'Mature' RB Leipzig wear favorites tag lightly

"We know that we're being considered the favorites," experienced RB Leipzig midfielder Kevin Kampl said after his side's convincing 4-0 win over Hannover on Wednesday.

In truth, they've known for some time. Since Borussia Dortmund lost to St. Pauli on January 18, to be precise. Domenico Tedesco had been in the coaching job for just over a month and, after a shock defeat to Arminia Bielefeld just before Christmas, was in the early stages of a run that's seen them only lose only once, to Bayern Munich, in 11 games.

They now need to win just two more to win a first major trophy in the club's short Red Bull-fueled existence.

Painful memories

Losses in last year's final to Dortmund and in 2019 to Bayern are keeping a lid on expectations. Though the competition may lack its biggest names, Bundesliga overachievers Freiburg and Union Berlin are still alive and second division Hamburg are the only one of the four clubs remaining who have won the trophy before. Albeit the last time was in 1987, when Tedesco had yet to turn two-years-old. 

"We know how nice it is to go Berlin and play at the Olympiastadion. If we manage to get there again, we can't miss the chance to bring the cup home with us," Kampl said, with the memory of defeat still clearly fresh. "We are playing much calmer. Also a bit more composed. We have that maturity in our game again."

Losing was never really a possibility on Wednesday once RB's star man, Christopher Nkunku, got to work. The Frenchman opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a low shot after some strong work from Dani Olmo, before rounding the keeper to make it two five minutes later. Konrad Laimer and Andre Silva made things even more secure in the 67th and 73rd minutes, but Nkunku was the man who made the difference yet again. He now has 25 goals in all competitions this season.

"Christo works really hard. He's involved in our pressing and our play on the ball, too," Tedesco said. "We have a lot of good players who want to score and be part of the success."

Breaking new ground?

Though they've threatened in the Bundesliga and in this competition, genuine, tangible success, at least in a sporting rather than marketing sense, has eluded RB Leipzig thus far. With clear passage granted in the Europa League after opponents, and Tedesco's old side, Spartak Moscow, were banned from European competition along with all Russian sides, things are going Leipzig's way after some tough times following the departure of Julian Nagelsmann to Bayern.

Nagelsmann achieved enough at Leipzig to get the biggest job in German football, but he was never able to clear that final hurdle and lift a trophy.

Tedesco, his former classmate in Germany's coach training course, may just succeed where his more illustrious counterpart failed. But even the favorites have to play a semifinal first. Leipzig will find out their next opponents on Sunday.