Young Leipzigers play "men's soccer" in Dortmund

RB Leipzig are more than just back on track after the opening debacle in Munich. With the 1:1 at Borussia Dortmund and the fifth game without defeat, they have established themselves at the top of the Bundesliga. Head of Sport Marcel Schäfer takes stock and praises new coach Ole Werner to the skies. "Ole has done a really great job with his coaching team. You can see patterns in our defensive work in our games, but also in the offense. And that is absolutely to his credit."

The Saxons' new sense of ambition following the total upheaval was also evident in the head coach's reaction after the courageous performance in front of 81,365 spectators at the sold-out Signal Iduna Park. "I'm not entirely satisfied with the result. Because when you put in a good performance away from home here, you want two more points. But I'm very happy with the performance," said Werner, emphasizing that it's not a matter of course "that you play so maturely and calmly against a team that is in top form and extremely strong at home".

Schäfer: "We really agree"

Schäfer also acknowledged that. "We never let Dortmund come into their own like that," said the sporting director after 13 points from six games. After the 6-0 debacle in Munich at the start, RB are now unbeaten in five games (four wins) and third in the table. "We now have the first break and 13 points, so everything is going well so far. Not everything is working yet, but we're really happy," said Schäfer.

He is particularly pleased with the development of Nicolas Seiwald and Christoph Baumgartner: "Their performances confirm our thinking in principle. Not everything worked out last year, but we consciously decided on one or the other. They have great character and are top professionals."

"Played men's soccer today"

The Austrian Baumgartner scored the 1:0 (7th minute) after a standard rehearsed with assistant coach Jan Zimmermann - a former BVB coach - before Dortmund's Yan Couto (23rd minute) equalized. In the end, it was the overall impression that counted. Ridle Baku described it aptly before his departure for the German national team: "We played men's soccer today and defended very well. But we were also very well prepared tactically and knew exactly what was going to happen."

The full-back praised the maturity of the still young team with an average age of 24. "When I see how we throw ourselves into every shot and how far back we go, then we've come a long way. We are a top team, we know that."

National team colleague David Raum spoke of a "mature away performance" in which they "perhaps deserved more". He described the goal conceded after a failed defensive attempt by Willi Orban as a "cucumber goal". Nevertheless, he sees the young, newly formed RB team on the right track: "Overall, we are slowly maturing, our system of play against the ball and with the ball is becoming more and more effective."