Leipzig relish 'bonus' games with two trophies up for grabs - Tedesco

BERLIN : RB Leipzig's final-season stretch with two trophies still up for grabs does not bring any added pressure, with the players aware that upcoming knockout matches are the results of their efforts to turn the season around, coach Domenico Tedesco said on Monday.

Tedesco took over in early December, succeeding Jesse Marsch, with last season's Bundesliga runners-up in 11th place and their campaign all but derailed after also suffering a Champions League group-stage elimination.

Leipzig have battled back since then and are now in fourth place, in the running for a Champions League spot with seven league games left, while also having reached the German Cup semi-finals and the Europa League last eight.

"There is absolutely no pressure because we know where the team is coming from," Tedesco told a media roundtable. "In December, honestly speaking, the team was in 11th or 12th place, many points away from fourth place.

"Now we have these weeks with a lot of 'finals' but it is due to our work, the work of the team that we reached these kinds of games. Pressure in football is always there but there is no special pressure because it is a bonus to play these kinds of games. The players see it as a present," he said.

Leipzig face Union Berlin in a German Cup semi-final on April 20 after taking on Atalanta in the Europa League last eight over two legs on April 7 and 14.

"We want to win each game and we are able to do it," Tedesco said. "We have the quality but the other teams think the same. We will try to reach each target."

"Our target is to win the German Cup first of all. We are in the semi-finals and you want to win it if you are in the semi-finals," he said.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Clare Fallon)