Nagelsmann proud as RB Leipzig fall short

Julian Nagelsmann conceded Paris Saint-Germain deserved to progress to the final of the Champions League and highlighted key errors made by his RB Leipzig side in a 3-0 semi-final defeat.

The Bundesliga side’s surprise bid for a place in the final fell at the last hurdle after Marquinhos, Angel Di Maria and Juan Bernat were on target for Thomas Tuchel’s men.

Marquinhos headed in the 13th-minute opener from Di Maria’s sublime free-kick but the subsequent goals owed much to defensive lapses and uncharacteristic mis-steps from Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.

“I think at the end, the ticket to the final for PSG is well deserved,” Nagelsmann told BT Sport.

“For the first 10 or 12 minutes, we did well. We were in the game – good opening moments, good counter-attacks, in the final third we were a bit too hectic.

“Then we get the free-kick and the goal. After that we need five minutes to get back in the game. That was okay and then immediately we get the second goal.

“Then it’s hard to get back into the game because PSG have so much quality. At the end, they were the better team.

“You have to accept it, it’s hard. But football is like that.”

Leipzig started brightly but it was hard to escape the conclusion that recently departed Germany forward Timo Werner was sorely missed as they lacked cutting edge in attack.

Our #MissaoFinal comes to an end. You did us proud, boys 

 #UCL #RBLPSG pic.twitter.com/lsFgUNoaO7

— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) August 18, 2020

“In the first 10 minutes we had three or four good moments to open up the game. We made two or three big mistakes,” Nagelsmann said.

“When we conceded the second goal the belief of our players went down a little bit. I think that’s normal, but it gets a little bit more complicated.

“It was a question of character, we did it well in the second half but with no big finishing moments.”

It will now be a quick turnaround for Leipzig before they begin preparations for the 2020-21 Bundesliga campaign, but Nagelsmann insisted they will come to reflect fondly upon a Champions League bid that saw them beat the likes of Benfica, Tottenham and Atletico Madrid.

“At the end it’s not that easy to think about the good season we did in the Champions League but in one week it will be okay,” he added.

“We’ll try to do it again in the next seasons. We’ll send the players home for one week and then we have to try and do it again in the Bundesliga.”