We Are At Equal Levels With Tottenham But I’m Nowhere Near Mourinho’s Level – Nagelsmann

By Oma Akatugba, Leipzig, Germany

Julian Nagelsmann, the young and suave manager of high flying RB Leipzig typifies the shticks of his team, ‘youthful energy and character’.

At 32, he is arguably the youngest manager in Europe and in recent time, one of the best.

In his giant strides, team is gunning for the Bundesliga against favourites, Bayern Munich as he also eyes a good performance in the UEFA Champions League.

This has been helped with a victory in the first leg of the Round of 16 clash with Tottenham in London.

Responding to questions from Omasports about the prospects of beating Mourinho again, Nagelsmann said;

“I think less about beating Mourinho but more about beating Tottenham. I would like to take my team to the next stage. It is not a clash of equals. Mourinho has over 20 tittles while i have just one at under 19 level. Therefore, there will never be a duel between Nagelsmann and Mourinho at equal level. This is not a battle of managers at the same level but a battle between two teams at equal level.

“We want to create what we did in the first leg but tomorrow we will try be a little bit higher and that will make me satisfied. But a duel between myself and Mourinho is not it. I do not know how long Mourinho will remain a manager and I do not know if in my time as a manager, I will be able to win the amount of titles he has.”

About motivating himself and his young guns, Nageslmann said; “I think it’s about the content and to continue the way the boys are familiar with for them to give their best on the field. We wouldn’t develop new ideas and completely different style for tomorrow either. We stay with what the boys are used to.

“The important thing is to implement the conditions the boys are comfortable with which helps them to alwasy deliver on the pitch. That way you lose your nervousness too. I think it is quite normal that young players, young coaches are very nervous before such games. that is also part of it because you have to have your best performance on the pitch. We shall stay with what we alreday know and that is what we will try tomorrow.”

In his response to questions of playing without their home crowd due to the Coronavirus, he said;

“In my opinion, one should not differentiate between federal states where more infected people currently live and between federal states where fewer infected people live”
“It would have been a disadvantage if we had to play without fans in Leipzig and Tottenham played with fans in London,”

On the fitness issues of Timo Werner, he said;

“Yesterday, Timo trained as normal in competitor replacement training. If the training goes normally today, what it looks like now, then it will also start, “
“Timo still has enough final situations. He will score his goals again. “
“He is a good template and can put pressure on the opponent in the sprint and provoke ball wins.”
“We don’t think about Tottenham’s results in the last games, we just think about the game tomorrow”