Awkward moment for Jurgen Klopp as he sacks former player
The former Liverpool boss has made his first big decision since being named Red Bull’s head of global football.
Red Bull’s head of global football, Jurgen Klopp, has been forced to part ways with a former player as head coach Marco Rose has been dismissed by RB Leipzig.
Since leaving Liverpool last year Klopp has taken a role overseeing Red Bull’s network of teams, which includes RB Salzburg and the New York Red Bulls in addition to Bundesliga side RB Leipzig. Marco Rose had been under pressure for weeks but the recent loss to Borussia Monchengladbach, with the team now sitting sixth in Germany, proved fatal for the head coach.
Klopp had previously spoken in support of Rose, reportedly persuading Leipzig bosses to stick with the coach after a 2-1 loss to Mainz on March 1. However the continued run of poor results has proved decisive and Rose become the first managerial dismissal of Klopp’s time in charge of the RB network.
The decision to part ways will have been particularly difficult for Klopp, who has worked with Rose previously. Rose played under Klopp at Mainz 05 and the two men have maintained a friendship during their careers, with Rose saying recently that he was “looking forward to his network, to his experience, to him as a person.”
Who will be the next RB Leipzig head coach?
In the short-term, Zsolt Low has been announced as Rose’s replacement until the end of the season. The 45-year-old Hungarian has extensive history as an assistant coach and has worked alongside Thomas Tuchel at Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich. This, however, will be his first posting as a head coach, albeit on an interim basis.
Although the 2024/25 campaign has not lived up to expectations there is still silverware to play for in Leipzig and they take on Stuttgart in the semi-final of the German Cup on Wednesday.
“We’ve still got the chance to achieve our goals in two competitions,” Low said in a statement. “We’ll do everything we can to reach the DFB-Pokal final in Berlin and get the most out of the remaining Bundesliga matches.”
Looking ahead to the summer, Leipzig are believed to the interested in Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner, who led his team into the semi-final of the FA Cup this weekend. He has previously worked in Germany with Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt and Klopp is thought to be a fan of the 50-year-old.
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