Blue]

7 minutes ago, DeadLinesman said:

Horrible result. 3/4 teams left in the competition who nobody should want to see win. City definitely have the edge as they’re used to playing in an empty stadium every week.

This is another positive, it's like all the stars have aligned for us to win the CL this season and send Silva off with his missing piece of silverware  

[El Profesor]

32 minutes ago, Machado said:

I stopped caring about the injected money conversation long ago. The Man Uniteds and Barcelonas have had it good for long enough... more clubs have money and can compete now... that's perfect.

Money always ruled the game anyway, who are we kidding? Modern football didn't start with Man City and Chelsea, it started when the TV money perpetuated the same clubs at the top and that's more than 50 years ago.

Personally I can't wait for more billionaire takeovers, at least we'll have more competition at the top.

Spot on.

It's almost impossible to be romantic about football when your team basically becomes a feeder for foreign clubs. 

I'm not judging if this a negative or positive process. In the end, it is what is. 

In order to win at the highest level, you have to spend.

 

[Machado]

13 minutes ago, nudge said:

I don't want to get into a pointless discussion on this topic, so I didn't intend to reply, but I just can't keep it to myself not gonna lie, I find this point of view absolutely disgusting. There, I got it out of my system - don't mind me and carry on

Thats fine nudge  People who share your opinion probably think Leipzigs' story is unjust and my point is that this football thing has been unjust for a very long time.

I look at the club I support as an example. The most dominant multi-sports institution of the country for a century. Meritocracy? yeah yeah... Do I care? I try to focus on what happens on the pitch and be a silly little football fan who has his beer and shouts at the referee.

[Carnivore Chris]

7 hours ago, El Profesor said:

 

It's almost impossible to be romantic about football when your team basically becomes a feeder for foreign clubs.

 

The worry is that the Spanish, Italian, German and French leagues are all supposed to be among the top 5 leagues in the world, yet they are all utterly dire now in reality, with 5 clubs between all 4 leagues and even most of those 5 clubs aren't all that great currently either themselves. I know those clubs have generally always been dominant anyway, but the rest of their leagues were always strong, full of quality. The rest are just feeder clubs for the Premier League now.

The Bundesliga has shitloads of potential to start something special for German football right now, but then you see Werner has already gone to Chelsea, Havertz will be next, then Sancho will go to United, etc...where is the hope for this sport in the future when that is what it is?

All those 2 clubs were doing last night is advertising their players. Let's be honest. And that's not how it should be, but it is. So fuck football, it's a waste of time now(in terms of the top flight) unless you only care about 1 league and it's only going to become worse and worse as the years go by as it's too far gone.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

21 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

The worry is that the Spanish, Italian, German and French leagues are all supposed to be among the top 5 leagues in the world, yet they are all utterly dire now in reality, with 5 clubs between all 4 leagues and even most of those 5 clubs aren't all that great currently either themselves. I know those clubs have generally always been dominant anyway, but the rest of their leagues were always strong, full of quality. The rest are just feeder clubs for the Premier League now.

The Bundesliga has shitloads of potential to start something special for German football right now, but then you see Werner has already gone to Chelsea, Havertz will be next, then Sancho will go to United, etc...where is the hope for this sport in the future when that is what it is?

All those 2 clubs were doing last night is advertising their players. Let's be honest. And that's not how it should be, but it is. So fuck football, it's a waste of time now(in terms of the top flight) unless you only care about 1 league and it's only going to become worse and worse as the years go by as it's too far gone.

Correct. There should be a global salary cap of $100 000 per week for a player., and a cap of ten million per year remaining on contract for transfers. Enough room for certain clubs to have every single player on a fortune, but so smaller clubs can have a handful too. Bigger teams will still attract more stars because of trophies, sponsorship opportunities ext but it would be a damn site better than it is now. 

[Michael]

30 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

The worry is that the Spanish, Italian, German and French leagues are all supposed to be among the top 5 leagues in the world, yet they are all utterly dire now in reality, with 5 clubs between all 4 leagues and even most of those 5 clubs aren't all that great currently either themselves. I know those clubs have generally always been dominant anyway, but the rest of their leagues were always strong, full of quality. The rest are just feeder clubs for the Premier League now.

