Schlager sets sights on Stuttgart: "We want third place."
| Xaver Schlager. | Photo: Steindy, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
A crucial win over Dortmund on Saturday afternoon effectively helped RB Leipzig achieve Champions' League football next season. The fourth-placed German Red Bulls delivered a beat down to the team directly below them in the Bundesliga table.
RB opened up a five-point-gap over the BVB. Speaking to the Sky microphones after the victory, Leipzig midfielder Xaver Schlager made clear that he and his teammates had unfinished business to attend to.
"We want third place," Schlager told his interviewer, "We want to keep at it. It's not totally in our own hands, but if we can keep at it anything is possible. We're playing well and getting better and better."
Marco Rose's side have picked up 22 of a possible 24 points in March and April. Rose has finally found some consistency with regard to personnel. Schlager noted that a regular XI felt as if they were gelling chemistry-wise. Only two points separate Leipzig from VfB Stuttgart after Sebastian Hoeneß' Swabians drew Leverkusen on Saturday evening.
"Now we're settled and stable," Schlager said, "We now have consistency and we want to maintain that. Everyone is fit, that's very important. We've been playing with roughly the same eleven for weeks and are well-drilled."
