Matchday 5 in Champions League Group G!
RBL visit Manchester City on Tuesday (21:00 CET). Our boys sit second in the table with nine points from four games. Erling Haaland and co.‘s holders are top of the group with 12 points. Both teams have already qualified for the Round of 16.
How does our head coach Marco Rose rate Pep Guardiola‘s team? Which players are available? And who will play in goal on Tuesday evening?
Here is a summary of Marco’s responses at the press conference.
Squad update | 27th November
- Timo Werner will miss the game in Manchester due to adductor problems.
- Benjamin Sesko returned from international duty with Slovenia with back pain. Our striker was involved in the final training session on Monday and is an option for our visit to the reigning champions.
- Kevin Kampl has had slight ankle issues recently. He has also returned and took part in the final training session. According to Marco Rose, Kevko is available.
Who’s fit? Who’s not? Find out all the info in our latest team news.
I’m talking about consistency and hunger.
Marco Rose on…
…how he is approaching the game against City with both clubs having already qualified for the Round of 16
- “This is an important game for us – it’s the Champions League. We didn’t get a good result in Wolfsburg on Saturday, but we think we did well in substance. However, we were missing something to get a good result.
The aim is to bring these things onto the pitch tomorrow. I’m talking about consistency and hunger. This is a benchmark of the absolute top level. How we will perform at this level? How will we approach the game against City?”
…his memories of the last visit to Manchester
- “It doesn’t help Xavi, Castello Jr. or Baumi if I tell them that we lost heavily here last year. It’s a new Champions League season, a new team. We can do better tomorrow, but we also know that it’ll be a very big challenge.
We’re facing a confident team with outstanding quality, but my team still want to prove themselves here and show what they’re made of.”
…the reunion with Erling Haaland and Josko Gvardiol
- “I’m looking forward to seeing Erling and Josko again tomorrow.
I’ve obviously been keeping an eye on Erling and always have to chuckle as he breaks one record after another. We have a good relationship, but we haven’t seen each other for a long time now. That’s why I’m pleased that we’ll have time to have a chat before the game tomorrow.
We are of course watching what Josko‘s doing. It was clear to me that he would settle in here with his quality. He plays kind of in a position between centre- and full-back under Pep. He told me in the first game that it involves a lot of running.
Josko is a really nice guy and a very good footballer – that’s why he’s fitted in at City and already integrated well here.”
What I really want is to give him playing time.
Marco Rose on…
…who will play in goal
- “I also really want to get Pete into a rhythm again and to reintegrate him after a long and difficult injury.
However, he now has these toe problems. We recently talked about maybe giving him some match practice tomorrow, but he hasn’t trained much in the last week and a half. That’s why Janis will start tomorrow. Because the game tomorrow is important for us – and Janis also needs his rhythm in these big Champions League games.
What I really want is to let Pete start against Bern to give him some playing time, because he’s important for us.”