RB Leipzig captain David Raum responds to Bayern defeat: “We got punched in the mouth.” | OneFootball

All the RB Leipzig professionals were understandably in a dour mood following Friday night’s thumping at the hands of German record champions Bayern Munich. The German Red Bulls naturally envisioned their opening Bundesliga match under their new head coach differently. As it stands, the Ole Werner Era has gotten off to the worst possible start. No one associated with the club had much positive to say.

Leipzig missed out on Europe last year for the very first time since being promoted to the German top flight. After a long search for a new head coach, Werner (free after resigning from Werder Bremen) was ultimately brought in to right the ship. Despite a summer full of personnel upheavals, Werner was able to lead the team to a strong training camp and a (somewhat shaky) victory against SV Sandhausen in the opening round of the DFB Pokal.

Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schäfer called the 6-0 Bayern shellacking “a very bitter pill to swallow“. Newly appointed squad captain David Raum found himself in the rather embarrassing position of explaining why the team couldn’t perform under his leadership. Werner himself kept it curt at the post-match press conference.

“It was a disaster not just for me, but for the entire team,” Raum remarked in the mixed zone. “It was the worst case scenario. We got punched in the mouth. We cannot let ourselves fall apart like that again. We must defend as a unit. We all have to take a look at ourselves. Ultimately, one wins tackles through mentality and willpower.”

“The task of finding the right words is difficult,” Werner added at the press conference. “We’ve got to digest it first. If you want to talk about what happened footballing-wise, we barely managed to get the ball away from our own goal. There was a 15 to 20 minute span after the restart when we managed to implement what we thought the match should look like.

“This was a deserved defeat,” Werner continued. “A bitter result, but one that nevertheless reflected the performance. Now it’s our job to derive the right lessons from it and show a reaction against Heidenhiem next week or, at least, show the foundational energy that I’ve called for over the course of the preparation this week.”

GGFN | Peter Weis