Europa League: RB Leipzig loses the second leg at Glasgow Rangers and is eliminated in the semi-finals

The dream of the German Europa League final is over. While Eintracht Frankfurt won their semi-final second leg against West Ham United 1-0 and advanced to the final, RB Leipzig lost 3-1 (0-2) to Glasgow Rangers at Ibrox Stadium on Thursday evening and thus missed the first European final in the club’s history.

From the dominance of the first leg a week ago, there was nothing left for Leipzig in Glasgow. Whipped up by their own fans, the Rangers performed very differently at home. While in Leipzig they tended to curl up on their own sixteen and only concentrated on preventing goals, this time the Scots played bravely forward.

They set the tone after just eight minutes when Ryan Jack failed from the edge of the box to Peter Gulácsi. The Rangers didn’t give up and landed an early double strike: First, Ryan Kent put James Tavernier on the right post after Leipzig didn’t really defend consistently in the run-up to this scene (19′). Just five minutes later, the home side combined from the right into the box, where Scott Wright hung up for Glen Kamara, who shot low into the far corner from 19 meters from the inside right.

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Despite their offensive drive, Glasgow did not forget to work defensively and presented Leipzig with major problems with their compactness. The guests were only dangerous with standards or long-range shots.

Dani Olmo had what was probably the best chance for the guests in the first half with a long-range shot that just went over the bar (28′). However, not much more came from the Leipzigers offensively in the first round, they could even be happy that the Rangers did not lead 3-0. After Tavernier put his head across, Joe Aribo stepped past the ball in the six-yard box and missed the huge chance to score the third Rangers goal (29′).

Even after the change of sides, the guests remained offensively pale for a long time. It was not until the 69th minute that the guests had their first real chance, which should have resulted in a goal straight away: Konrad Laimer appeared free in front of Allan McGregor, who made a brilliant save and prevented the goal. But a short time later the ball was in it: Angeliño crossed the ball strongly from the half field behind the defensive line, where Christopher Nkunku could run in and only had to put his foot down (70th).

The goal that would have saved Leipzig into extra time was followed by the Red Bulls’ only strong phase. Yussuf Poulsen had the chance to equalize just five minutes after the 1:2, but the Dane missed the ball in the penalty area (75′).

However, Rangers hit back six minutes later. The hosts outplayed three defenders with a long ball, and Kent crossed into the middle. Gulasci didn’t cut a good figure and was initially lucky that Josko Gvardiol headed the ball off the line, but the ball landed right in front of John Lundstram’s feet, who was able to shoot in from seven meters (81′).

In the face of the impending semi-finals, RB pressed 2: 3 in the final phase to at least force extra time, but they were no longer able to combine in the sixteen. Fashion Sakala, who came on before half-time, missed a huge chance to make it 4-1 for Rangers in added time, but that shouldn’t change his team’s progress.

This means that Rangers are in a European final for the first time in 14 years. On May 18, the Scots meet Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville.

The voices:

Oliver Mintzlaff (Managing Director Sport RB Leipzig): “It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough for a semi-final. Rangers deserved to win. We expected more. We have to analyze that calmly. We couldn’t deliver the performance we wanted. Our club is still young. We’ve been playing in the Bundesliga for six years and have now made it to the semi-finals of the Europa League. But we want to play better. It’s bitter, but also deserved. We came here with a lot of euphoria. We knew that it would be difficult, that they would be different play than in Leipzig. We are athletes. Now it’s time to wipe your mouth and move on. We can still qualify for the Champions League in the Bundesliga.”

Domenico Tedesco (Trainer RB Leipzig): “We are extremely disappointed. Rangers take the lead with the first chance. Of course that doesn’t really help in front of a crowd like this. Whenever we tried to overplay the pressing in the first half, we lacked the physicality completely. We did barely managed to tie balls. Every time we managed to do that and went forward, it became dangerous. We come back in the second half. In our best phase we get the third goal. We concede goals too easily. We have in the last ones The stability is lost when we play. And it is important to regain it very quickly.”

Konrad Laimer (RB Leipzig): “None of the goals we conceded was one where you think: Wow, that’s so great, you can’t prevent that. Offensively we had enough chances to score one or the other goal. After the 1-2 draw we had the game completely under Control. You then get the goal after a free kick from 40 meters to nowhere, with a cross to nowhere, a rebound to nowhere, another cross to nowhere. If you want to go to an international final, it is not enough if you are in goals like that, and if you don’t get it up front, you don’t deserve it.”

James Tavernier (Glasgow Rangers): “[Im Finale zu stehen] means the world to me. We especially wanted it for Jimmy tonight [Bell] to do. He will have looked down on us today and be proud of us, that achievement would make anyone proud. Now we have to celebrate ourselves. We’re in the final of the Europa League. We are there for a reason. We are full of self-confidence and we will get everything out of ourselves again today.”

The tweet about the game

That was noticeable: did Tedesco coach himself?

RB coach Domenico Tedesco waited a long time in the first leg before he reacted and made changes in the game. Leipzig were already struggling a week ago and often tried crosses, although the two players with the strongest headers on the offensive, André Silva and Yussuf Poulsen, sat on the bench for almost the entire game and were only substituted on in the 70th and 89th minutes. In the second leg, Tedesco’s team fell behind early and found it difficult to create any big chances. Nevertheless, the coach only changed three times in total and always kept his position. Even after the 3:1 he replaced a left-back with a left-back and a striker with a striker. A final offensive with fresh power from the bench to score the saving goal for extra time therefore failed to materialize.