Martín Demichelis has told RB Leipzig he will walk away at the end of the season if he does not hit his targets, and he said it straight after a win, with Man City heading to the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday night.
The former City defender took charge of RB Leipzig in June. He won the Premier League and two League Cups during his three years in Manchester, and on Wednesday he faces his old club in the Champions League.
What makes the timing strange is the mood. Leipzig had just won 2-0 at Schalke on Saturday, a result that eased some of the pressure going into a busy week. Demichelis still chose his post-match press conference to put his own job on the line.
What did Demichelis say after Schalke?
He did not dress it up. Speaking to reporters after the game, Demichelis said: “I know I have to achieve goals with RB Leipzig. That is why I am here. And if we do not achieve those goals by the end of the season, I will leave of my own accord. That is how it is. The people who know me know that very well.”
He did not say what those goals are. But a club back in the Champions League after a season without European football, sitting near the top of the Bundesliga, is not short of ways to measure him.
How is Martín Demichelis doing at RB Leipzig?
The answer is mixed, which is probably why the comments landed the way they did. Demichelis has won eight and lost five of his 13 games in all competitions. In the Bundesliga, Leipzig have won five of their eight matches, and the win at Schalke lifted them to fourth, three points behind unbeaten leaders Bayern Munich.
Europe has been harder. Leipzig have three points from three league phase games and sit 29th of 36. They beat PSV Eindhoven 1-0 at home, but lost 4-1 away at both Como and Real Madrid, and they have lost their last five UEFA games against English sides.
At home it is a different story. As we set out in our RB Leipzig vs Man City preview, they have won all five home games in the Bundesliga and the Champions League, scoring 19 and conceding none. Demichelis is also chasing a fourth straight win in all competitions.
A man who has always set the bar high
This is not new for him. Back in 2019, three years after leaving the Etihad, Demichelis told City’s official website: “Nowadays it looks like is mandatory to win trophies. Winning has to be an ambition for people with a winning mindset like Pep and his players.”
He went on to call Pep Guardiola “the perfect manager to make the players feel that they want even improve on what they have done so far”. That was the standard he admired at City, and it sounds like the one he is now applying to himself.
He knows this competition from the other side too. Demichelis made 15 Champions League appearances for City between 2013-14 and 2015-16, and scored once, in a 2-1 win away at Borussia Monchengladbach in September 2015.
What it means for Man City on Wednesday
City arrive in Germany on the back of two straight Premier League defeats, the latest a 1-0 home loss to Brighton after Yasin Ayari scored early. That habit of starting slowly is the one we looked at in Maresca’s early goals problem, and it is the last thing they need against a side that has not conceded at home.
They are 10th on six points, and a win could take them into the top eight. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT on Wednesday 4 November. History is on City’s side, with four wins from their last six meetings with Leipzig, and Erling Haaland has scored 12 goals in eight games against them, more than against any other team. Our Man City predicted lineup vs RB Leipzig has him leading the line again.
Verdict: Demichelis has raised the stakes for himself
Promising to leave if you fall short is a bold thing to say in your first season, and it hands every bad night a bigger headline. A home defeat to his old club would not cost him his job, but it would make the Champions League part of his targets look a lot harder.
For City, it is one more reason to expect a Leipzig side playing with real edge. Demichelis learned his standards at the Etihad, and on Wednesday he gets to show Maresca’s struggling team exactly how much he took with him.
