"RB Leipzig and Jesse Marsch have agreed to end their collaboration with immediate effect," the Saxon club announced on Twitter.

It is the assistant coach Achim Beierlorzer who will immediately ensure the interim, especially for the reception of Manchester City, last group match of the Champions League.

This match still has a stake for the semi-finalist of the 2020 edition: to be transferred to the Europa League by securing the third place in the group that FC Bruges contests with him.

"We will introduce Marsch's replacement quickly," the club said.

This decision follows another defeat in the Bundesliga in Leipzig on Friday night against Union Berlin (2-1), relegating the formation to only eleventh place, sixteen points behind the leader, Bayern Munich.

"We delivered a catastrophic performance," had fumed after the meeting Oliver Mintzlaff, president of RB.

"We have to analyze the situation and think about what we have to do, including with the coach" Jesse Marsch, he added, clearly paving the way for a dismissal.

Stop shot

For Jesse Marsch, at 48 years of age, it was a stopping point in a promising coaching career.

US Leipzig coach Jesse Marsch in Sinsheim, Germany, November 20, 2021 Daniel ROLAND AFP / Archives

The former professional defensive midfielder of MLS, the North American Football Championship, arrived last summer from the Austrian club Salzburg, owned - like Leipzig - of the giant Red Bull, where he had done wonders.

Jesse Marsch is a pure product of the "Red Bull team" shaped in his time by Ralf Rangnick.

Considered one of the masters of thought among German technicians, Rangnick remains the architect of the adventure of RB Leipzig, the flagship of the Red Bull fleet.

After three seasons at the head of the New York Red Bulls, Marsch was also in 2018-2019, Rangnick's assistant in Leipzig.

The philosophy of Jesse Marsch and Red Bull: pressure, lightning-fast transitions, direct and vertical attacks, without worrying about possession.

A style that is very demanding, both physically and mentally, and which hardly allows any slowing down.

Until now, the clubs of the group have always been great springboards for young coaches.

Marco Rose and Julian Nagelsmann are seated today respectively on the benches of Dortmund and Bayern Munich, the first two in the German championship.

And the German Matthias Jaissle, 33, now coaches Salzburg, second - behind Lille - in his Champions League qualifying group and therefore well placed to qualify for the next round.

RB Leipzig, once a sensation and emerging force in the Bundesliga, have been a shadow of their own this season since the departure of young coach Julian Nagelsmann in the offseason for Munich.

Until today, the RB had never sacked a coach since joining the Bundesliga in 2016.

Currently in quarantine due to Covid-19, Jesse Marsch spoke Thursday by video: "I certainly made mistakes", he admitted.

"I know there are questions about my job, and that's okay."

© 2021 AFP