RB Leipzig captain David Raum eyes Bayern Munich payback

David Raum did not mince his words. 

“It was a catastrophe, the worst-case scenario” said the RB Leipzig captain after a 6-0 hammering against Bayern Munich on the opening day of the season. “Just blow after blow.”

On a night that set the tone for Bayern’s record-breaking Bundesliga campaign, three of those blows were inflicted by England captain Harry Kane, while Michael Olise weighed in with a first-half brace, either side of a debut goal for Luis Díaz. The trio have not stopped scoring since.

For Ole Werner, taking charge of his first league game as Leipzig head coach, it was the most inauspicious of starts.“It was a disastrous performance,” said Werner, who went on to bemoan his side’s lack of cohesion and defensive naivety. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

How RB Leipzig bounced back from a Bayern Munich mauling

Yet one measure of a team’s mettle – and a manager’s resourcefulness – is the ability to bounce back from a good hiding. Coming up to five months on, things look very different for Leipzig. Third in the Bundesliga, Werner’s side have lost only two more league games since that early-season mauling at the Allianz Arena. Both defeats came last month, when injuries were biting deep and Yan Diomande, the influential Ivory Coast attacker, was absent on Africa Cup of Nations duty. With those players back in the fold, there is a growing sense of anticipation about what Werner’s young team might go on to achieve. 

But now comes the hard part. Bayern travel to the Red Bull Arena on Saturday tea-time with an 11-point lead in the title race (if that is not a misnomer at this point). Seeking to build on the best start to a German top-flight season in history, Bayern will be bolstered by the return of playmaker Jamal Musiala, who is set to feature in the matchday squad for the first time since breaking a leg at the Club World Cup last summer. 

It would be a daunting prospect for any side, let alone one that was hit for six last time out. Raum is alive to the scale of the challenge, but the Germany left-back believes that, this time, things can be different.

David Raum: ‘Bayern are maybe the best team in the world’

“It will be a tough match,” Raum acknowledged. “In my opinion, Bayern are maybe the best team in the world at the moment.

“They killed us at the start of the season, but this will be a completely different match, because we have some new players and are playing in a different way compared to the start of the season. 

“The coach has a better feeling for us and how we play, and we have a better feeling for what he wants from us. Playing at home with our fans, maybe we can hurt them a little.”

If they are to do so, Raum will need to win his individual battle against Olise. It is something few have managed this term. In Bayern’s 17 league matches this term, the France international has either scored or assisted against a dozen different opponents. Raum is determined Leipzig will not be the unlucky 13th.

Raum: ‘There’s no key to stopping Michael Olise’

“There’s no key to stopping him,” the defender said of Olise. “He’ll have his moments. I’ll try to block his left foot. But whatever I say, it’s not easy to stop a player like him. He’s on an amazing run. 

“I’m looking forward to playing against him, because I like to play against the best wingers in the world, and he’s absolutely one of them at the moment. I’ll try to be sharp, stay close to him and be in the duels.”

While individual duels are one thing, the bigger battle has already been lost. Raum acknowledges that, with a 15-point gap to bridge, a title challenge is almost certainly beyond Leipzig. That, however, is not the priority.

“I think Bayern are going to be champions, but that’s not our main aim,” said Raum. “We want to play in the Champions League next year, and at the moment it looks very good. We have one game in hand, so if we win this, it looks very, very good.”

For Raum and his team-mates, exacting revenge for that opening-night catastrophe would be a good place to start.