The head coach on the game: "We're coming to the end of the league campaign and each game is more important. It isn't a final for us tomorrow but there are not many more opportunities to put things right. For that reason, it's absolutely a very important game for us tomorrow," said Bosz who is hoping his team have learned the lessons from the last two disappointing performances against Werder Bremen (1-3) and Hoffenheim (1-4). He said he had gone through the errors with the team and that the Werkself pros were very critical of themselves and in future there is the desire to be more tactically disciplined. "It's impossible to play football without making a mistake – even if you win 4-1 you will still make mistakes. We want to play an attacking game and if you're not properly organised, above all on the defensive side, then it can be dangerous. Against Hoffenheim we lost our organisation after going 3-1 down and we could have lost by even more. That can't happen. We have a way of playing that means you have to stick to the plan from the 1st to the last minute," said the 55-year-old. The Werkself head coach is expecting a very tough challenge against the third-placed team from Leipzig: "It's not easy to play against Leipzig. They are very well-organised and have only conceded 20 goals. They have good individual players and they are also a very good counter-attacking side. That's why we'll have to be very, very good tomorrow." It could be an advantage that the Red Bulls played 120 minutes on Tuesday night in the DFB Cup tie away to Augsburg: "If you win a game like that in the last minute and don't have to take penalties then that gives you a boost. But the extra time could still have its effect. We should be fresher and I hope that will help us tomorrow," said Bosz who promises the spectators at the nearly sold-out BayArena a really exciting encounter: "it's always interesting when two teams face each other who want to play football. It will be a good game tomorrow."
The personnel situation: While Wendell has served his one-match ban and is available again against RB Leipzig, Peter Bosz will have to make do without captain Lars Bender and Karim Bellarabi. Both suffered hamstring injuries in last Friday's game at Hoffenheim and the season is already over for Bellarabi. The Werkself head coach was unwilling to reveal who will take the place of the winger in the Leipzig game: "There are different options we can take. In terms of his qualities, above all his pace, there is no like for like replacement for Karim. He has already been injured and there we used Kai (Havertz, ed.). If we don't try to replace him like for like then that will change our basic organisation," apart from Lars Bender and Bellarabi, who celebrated his 29th birthday on Monday, the Werkself head coach had a full squad to choose from in training this week.
The referee: Tobias Welz Is in charge of Saturday’s match at the BayArena. For the 41-year-old from Wiesbaden, it will be the third time this season he has been in charge of a Bayer 04 game: ‘The police officer refereed the 5-0 DFB Cup win against Borussia Mönchengladbach at the end of October and he also officiated in the 3-1 league defeat against Bayern Munich in the middle of September. Welz is set to referee his 97th Bundesliga game in Germany's top flight (includes ten Werkself games). He will be assisted by Rafael Foltyn and Dr. Martin Thomsen, Marcel Pelgrim is the fourth official. Sören Storks and Mark Borsch are the VAR referees.
The previous meeting: At the end of the third successive week of doubleheaders, the Werkself (11 points) were the visitors at Leipzig – on matchday 11, coincidentally also the 11th of the 11th. However, there was no carnival atmosphere on that early Sunday afternoon at the Red Bull Arena. On the contrary – the match against a team in fourth position at the time ended in a clear 3-0 defeat. After a closely fought start, the game developed into a midfield battle with Yussuf Poulsen opening the scoring on the half-hour mark fulfilling expectations of the Red Bulls after a run of nine games without defeat. The former coach Heiko Herrlich reacted at half-time by switching from 3-4-3 to a 4-2-3-1 system with the Werkself looking more ambitious and attacking at the start of the second half. The Black and Reds did find it difficult to penetrate the best defence in the league – even at that point. The hosts also proved more effective in front of goal with Lucas Klosterman doubling the lead on 68 minutes. The Werkself pressed even more intensively in search of a goal but on that early Sunday evening there was a lack of luck in finishing. Quite the opposite for the team under coach Ralf Rangnick with Poulsen rounding it off with his second goal five minutes from the end.
