We deserved to be knocked out from Champions League: Nagelsmann
Mar 11, 2021
Budapest [Hungary], March 11 : RB Leipzig head coach Julian Nagelsmann admitted that his side deserved to be knocked out of the Champions League after losing to Liverpool 0-2 in the second leg of their round-of-16 match on Wednesday (local time) here at the Puskas Arena.
With this win, Liverpool has progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Liverpool defeated RB Leipzig 4-0 on aggregate as earlier, Jurgen Klopp's side had outclassed their opponent 2-0 in the first-leg fixture as well.
The first half of the match between Liverpool and Leipzig saw no goals. However, Klopp's side changed their fortunes around in the second half. First, it was Salah who got the goal in the 70th minute of the match and four minutes later, Mane doubled the lead of Liverpool.
"I think we deserved to be knocked out, mainly due to today's match. Liverpool weren't creating a lot of pressure, they were sitting back and waiting and leaving us possession," Goal.com quoted Nagelsmann as saying.
"There weren't a lot of emotional moments, we were too slow to create actions, we were just possessing the ball. I think the emotional qualities we've had in recent matches in the league and cup weren't shown today. Liverpool had a few chances in the first half they squandered," he added.
Leipzig boss said that defending Premier League champions did not give them any chances in the second half to score goals.
"We didn't have a lot of chances in the second half, a lot of moments kept being squandered. We could see there was some respect in terms of counterattacks but that respect meant we reacted wrongly, then we conceded the first goal," Nagelsmann said.
"We were defending but not being active enough and kept too much distance from the attackers and you could see the quality they had: [Diogo] Jota's assist and [Mohamed] Salah's great goal. The second goal was game over. We don't like losing but sometimes you have to admit the opponent was better. We are angry and sad but we'll focus on Frankfurt who we play in the Bundesliga. It is well-deserved Liverpool go into the next round," he added.
RB Leipzig will next take on Eintracht Frankfurt in Bundesliga clash on Sunday.
