Rocco Reitz after debut: "It was quite a challenge"

On Saturday, Rocco Reitz was rewarded for his hard work in pre-season. In the 58th minute of the Telekom-Cup, our summer signing was brought on for Nicolas Seiwald and played his first half an hour in an RBL jersey.

Rocco's debut was a highlight of the match which ultimately ended in a 3-1 defeat for the Red Bulls. "I was really happy to be back on the pitch and doing what I love," said the 24-year-old after the final whistle in an interview with MagentaTV.

The midfielder who joined Leipzig from Borussia Mönchengladbach had a delayed start to his first pre-season at RBL due to an illness. In the past few weeks, he's been gradually making up ground. His cameo against Bayern was his first real test. "The half an hour was quite a challenge, it went back and forth a lot," explained Rocco, before adding, "It's always good to go toe-to-toe with the best in the business."

Our number 20 has seen a lot of progress with a week to go before the start of the season, but also recognised that there is room for improvement. "We did a lot of things better compared to the previous friendlies. We were calm in possession and our gegenpressing was a bit better. There are still a couple of areas where we can improve, like our decision making among other things. But we're on the right track."

This Saturday, the first competitive fixture of the new season is on the agenda for Leipzig. At 18:00 CEST, RBL will travel to take on Regionalliga outfit Eintracht Trier in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. Unlike the match on Saturday, the Red Bulls are heading into the cup clash as clear favourites. Rocco called for "grit" in the match and stressed that, "We're the better side and have to make that clear in the game."

Following his first friendly appearance for RBL, Rocco's competitive debut could quickly follow.

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