Unstoppable under Rose

RB Leipzig have now put together a 16-match run without defeat. The club's last loss came on 17 September, when they suffered a 3-0 reverse at Borussia Mönchengladbach. The Saxony side have seemed unstoppable since then and have been in outstanding form since Marco Rose's arrival in September. No team in the Bundesliga has picked up more points since the Leipzig native took over the coaching reins. That has allowed the club to climb up to third place in the league table and narrow the gap to FC Bayern Munich to two points. Qualification for the last 16 in the Champions League and the DFB-Pokal rounds off the picture.

But they have lost an important player, Dani Olmo, in the run-up to the cup clash with TSG Hoffenheim. The attacker sustained a muscle fibre tear at the weekend and will miss out. In addition, star player Christopher Nkunku is not yet fit. That means Leipzig are without the two players who scored the goals in their 3-1 victory over Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga in November (Nkunku x 2, Olmo x 1).

Even though the absences of two key players will hurt, the coach has various options at his disposal thanks to the squad depth. In Dominik Szoboszlai, Timo Werner, André Silva, Yussuf Poulsen and Emil Forsberg, Leipzig still have enough players to pose a goal threat.

Confidence could hardly be higher for Leipzig, who will be the clear favourites. Nonetheless, TSG head coach André Breitenreiter is confident that his team can reach the next round of the cup. "I feel a certain energy in the group, which is so important in phases like this. Everyone wants to work hard to turn things around. If it takes a cup game, which we're going into as huge underdogs, well that would make a nice story.''

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