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RB Leipzig welcome Eintracht Frankfurt to the Red Bull Arena on Saturday (15:30 CET) for Bundesliga matchday 22. Marco Rose spoke to the media ahead of the game, discussing the availability of his players Christo Nkunku and Lukas Klostermann and his relationship with SGE coach Oliver Glasner.
Team news
- Lukas Klostermann was brought off at half time of the 1-1 draw against Man City due to an adductor problem. He’s a doubt for Saturday’s game.
- Christopher Nkunku came through the game without any problems and is an option for the game.
- A complete overview of our team news can be found here.
MARCO ROSE ON…
… Team news:
- “On the whole, we came through the Man City game well. Lukas Klostermann had an adductor issue and we’re still looking at it today, but he’s a doubt for tomorrow.
Christo Nkunku did well, but we have to continue being careful with him. I’m hoping that we’re over the worst of it with him.
He got through 25 minutes without any problems after coming on against Man City, but we’ll still monitor him closely and see how training goes.
He’s a very important player for us and will be needed in the upcoming weeks, so we won’t rush anything with him. Our discussions with him are important.
He feels really good and doesn’t have any problems. He’s an option for tomorrow’s game but definitely won’t play 90 minutes.”
… Eintracht Frankfurt:
- “I’ve known Oliver Glasner for a few years and I know what kind of football he likes to play. You can see it in Frankfurt and it’s brought them a lot of success.
Eintracht are a team who work really well out of possession. They’re intense and aggressive. They make the spaces really small and try to win the ball high up the pitch.
When they win the ball, they’re good in transition. They have a fantastic striker in Kolo Muani and great players like Götze and Lindström in the squad. They have a secure and strong defence and have strengthened further with the addition of Philipp Max in winter.
Eintracht also have solutions with the ball. They have a clear aim with their vertical play and quick transitions. They’re at the top end of the table and are consistently picking up points. It will be a tough task tomorrow.”
It’s fun to talk about football with him.
… Oliver Glasner:
- “It’s fun to talk about football with him. We also get along really well when it comes to things away from football. He’s a really good guy. He’s making a great career for himself and had picked up a lot of successes like winning the Europa League. He’s overseen consistent development with Wolfsburg and Frankfurt. He’s a very good head coach.”
.… The importance of the game:
- “It’s important that we stay concerned with ourselves. We have our own objectives. However, tomorrow’s result won’t decide the outcome of anything. We have to perform over the long term and we need good performances and a good atmosphere in the team. Regardless of how tomorrow’s game ends, we have to carry on. But of course, we want to keep the three points in Leipzig.”
… League standings:
- “A tight league table is something that we’ve been missing in Germany. Hopefully it stays that way. Teams like Union, Freiburg, Dortmund are performing really consistently. We’ll also try to stay at the top. It’s fun, but we don’t need any extra motivation.
We take things game-by-game. Next up is Eintracht Frankfurt tomorrow. However, I think Bayern know what they have to do. Whenever they have a setback, that’s when they’re the most dangerous.“
… Kevin Kampl:
- “It’s not easy at the moment for Kevko. We have four top players in central midfield, but with our system we can only play with two. In the first half of the season we could rotate quite effectively because Konni missed a lot of time through injury.
Now, with Doudou Haidara and Xaver Schlager, we have four players at a high level. We know how to approach the competition for places within the team. Things can move quickly in football; we saw that recently with the others. With good performances, you can always break into the first eleven – that’s also the case for Kevko.”
… Mo Simakan:
- “Mo had a brilliant first half of the season playing as a full back. He also notices that he was enjoying playing on the flank, where he can bring his qualities into the game and can score and assist goals. He was signed as a centre back, but he’s shown that he can do very well both as a centre back and a full back.
Like with Kevin Kampl, it’s not easy at the moment for Mo. His off season wasn’t the easiest and Benny Henrichs has done really well in that position recently.”
… André Silva:
- “Every striker wants to get goals and assists and wants to have a lot of goal involvements. At the moment it doesn’t look like that for André. However, he works extremely hard and sacrifices himself for the team. He had the most sprints on the team against Man City and is really hard working.
I spoke to him recently and told him that he doesn’t have to let himself be judged on his goals.
It’s more important that he’s in the right place in the box at the right time and makes the correct decision. Then the moments will come when you get the bit of luck that you deserve and you’ll be rewarded. We’re all waiting for that day because it’s important for strikers to score goals.”
