RB Leipzig beat Manchester City to secure Europa League spot

RB Leipzig 2-1 Manchester City
(Szoboszlai 24', Silva 71' - Mahrez 77')

RB Leipzig's win against Manchester City was not a particularly memorable game, but it was the result the Bundesliga club needed to secure Europa League football in 2022.

For interim head coach Achim Beierlorzer, it was also undoubtedly a career highlight to beat Pep Guardiola. More than anything though, it was a performance that left a feeling of what might have been for RB Leipzig in Europe this season.

"We wanted to show that until now we haven't done what we wanted to do," Dominik Szoboszlai told DAZN afterwards. "We can beat anyone."

The Hungarian's cool finish after a superb ball from Konrad Laimer went a long way to helping RB Leipzig beat Manchester City. So did Phil Foden's shot hitting the post, Andre Silva's neat finish on the break and the Premier League side regularly being offside.

In total contrast to their performance in Berlin four nights ago, RB Leipzig's ability to be solid and at times unspectacular was noticeable. Jesse Marsch has gone and perhaps with him Leipzig's wild ways.

"We simply wanted to have fun playing football together again," Laimer said to DAZN afterwards.

And fun was had, but not through a wild, aggressive performance. Instead, this RB Leipzig side played more like a mature, stifling European team capable of competing with the big boys. Even Christopher Nkunku, Leipzig's star performer with 14 goals and 9 assists this season, traded flair for functionality.

Low expectations

It would be fair to suggest that a third-placed finish in a group with Paris St. Germain and Manchester City would be an achievement for RB Leipzig, but this is a group the Bundesliga club should have felt right at home in.

Not only does their controversial business model, which relies heavily on investment from Austrian energy-drink giant Red Bull, share similarities with other teams in the group, RB Leipzig were in a Champions League semifinal not long ago. More was possible.

An injury-time equalizer in the home game against PSG probably felt like a point won, but Andre Silva's missed penalty soon after RB Leipzig had taken the lead early made it feel like a missed chance for a stunning win.

In Paris, RB Leipzig led with an hour played. Then Lionel Messi happened, but again the chance was there. The home defeat to Brugge stands out as the most obvious loss of points.

Even the scorelines show a side lost in the wild. A 6-3 defeat to City, a 5-0 win in Brugge, a 3-2 loss in Paris - this was a side struggling to keep its balance. In the crucial win against City, they were the opposite of all of that and perhaps the greatest compliment they received was just how much that frustrated City.

Mad Manchester

The Premier League side has conceded just nine goals in the league this season, but five in two games against RB Leipzig. The Bundesliga side's win also ended City's 14-game unbeaten run (13 wins, 1 draw) against German teams and when Kyle Walker wildly kicked out at Andre Silva in the final 10 minutes of a game City just needed to play it was clear, even with top spot secure, how annoyed City were.

"We also put the onus on the team to perform," RB Leipzig's CEO Oliver Mintzlaff told DAZN afterwards. "And thankfully we got the reaction we wanted and sorted of expected to be honest."

Beierlorzer will savor this moment, as he should, but it is unlikely he will be the man leading the club forward in the New Year. Former Bayer Leverkusen and current PSV head coach Roger Schmidt was, according to kicker, the favored candidate but the German opted to stay in the Netherlands.

Whoever does take over will have to figure out how to reestablish the identity of a club built on intensity, pressing and risk. One look at RB Leipzig's performance against Manchester City suggests another way might be best.