RB Leipzig's Emil Forsberg: "Beating Tottenham Hotspur and reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals is a massive achievement"
Emil Forsberg says everyone involved with RB Leipzig should be very proud after the club reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
Forsberg, 28, came off the bench in Tuesday's second leg to put the seal on a 3-0 win over English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, only four years after helping Die Roten Bullen gain promotion to the Bundesliga. The Saxony club are competing in only their second Champions League campaign.
"We achieved something big today," Forsberg told media following Leipzig's supremely assured 4-0 aggregate success against last season's beaten finalists. "Everyone did it together - the players on the pitch, the guys on the bench, the coaches, the staff, especially the fans. We can enjoy it now, we should be very proud."
Founded as recently as 2009, when energy drink company Red Bull bought the playing rights of fifth-tier Oberliga club SSV Markranstädt, RasenballSport Leipzig’s seven-year rise to the Bundesliga has been nothing short of meteoric.
Leipzig spent just a season in the NOFV-Oberliga Süd, but took three attempts to get out of the Fourth Division. Back-to-back promotions put them firmly back on track for the Bundesliga promised land, before Forsberg came in from Swedish club Malmo in January 2015 to help get them over the line.
Leipzig secured an historic promotion to the Bundesliga at the second time of asking in 2016, and haven't looked back since. They finished as runners-up in their debut top-flight season, becoming the first Bundesliga newcomer since German reunification to qualify for Europe.
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Forsberg duly scored their first-ever Champions League goal in their group match against Monaco on 13 September 2017. Progression to the knockout rounds evaded them, though they did go on to reach the Europa League quarter-finals. They ended their second top-flight campaign in sixth, securing Europa League qualification, followed by a return to the Champions League with a third-placed finish in 2018/19, as well as their first DFB Cup final appearance.
"It's a tremendous success story for a young club," said head coach Julian Nagelsmann who, at 32, is the youngest coach in history to successfully negotiate a Champions League knockout tie.
"It's a great moment for the history of the club. It's a great moment for me as a coach and a great moment for my young team. If we play to our limit as a team, we can really achieve something."
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