After the false start in the Bundesliga and Champions League, RB Leipzig parted ways with head coach Domenico Tedesco on Wednesday.
The decision came after Tedesco’s disastrous start to the season and former Borussia Dortmund coach Marco Rose is amongst those being traded as a possible successor.
Memories in football are very short, Tedesco brought RB Leipzig the most successful season in the club’s young history with the DFB Pokal win in May but today, less than three months later, the 36-year-old has been relieved of his duties by the club.
The final straw was the 4-1 defeat on Tuesday night to Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League opener. A match that most pundits had expected ‘Die Roten Bullen’ to win.
Speaking about the decision, sporting director Oliver Mintzlaff said: “It was a very difficult decision for us and was taken after a deep analysis of the issues,” late on Wednesday night.
Mintzlaff further added: “After the mediocre start to the Bundesliga season with five points from five games, especially after the recent games at Eintracht Frankfurt and at home against Shakhtar Donetsk, we did not feel that an immediate turnaround could happen in the current set-up.”
Tedesco is the second coach to be dismissed by the club in the past year. He was appointed on 9 December 2021 after Jesse Marsch was sacked after just five months.
In the 21/22 season, the former Schalke 04 coach led the then 11th placed team to the Champions League, the Europa League semi-finals and the DFB Pokal triumph.
The timing in some ways could not be worse with Tedesco celebrating his 37th birthday on Monday. Assistant managers Andreas Hinkel and Max Urwantschky have also been released from their contracts by the club.
Kicker this morning confirmed that Rose is being ‘considered’ as a possible successor. The Leipzig-born coach managed RB Salzburg between 2013-19, working his way up from the youth set-up to the first team, and was highly successful winning the UEFA Youth League title in 2017, the Austrian Bundesliga title in 2018 and the cup and championship double in 2019.
Another possible candidate might be Thomas Tuchel who was sacked this morning after Chelsea’s unexpected 1-0 loss in the Champions League at Dinamo Zagreb. Chelsea are currently sixth in the Premier League with just 10 points from six matches. The coach came under criticism following losses to Leeds United and Southampton.
Whilst appointing Tuchel would be impressive for the ‘Red and Whites,’ the wage expectations of the 49-year-old are likely to be an insurmountable stumbling block. Tuchel, who led the club to the Champions League title in 2021, is reported to have been earning €8m per season at the West London club. The German tactician has spent the last three years with Chelsea and PSG but before that was at Borussia Dortmund until 2017. Tuchel also had previous spells with Mainz and Augsburg II.
On Saturday Leipzig will face BVB who will be hoping to continue their good run of form after the 1-0 win over Hoffenheim and convincing 3-0 win against FC Copenhagen in the Champions League last night.
