Julian Nagelsmann has insisted that RB Leipzig were not two goals worse than Liverpool following their Champions League defeat.
Liverpool picked up a 2-0 victory over Leipzig in a round of 16 clash at the Puskas Arena on Tuesday night, thanks to second-half goals from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
Jurgen Klopp's side are now in pole position to qualify for the quarter-finals ahead of the second leg of the tie at Anfield on March 10, but Nagelsmann did not feel that the Reds outplayed his team in Budapest.
What was said?
“When you win, you're always right, but we earned a lot of respect in the 90 minutes," the Leipzig boss told reporters post-match. "We were definitely not worse and certainly not two goals worse.
“The big difference was they scored with their two chances, we had three big chances and weren’t clinical enough. For the two big mistakes we committed we were punished, and at such a high level that’s normal."
Did Klopp agree with Nagelsmann's assessment?
Liverpool came into their latest European fixture on the back of three successive Premier League defeats, the last of which came at Leicester City on Saturday afternoon.
Klopp was pleased that his team were able to raise their game against a Leipzig side that had benefitted from an extra day's rest, and felt they were good value for the victory despite a "tough" examination from Nagelsmann's men.
"We played a really good game and we got the result we deserved," the Reds boss said post-match. "We defended really well and had good recovery. It was a tough game with only two days since the last one. It's only the first leg, we know that but a lot of people were waiting for us to slip again.
"For two years we were really good and this year we have problems, that's fine. A lot of people expected us to slip again but the boys didn't."
Can Leipzig spring an upset at Anfield?
Nagelsmann has now lost all three games he has played against Klopp at the start of his managerial career, having been in charge at Hoffenheim when they were dumped out of the competition by Liverpool 6-3 on aggregate in the 2017-18 qualifying rounds.
However, he managed to guide Leipzig to their first-ever Champions League semi-final last term, and they also picked up impressive group stage wins against Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United in the first half of the current campaign.
