Augsburg's captain demands high level of commitment against former club RB Leipzig

Augsburg captain Ermedin Demirovic is demanding a high level of commitment from his team against his former club RB Leipzig. "We're the underdogs, but we're confident and good enough to say: We want to beat RB Leipzig in our stadium. A lot of things have to fall into place for us to do that, we have to run more than this big team, we need courage and the strength of our fans. Possibly also a bit of luck," said the 25-year-old striker in an interview with the "Leipziger Volkszeitung" (Friday).

The Bosnian-Herzegovinian international, who has scored eleven times for the Fuggerstädter this season, trained at Leipzig's Cottaweg from 2014 to 2017 before moving to Spain to join Deportivo Alavés. "I wouldn't want to miss the three years in Leipzig, the appreciation was there, there were always open, honest and correct words. I probably wouldn't have become a professional without RB," said Demirovic and admitted: "I'm not at all angry with RB, I would have found it very difficult to get minutes in 2017 with this competition in Leipzig, I was 19 at the time and of course nowhere near the player I am today."

Under coach Enrico Maaßen, he became Augsburg's captain in the summer of 2023. "Two years ago, I would never have dreamed that I would be captain of a Bundesliga team. That makes me proud, and I'm still grateful to Enrico Maaßen for that," said Demirovic, who sees FCA on a different level since October under coach Jess Thorup: "Jess has taken us to a new level. We've remained the team that knocks everything out and have also become a team that wants the ball, can and wants to play possession soccer, can and wants to score goals, and plays sideways. Hard work against the ball is and remains a basic requirement for us."