Rose allays Gulacsi injury fears

RB Leipzig coach Marco Rose has allayed fears that Peter Gulacsi suffered a serious injury in the win over Freiburg.

Peter Gulacsi was forced off at half-time of RB Leipzig’s 3-1 Bundesliga win over SC Freiburg at the weekend.

Fortunately for Leipzig, the Hungarian shot-stopper didn’t suffer a serious injury and is expected to be in goal against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

“It’s not too bad. He has a thick ankle, but no ligament damage,” RB Leipzig coach Marco Rose said at a press conference ahead of Leipzig’s DFB-Pokal match against St. Pauli on Tuesday.

“We’ll see if ‘Pete’ can make the bench tomorrow with a bandage. But if not, we should have it under control for the Dortmund game, so he’ll be 100 percent fit again.”

Before Gulacsi’s injury, it was already planned that Maarten Vandevoordt would be given a rare start on Tuesday.

And having seen Vandevoordt come on as a substitute against Freiburg, Rose has no hesitation in giving the goalkeeper a go.

“He sold himself very well and showed great charisma,” Rose said of Vandevoordt.

At the press conference, Rose also confirmed that he’s planning to rotate his team for the cup tie. Listed as doubtful, Lois Openda is one of the regular starters who is likely to be rested, with André Silva a possible replacement.

“We want to, and will need to, bring in fresh legs tomorrow. Overall, we need to start rotating more. Tomorrow, we will have a great team that will bring their quality and energy to the pitch. We need everyone to be on board,” said the Leipzig boss. 

“It was nice to see André Silva come on and set up a goal [against Freiburg]. We have a strong bench and we need them now. The lads will be able to show why they are deserving of the chance to play. Even if everything doesn’t go to plan right from the start, they will have my support.”

Assan Ouedraogo, David Raum, Xaver Schlager, Nicolas Seiwald and Xavi Simons are all sidelined for Die Roten Bullen.