RB Leipzig is the new Bundesliga team which have been playing in the UEFA Champions League lately. Their maiden season in this competition was just eight years of its foundation in 2017/18. Since then, their home base, Red Bull Arena, has been in colorful atmosphere with the average of 42,000 fans in the midweek for European games.
Leipzig’s continental campaign has never been far from talented young players. The likes of Timo Werner, Swedish international Emile Forsberg, Danish forward Yusuf Poulsen, Peter Gulacsi, Dani Olmo, Lukas Klostermann, Willi Orban, Kevin Kampl, Marcel Sabitzer and Christopher Nkunku have been apart the club’s history in the making of Champions League dream. Not only the players who have made their best effort for the glory of this club, the young talented managers such as Julian Nagelsmann and Ralph Hassenhutl have done their part for Leipzig’s positive progress in the top flight championship in Europe.
Top Achievements
Since their debut in 2018, RB Leipzig have just made less than five appearances in the Champions League but they have managed to advance from the group stage twice. One of which was progressing to the last four. It was in 2019/20 season when Julian Nageslmann guided his young team to the semi final before losing 0-3 to the more experienced side, PSG. In the following season, the club could qualify from the group of death as they were seeded with PSG and Manchester United. Marcel Sabitzer and Co went through but only had to be beaten by Liverpool in the round of 16. Such has been quite an achievement compared to the result of their first entry by finishing third at the group stage and headed to the Europa League in the rest of the season.
Iconic Moments
Leipzig’s victorious moments in this first tier of European football have been more than their terrible ones. The best one was surely in the 2019/20 quarter final when they surprisingly thumped Atletico Madrid 2-1. Dani Olmo and Tyler Adams netted their winning goals while Los Rojiblancos only responded by a penalty. The next one was in their debut, 2017/18. Despite failing to go through, Ralph Hassenhutl’s side beat FC Porto 3-2 and trounced Monaco 4-1 on the road. Another one was in 2020/21 season when Julian Nageslmann’s men picked up two important wins over the big teams at the group stage. They crushed Manchester United 3-2 in the decisive match to progress. Angelino, Haidara and Justin Kluivert scored the winning goals and sent United to the exit. Earlier on matchday three, Leipzig defeated PSG 2-1. Christopher Nkunku and Emile Forsberg’s penalty responded well to the early goal of Di Maria.
Their unpleasant moments in Champions League took place in 2020. At the semi final behind closed doors in Lisbon, Willi Orban and Co were lacklustre and beaten 0-3 by Thomas Tuchel’s PSG. Another one was in the following season when they were humiliated 0-5 by Man.United in Old Trafford. It was in fact their first big loss in Europe.