Before their Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid on Thursday, RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann called on Tyler Adams and the rest of his players to step out of the shadows and embrace the remaining light that once shone on them. former star striker Timo Werner.
With Werner seeing his old team in his new London flat adapting to life at Chelsea – he was called more prematch than one of his teammates – Leipzig answered Nagelsmann’s challenge. And it was American midfielder Adams, the unlikeliest of heroes, who scored the crucial goal to accompany Leipzig in their first Champions League semi-final, just 11 years after the club was officially founded.
Atletico were favorites for prematch – they had the “easy” side of the sign – but were tactically outmaneuvered. Leipzig, on the other hand, played with a wonderful fluency; the antithesis to Los Rojiblancos‘rigid style, rooted in footballing claustrophobia instead of any urgency in using their embarrassment about attacking wealth. Atletico wanted an arm wrestle; Leipzig had its own ideas. Mark this as a victory for the tactical mastery of Nagelsmann and confirmation for his understanding of the ebb and flow of a 90-minute match, when he judged each of his substitutions to perfection.
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When Joao Felix came on in the 58th minute, it looked like Diego Simeone had picked up another winning substitute after Marcos Llorente saw Liverpool in the 16th round, played in March. Felix found this narrow glimpse of chance on the right flank of Leipzig, and sent it until the dam burst and the otherwise excellent Lukas Klostermann brought him down and equalized Felix from the penalty spot.
The £ 113 million super-sub saw Atletico’s ticket to the semi-finals, but there was another replacement who would take the headlines. When Felix turned the game on its head, Nagelsmann’s antidote was ready, with Adams on the touchline. The Americans’ primary was to plug the Felix-shaped hole in Leipzig’s defense and mark him out of the game. In defense, he would switch between right-wing back to central midfield, and his man followed; in attack, well, he had never scored for Leipzig in 28 appearances – leaving a task to others. But that is no longer the approach in life to Werner.
In the midst of Adams’ defensive duties came a rare attacking opportunity. The move was the epitome of Nagelsmann’s philosophy: Make the transition, take a chance while being the positional equivalent of football of a chameleon. As he approached the edge of Atletico’s chest, it was the kind of space that would normally be foreign to Adams.
Marcel Sabitzer provided a pinpoint through-ball to the superb marauding left-back Angelino, who cut the ball back, and there was Adams on the edge of the Atletico area. Adams took a touch to stabilize himself, then swung his right foot through it. The ball ricchched from Stefan Savic and past the best goalkeeper in the world in Jan Oblak, Nagelsmann celebrated and Adams, who was originally more surprised than expected, was bullied.
“I’ll take it!” he said afterward.
Adams has long been Leipzig’s hottest option – he can play anywhere over the back and midfield – and that can be a thankful task. He’s the glue in a team that rarely gets out of claim, but those near Leipzig say it’s those kinds of players who are indispensable. Talking to those who know Adams and his accomplishments on Thursday will come as no surprise. FC Salzburg boss Jesse Marsch, who has coached the 21-year-old for four years in both New York and as an assistant at Leipzig, will tell you that Adams is a coach’s dream. He has this inherent understanding of the game and can read it like few others can. He has always been a game changer in his own way, but never one for the headers.
But on Thursday night, in front of the empty stands in Lisbon, Portugal, seven weeks after their previous competitive match, Adams answered Nagelsmann’s challenge. He is one of those bright young things who is making her own noise in Europe for the American men’s national team. With Christian Pulisic at Chelsea, Weston McKennie at Schalke 04 and Giovanni Reyna at Borussia Dortmund, the national team has the potential for the next 12 years. It seems that every week there is a new signature for the USMNT talent: “The first American who …” is the new extension of their names. Now Adams is the first American men’s international to score in a quarter-final of the Champions League. Other distinctions will follow.
Leipzig’s challenge is now to repeat this against Paris Saint-Germain. PSG will not sit back as Atletico did; the great Dayot Upamecano will have to find a way to mark Neymar out of the game as he did against Diego Costa. But Nagelsmann will have a plan. He will look to Yussuf Poulsen and Patrik Schick to push and pull PSG out of position, Sabitzer to hover, Angelino and Nordi Mukiele to cross, Kevin Kampl to sit for their three-man defense and constant jockey, and then ‘I look to the bank to make a difference.
Even without former star striker Werner – who scored 34 goals in 2019-20 – Leipzig looked much more dangerous in attack, barred Atletico’s addition of Felix. They have this incredible ability to seamlessly switch from formation to formation, from defense to attack and then back again. They are not afraid; it is not in their DNA.
“We are not fading through these moments,” Adams said afterward. “We keep setting the expectation and then passing it on. We will only get better.”
This club continues to break new ground, and so do its players. Adams is the perfect example of this, and on a night when there was so much focus on who was not in Leipzig’s attack, it was the unlikely hero who stepped forward and answered the call.
No Werner? No problem.
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