Sometimes, Domenico Tedesco said on Saturday evening in Dortmund, he allows himself to be carried away to "mock" his player Konrad Laimer.

If the midfield player, who is usually rather harmless in the opposing penalty area, shoots, he usually hits "everything but the goal," said the RB Leipzig coach.

Laimer thus delivers seductive invitations to teasing abuse, which obviously did not damage the professional's self-confidence.

Because during his team's 4-1 victory at Borussia Dortmund, Laimer achieved remarkable things.

He scored the 1-0 and 2-0 himself, he set up the third goal with a clever assist, Laimer was a real problem for Dortmund, who could dream of somehow returning to the title race until this sobering experience.

Laimer has already scored four goals this season, more than in the previous 83 Bundesliga games.

"I've rediscovered my final strengths," he said with satisfaction.

Laimer embodies the modern breed of defensive midfielder who combines imposing physical presence with strategic acumen and exceptional technical ability.

He is exactly the type of player that BVB lacks.

Axel Witsel is physically weak, Jude Bellingham too offensive and Mahmoud Dahoud or Emre Can are not reliable enough.

They don't have someone like Laimer.

It is also no coincidence that the 24-year-old Austrian made the decisive difference that evening.

Not only did he score three points in a game for the first time in his Bundesliga career, he also initiated the first goal by winning the ball well against Can deep in the Dortmund half.

"He's someone who combines many things," says Tedesco, Laimer always manages to "conquer extremely high balls, he's a counter-attacker, he initiates counterattacks with dribbling or a pass."

He was the right man to expose BVB's weaknesses.

The better strategy

The unstable Dortmunders have been struggling with the problem of ball losses in the build-up game for months without making any real progress.

And they are vulnerable to counterattacks because defenders like Witsel or Mats Hummels have speed deficits.

So they became perfect Laimer victims.

Hummels later spoke somewhat disrespectfully of the fact that RB was only dangerous "with counterattacks", as if this approach to the game in an away game in second place in the table was in any way reprehensible.

The truth is that Leipzig simply had the better strategy for this game, a strategy that Laimer could thrive on.

The plan was "to be compact so that Dortmund never get into their momentum," he said, "and we noticed that it worked relatively well".

In time for the decisive phase of the season, Leipzig are approaching their top form.

They are the only Bundesliga club still represented in three competitions and even have real chances of winning the DFB Cup and the Europa League.

And the fact that they are so clearly behind leaders Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga is solely because "the first half of the season sucked," said Laimer.

They lead the tableau in the second half of the season, and anyone who saw this direct duel between the two most stubborn Bayern pursuers in recent years had to take away the impression that in the medium term Leipzig could pose a threat to the record champions more than BVB.

Also because RB seems to have a better working atmosphere.

"I feel good, I can feel the trust of the trainers and my colleagues, I'm in rhythm,"

said Laimer to the online portal “Sportbuzzer” during the week.

Nobody would say such a sentence in Dortmund at the moment.

Laimer's good form has not even been dented by his national side's elimination in the play-offs of World Cup qualifying against Wales last week.

After all, the challenges in the club are also attractive, in the next two weeks there will be exciting quarter-finals against Atalanta Bergamo in the Europa League, and after Easter the DFB Cup semi-finals against Union Berlin will follow.

The Leipzig seem to manage the feat of playing their best football at the crucial moment of the season.

This applies in particular to Konrad Laimer.