RB Leipzig v Celtic in Champions League: German club searching for identity

Domenico Tedesco was fired within four months of guiding RB Leipzig to their first major trophy

Just 105 days after RB Leipzig lifted their first major trophy, the man who guided them to that elusive achievement, Domenico Tedesco, was sacked.

The former Schalke and Spartak Moscow manager led the Red Bull-backed club to a penalty shootout win against Freiburg in the German Cup final and also steered them from the bottom half of the Bundesliga into fourth place.

There was a Europa League semi-final too, but a slow start to this season culminated in Tedesco's dismissal following the 4-1 humbling by Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

Marco Rose - Leipzig-born and of the Red Bull school, having managed RB Salzburg - has become the club's third coach in 14 months as they attempt to go back to their roots.

After an inexorable rise from formation in 2009 to Bundesliga challengers and Champions League semi-finalists, Leipzig sit 11th in the league and are point-less in the group stage of European competition.

As they prepare to face Celtic in a pivotal double-header, the club who have been hailed as a model of how to run an effective football department are trying to re-establish themselves.

"There are many of us who believe if you look at the squad from top to bottom it's as strong a squad as any in Germany," said German football commentator Derek Rae.

"The expectation was, coming into this season under Tedesco, that they would be able to push on. But the early performances were not good enough."

RB Leipzig are captained by Peter Gulacsi (right), the former Liverpool goalkeeper

Nagelsmann hangover?

Leipzig's patchy results go back to the departure of Julian Nagelsmann to Bayern Munich at the end of the 2020-21 season.

The young German coach had led the club to third then second place in the Bundesliga, while also defeating Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid in the Champions League knockouts to reach the last four in 2020.

Nagelsmann modified the hardcore counter-pressing game which had been synonymous with Leipzig since its inception, morphing them into a more controlled, dominant side.

"He made them more of a complete team, a possession team," Rae says. "I think that's where some of the confusion arises.

"Once it was determined he was going to Bayern, they thought about who they wanted to bring in and went for Jesse Marsch, who had close ties to RB [Red Bull] and the style. But it just didn't work.

"The feeling was they had moved away from that under Nagelsmann; they had evolved into a more complete team."

Marsch was accused of trying to go back too quickly to the ferocious, energetic style that had been developed by his mentor Ralf Rangnick - and ultimately he was dismissed with Leipzig 11th in the league.

That's where Tedesco came in. His more considered, patient approach was thought to be more akin to Nagelsmann, and he produced exactly what was needed. A 15-game unbeaten run helped them progress up the league and into the last four of the Europa League.

Marco Rose has won two and lost two of his four matches since taking charge of RB Leipzig

But a slightly limp end to the campaign - trophy win aside - and a poor start to the next season, and he has gone.

Back to the drawing board they went, with former Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach boss Rose installed.

He will be joined in December by new sporting director Max Eberl, who has helped build Gladbach into a competitive force in German football as they look for stability.

"With Leipzig there is still that debate," Rae says. "Who are they going to be in a few years' time? What is the model for them? Should they have thought about that really? Or just do it organically?

"With Marco Rose, because he has this background with RB having managed Salzburg before, and he's from the city, I think we will see this marriage of the old counter-pressing ways, with some possession. But it's going to take time.

"My questions about Leipzig have to do with the moodiness of the squad in this campaign. They've been extremely moody and unpredictable from one game to the next.

"That's Marco Rose's biggest initial task, to get rid of the moodiness."

A wealth of talent

There have been questions on the pitch as well as the dugout. The club was built on an uncanny ability to unearth young talent and marry them with long-term servants such as Emil Forsberg.

The challenge is whether having too green a squad can hold Leipzig back in big moments and also get the consistency needed to challenge Bayern at the top of the Bundesliga.

But regardless, Rose has an incredibly talented squad to work with. Timo Werner has been brought 'home' and the club have kept hold of star striker Christopher Nkunku, who scored 35 goals last season.

Then there is Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol, who was linked with Chelsea in the summer, and Hungary superstar Dominik Szoboszlai, to name a few.

The group has been held together to make a better tilt in the league and in Europe, and the double-header against Celtic is crucial, with Rose having won two and lost two of his four games in charge.

"I think Celtic will watch very closely the win Leipzig had - quite an easy win (3-0) - against Borussia Dortmund just after Marco Rose had come in," added Rae.

"It was about brutally capitalising on mistakes made by the opposition. That was the hallmark of Leipzig before, under Ralf Rangnick and Ralph Hasenhuttl.

"So all these things put together do make for an interesting contest. Two contests that will be pivotal as far as both sides are concerned in the group."

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