The Bundesliga has shitloads of potential to start something special for German football right now, but then you see Werner has already gone to Chelsea, Havertz will be next, then Sancho will go to United, etc...where is the hope for this sport in the future when that is what it is?

All those 2 clubs were doing last night is advertising their players. Let's be honest. And that's not how it should be, but it is. So fuck football, it's a waste of time now(in terms of the top flight) unless you only care about 1 league and it's only going to become worse and worse as the years go by as it's too far gone.

Werner left RB Leipzig for €55 million, because that was his release clause. Moreover, he actually wanted to leave because Chelsea were offering a huge wage deal. But as for Sancho and Havertz, their respective clubs Dortmund and Leverkusen are standing firm on their transfer valuations of their players and they won't accept anything less than they demand. As it stands Leverkusen are demanding £90 million for Havertz and Dortmund are asking for £108 million for Sancho, these are super high valuations for these players, so it is not as if they are letting them go relatively easily. Both clubs have reiterated that they won't accept anything less than their valuations of both respective players. In fact recently, Dortmund have threatened to increase their £108 million valuation of Sancho. 

At the end of the day, money always talks, as football is a  business. But at least some clubs are standing firm in regards to keeping hold of their best players for as long as possible.  The Bundesliga for one, is always producing many talented young players, so I don't see it as getting worse, even if a few good players leave the league. I find it a very exciting league to watch, even though Bayern Munich are the dominant force. Teams like Dortmund and RB Leipzig have the potential to challenge Bayern, but they really need to play their cards right in terms of maximising the potential of their respective teams. 

[Carnivore Chris]

36 minutes ago, Michael said:

Werner left RB Leipzig for €55 million, because that was his release clause. Moreover, he actually wanted to leave because Chelsea were offering a huge wage deal. But as for Sancho and Havertz, their respective clubs Dortmund and Leverkusen are standing firm on their transfer valuations of their players and they won't accept anything less than they demand. As it stands Leverkusen are demanding £90 million for Havertz and Dortmund are asking for £108 million for Sancho, these are super high valuations for these players, so it is not as if they are letting them go relatively easily. Both clubs have reiterated that they won't accept anything less than their valuations of both respective players. In fact recently, Dortmund have threatened to increase their £108 million valuation of Sancho. 

At the end of the day, money always talks, as football is a  business. But at least some clubs are standing firm in regards to keeping hold of their best players for as long as possible.  The Bundesliga for one, is always producing many talented young players, so I don't see it as getting worse, even if a few good players leave the league. I find it a very exciting league to watch, even though Bayern Munich are the dominant force. Teams like Dortmund and RB Leipzig have the potential to challenge Bayern, but they really need to play their cards right in terms of maximising the potential of their respective teams. 

But by selling these players for 90 and 100 million, it makes it worse as it prices every other league out even more by inflating the market further. This actually doesn't even benefit the selling club as it makes it much more difficult for they themselves to buy top players.

Money has played a part since I've been alive but this is massively different as a domestic league has pretty turned into a Super League, while every other has become null and dull. 

La Liga was producing stars for years, but after a while it has died because all this talent is picked up, largely by Premier league clubs and this will happen now to the Bundesliga, but before it's even had chance to grow again in that case. 

This has happened to other leagues for decades, Brazilian, Argentinian, Dutch, French..but it would atleast be nice for the sport to have talent spread out between atleast 4 top leagues as football is global. 

 

 

 

@Machado takeovers don't always work in truth and have actually taken alot of clubs down. It's definitely not always the answer.

As for Barcelona, Coutinho, Griezmann and Dembélé have been as disappointing as any signing(well, Dembélé more for injuries as he's highly talented), yet cost the whole of nearly 350 million. Ansu Fati and Riqui Puig came through the youth, are still kids, yet look much more suited. It's become like a contest to see who can cramp as many stars as you can into a squad. Clubs go through transition periods and it makes more sense to build patiently and wisely than just throwing money around. Clubs have turned desperate because of what the sport has become.

 

But enough about that as this is a match day thread. Fair play to Leipzig I say as they have worked their way up through the divisions and were a brand new club rather than one who sold their soul like many have nowadays. I wouldn't regard them as being like PSG either way.

[Rucksackfranzose]

The only reason RB Leipzig didn't sell their soul is they never had one.