RB Leipzig continued to dominate Mainz 05 with a 3-1 win in their season opener but manager Julian Nagelsmann feels his team could have won by even more. The club had many opportunities and dominated possession throughout the contest.
"If we'd have taken all of our chances, it could have been seven or eight," said Nagelsmann about the scoreline.
"We had a lot of great players on the pitch. Dani (Olmo) and Emil (Forsberg) are fantastic players who like to have the ball at their feet. They played superbly together. That is a great achievement against a defense which was sitting deep."
From the beginning of the game Mainz was interested in containing Leipzig. Just one season prior the East German club scored a total of 13 goals in the Bundesliga against them. Despite their best efforts, Leipzig still dominated and were able to find the back of the net easily. First with Forsberg's penalty kick conversion and then with veteran striker Yussuf Poulsen.
The goal-scoring is also a major positive given the departure of Timo Werner. Leipzig has a lot to prove without their all-time leading scorer but appeared to be more than capable of creating chances and converting through their first two games of the 2020-21 campaign in both the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal.
"It is important to take the first step towards our goals," said Nagelsmann. "We wanted to be 100% there from the first minute. It is hard to top the mentality that we showed in the first half."
The good vibes will need to continue next week when Leipzig travels to play Bayer Leverkusen. It will be the club's first real test without Werner and a challenge to their new depth on offense. Hwang Hee-chan came off the bench and looked dangerous and Christopher Nkunku also shredded the Mainz defense.
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