Tyler Adams says RB Leipzig "absolutely want the title" after win over Union Berlin
Tyler Adams says that RB Leizpig have their hearts set on winning the Bundesliga this season after flexing their Meisterschaft muscles with a 3-1 win over Union Berlin.
The USMNT midfielder played his part in Die Roten Bullen's latest win, which reinforced their place at the top of the Bundesliga with 40 points from their first 18 games of the season and made it unequivocally clear that the title is their target.
"Yeah, absolutely we want the title," he told bundesliga.com. "I'm very hungry, I want to lift the trophy at the end of the season. And we know we have the quality to do so."
Watch: Adams sets title target
They underlined that by becoming the first club ever to score at least three goals in nine consecutive Bundesliga matches, with Timo Werner moving to the top of the league's goalscoring charts, ahead of Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski, with his goals number 19 and 20 of the season – just one goal shy of his best ever single-season haul in Germany's top flight of 21 from 2016/17, and with 16 games remaining to boost his tally.
"Everybody wants to be champions," Werner told Sky. "We're no different, and we definitely have the motivation to want to stay where we are. I don't want to go and declare that winning the league is our objective, but why shouldn't we be up there come the end of the season?"
It is difficult to find any argument to disagree, especially in view of the fact Leipzig have come from behind six times this season to claim points, just like they did against Union Berlin on Saturday.
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That, they say, is the hallmark of a champion, even though Werner sees it more as a weakness his side need to work on.
"We've been a bit lethargic at times this season and gone behind a lot, which leads to our opponents packing men in behind the ball," Werner said. "We're not yet world class when it comes to this, but with the power we've got, and we showed it in the second half, there's no stopping us."
The handwriting of coach Julian Nagelsmann can also clearly be seen on Leipzig's regular mid-match metamorphoses.
"We had to change because we weren't imposing ourselves in a 4-2-3-1 formation, and so we had to play with two forwards and this was the right thing to do," Werner said. "The boss is always very clear in his half-time explanations and he spotted the error of our ways and showed us how to resolve it.
"We showed morale and shifted up a gear."
They cannot shift up any more positions in the Bundesliga, but as long as they can just hold their current speed, nobody can prevent them from coasting to a maiden Bundesliga title in May.
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