RB Leipzig captain Marcel Sabitzer admits that a ‘high-quality’ Liverpool made the Bundesliga outfit pay for their mistakes during a 2-0 Champions League win, speaking to 90Minuten.
Jurgen Klopp’s Reds certainly put their domestic struggles behind them on Tuesday night. That iconic Champions League anthem is to Liverpool what spinach is to Popeye and, after second half strikes from Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, last season’s semi-finalists Leipzig are now staring down the barrel of an early exit.
Though it’s fair to say the visitors had a helping hand in Hungary.
It was Sabitzer himself who served up the opener on a garnished plate, his misplaced back-pass gifting Salah a one-on-one chance that he was never going to miss.
Five minutes later, an ill-timed slip from the hapless Nordi Mukiele allowed Mane to saunter through and double the lead.
And Sabitzer was left understandably frustrated after individual errors left Leipzig with a mountain to climb ahead of the return leg.
“The fact that we made two individual mistakes in the second half is of course very bitter. We had a good spell at the beginning of the second half, we give the Liverpoolers two presents afterwards and then of course it’s difficult against such a high-quality team,” bemoans the Austria international.
“We still tried to play from the back and still had some good scoring opportunities. A goal would have been good, but of course it’s a very bitter evening for us. My back-pass was very inaccurate and of course I take the mistake on my head.
“When you kick the ball into the feet of a player like Salah, of course, you know what’s going to happen.”
While Salah and Mane made the difference at one end, the much-maligned Alisson Becker also produced a timely reminder of his world-class qualities at the other, just days after that nightmare afternoon at the King Power.
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