Baum: “Full compliments to the team”

FC Augsburg have secured a vital point in the battle against Bundesliga relegation away against RB Leipzig. FCA head coach Manuel Baum was pleased with his team’s performance as they battled to a goalless draw. “I have to compliment my team for the way in which we fought to a positive outcome today,” said Baum. Here is the post match reaction. Rani Khedira: “You could say that today’s match was decided by our defensive efforts. We couldn’t have played any deeper as a defensive unit. However, this proved to be the right way to secure a victory against Leipzig. We didn’t allow much through to threaten Gregor as we constantly put pressure on the Leipzig players. Gregor Kobel: “Leipzig never gave us a moment of rest today. However, our game plan suited this well and we’ve managed to secured four points across our last two matches. This was against high-flying Dortmund and Leipzig. None of us thought that we were capable of doing that. However, we didn’t rule anything out as team and we deserved to take something out of both matches. We’ve worked hard and luck has been on our side in both matches. It is great to see our strong performances have been rewarded. We need to continue making progress over the next few weeks.” Kevin Danso: “We were incredibly stable in defence today. That was a fundamental part of our approach to this match. This was also the case against Dortmund last week. We fight to secure every point and this was the case once again today.” Daniel Baier: “Leipzig are a very strong side. Therefore, it is rare for teams to secure a clean sheet in Leipzig as we have today. We fought courageously hard today and we secured a point thanks to a stroke of luck and a strong goalkeeping performance. We caused them a couple of problems on the counter too. However, we were missing the necessary stroke of luck to score.” Michael Gregoritsch: “In the Hinrunde, we were not able to secure as many points as we wanted with luck going against us. However, today we defended very well. We need to defend like that in our forthcoming matches. We secured a vital point today but sadly couldn’t take all three. Our full focus now turns to next weekend’s crucial home clash with Hannover.” Manuel Baum: “We have suffered a lot of injuries in recent weeks as we prepared for this match. Consequently, we chose to operate a defensive strategy for today’s match in Leipzig. We couldn’t allow Leipzig to settle into the match, score and dictate proceedings. We create a couple of good chances to quickly win the ball and hit Leipzig on the counter attack. However, we were not clinical enough when we did create chances to score. Nevertheless, I must compliment my team for the manner in which we fought to a positive outcome today. They played courageously and this paid off in the end with the goalless result.” RB Leipzig head coach Ralf Rangnick: “As expected, today’s match was exhausting and very difficult. I would’ve liked my team to have carried out the things which we spoke about before the match on more occasions. In the first half, we played the ball laterally on too many occasions. We improved on this in the second half. We created three or four clear chances to turn this match in our favour and secure all three points.  However, we were missing the necessary composure in front of goal to win today. We have to therefore accept this result and just a point.”