After what has been a difficult week for RB Leipzig, with Dani Olmo and club captain Willi Orbán suffering injuries on international duty, good news has finally found its way to Saxony. Goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi has made a return to the Leipzig squad after 346 days away.
The Hungarian international tore his cruciate ligament during a Champions League tie against Celtic in October 2022. It is now expected that Gulácsi will make a return to the bench for Die Roten Bullen on matchday four as they take on Augsburg.
Leipzig head coach Marco Rose commented: “He has now had four weeks of good team training. And of course, in addition to the not-so-nice news, that’s really good news for us as a team. That gives us a good feeling to have our vice-captain back with us. Pete was out for over eleven months and we have now managed to register him for the Champions League. We are happy that he is back with the team. But of course he still has to take a few steps.”
Therefore, this has not changed the fact that Janis Blaswich will remain the club’s number one after convincing during Gulácsi’s absence. “I believe that Janis is so reliable, so strong and has given us so much in the last few months that we don’t have to start discussing when Pete is coming back. Janis is in goal and has great confidence. We’ll build up Pete and sometimes situations arise on their own and that doesn’t mean that Janis won’t come back in goal,” remarked Rose
Undoubtedly the return of Gulácsi will boost the atmosphere around the club, but it will be a challenging few weeks for Rose and his side. After bouncing back from defeat on matchday one, Leipzig will have to continue their fine form without key players, but Rose explained that he is not concerned:
“We have a good squad. We have positioned ourselves well – even for such situations. It will be thin, especially for the next few weeks. But I have a lot of trust in the guys. We are in a good position, radiate energy, we will be able to deal with setbacks and I see us as prepared for that.”
GGFN | Will Shopland
