The rapid strides that RB Leipzig have made in the Bundesliga — a top-four finish in the last six seasons — have certainly raised the level of expectation from the team. It does come as a surprise to see them winless in their last three appearances.

Held by Union Berlin and St Pauli, Leipzig were beaten by Atletico Madrid in the Uefa Champions League last week. In the German league, Leipzig have slipped to fifth in the standings, though a win against Augsburg at home on Saturday will certainly brighten their scenario.

But, will they be able to turn it around in the Champions League, which seems to have become a little more competitive, thanks to the new format? Goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi believes home advantage will be a factor in keeping Leipzig well placed in their upcoming clashes against Juventus and Liverpool on October 3 and 24, respectively.

“We’re very strong at home and have great support at our stadium (Red Bull Arena). Yeah, it will be two really tough opponents who like to have the ball and like to control the game. We are also a team which likes to have the ball, but we will have to play two perfect games to be able to be successful against these sides,” the Hungary goalkeeper, who has also captained Leipzig, told The Telegraph on Tuesday.

“Liverpool started really well in this Premier League season. As for Juventus, they still haven’t considered a goal in Serie A, so you can see two really strong teams. But we are also a team with quality and hopefully, we can get the points and go up in the table.”

Looking back at the 1-2 loss to Atletico despite leading at one point in time, Gulacsi puts it down to “too many mistakes”. “We still had managed to play an open game against a strong team like Atletico and got the lead after four or five minutes. But thereafter, we made too many mistakes with the ball.

“We allowed Atlético to come back in the game, though I still feel we should’ve had at least one point because it was a 50-50 game till the end. We managed to create a couple of opportunities too, but to concede off a set-piece or at a situation after a set-piece is disappointing, as we could actually have been a bit more organised,” Gulacsi explained.

“This is top football and when you play against such strong teams, they can punish you for small mistakes too and unfortunately, we made too many of them.”

Faith in Xavi

Impressive in Euro ’24 in the Netherlands jersey, attacking midfielder Xavi Simons chose to extend his loan at Leipzig from Paris St Germain for another season after being linked with potential moves to Manchester United and Bayern Munich earlier this summer. Retaining the 21-year-old was indeed a good move by the club, Gulacsi emphasised.

“What people don’t see is Xavi’s work ethic, his motivation, his desire, which we see every day in training. He’s a guy who’s really working hard to improve himself and he fits really well into our team. He’s one of our key players, of course, because he can create chances any moment. We have other players in that position with maybe different strengths, but Xavi is for sure one of our important players.”

Bundesliga: RB Leipzig vs Augsburg on Saturday, 7pm (IST). Live on Sony Ten 2 SD & HD channels.