"We know what the Europa League is all about"
RBL head coach Domenico Tedesco and striker Yussuf Poulsen spoke to the media at a press conference ahead of the second leg against Atalanta | Apart from Amadou Haidara, the whole squad is available for selection
Decisive game in Italy
RB Leipzig will travel to Atalanta on Thursday evening for the second leg of their Europa league quarterfinal. The Red Bulls will be looking to book their semi-final spot by improving on their first leg performance, in which they came away with a 1-1 draw. Head coach Domenico Tedesco and striker Yussuf Poulsen spoke to the media ahead of the game.
Domenico Tedesco:
- “We are travelling to Bergamo with a sense of anticipation, knowing that we are currently in a good place. However, we allowed them to do too much in the first leg and we will have to up our game in Italy. Even though we had lots of chances in the first leg, Atalanta also created a fair few opportunities themselves, so we will need to try and stop that on Thursday night. But this will be a difficult task.
Even though Atalanta were very robust and very aggressive, we made a lot of unforced errors in our build-up play and in the final third. We will undoubtedly have to keep our errors to a minimum tomorrow, because mistakes are quickly punished on the European stage.
Atalanta play with an extreme man marking system. They follow the opposition around almost the whole pitch. They do a lot of things really really well. They are a top team and we will need to play extremely well to beat them on Thursday.
I watched their game against Sassuolo and even though they lost, I saw a strong, compact, well-drilled side. That tells you everything you need to know. We know that Gian Piero Gasperini has a great team at his disposal no matter who he picks. Therefore, it isn’t really important how they line up on Thursday because I am convinced that Atalanta will be tough to beat either way."
Yussuf Poulsen:
- “I watched the first leg from the stands so I got a good view of our opponents. I expect it to be another intense game and we will have to give it everything for the full 90 minutes.
Getting into the Europa league semi-finals would be hugely significant. I’ve not played in one yet and the last time we were in this competition, we were knocked out in the quarterfinals to Marseille. We really want to advance so we can keep our chances of reaching the final alive. We will give it everything in order to get there.
We know what the Europa League is all about. Time and time again the favourites get knocked out or games are turned round in the final minutes. We know that anything can happen in this competition.
When you play against a team as physical as Atalanta, you can try and create overloads and create lots of chances. If we come out on top in these positions and play well then it could be a fun game. If we don’t succeed then it could be a bitter evening for us. We will do everything we can, to do better than we did in the first leg.”
Squad update:
- Apart from Amadou Haidara, who is still sidelined due to an MCL injury, the whole squad is available for selection against Atalanta.