Dominik Szoboszlai is vehemently pestered by his teammates. "They always annoy me that I should shoot. 15 times every game," complained the midfielder from RB Leipzig, not meant to be taken seriously.

In the 2-1 draw against VfB Stuttgart, Szoboszlai scored twice, showing a free kick from 30 meters and a shot from the edge of the penalty area from his repertoire. Consequently, the 22-year-old then said: "I did it twice and it worked twice. You should keep annoying me."

His possibly unique shooting technique is both a blessing and a curse for the Hungarian international. But the midfielder's goals are by no means his only quality. The goals were "beautiful, important and great," emphasized his teammate Xaver Schlager. "But I also see what he does against the ball. I've rarely seen a ten that's so good defensively," said the Austrian.

Rose raves

Since Marco Rose has been the head coach of the cup winners, Szoboszlai's form has been improving. No wonder, after all, the coach already knew his current star when he was only 14 years old. "He's incredibly ambitious. And of course his shooting technique is exceptional," said Rose. Now the promised one just has to keep going.

This also applies to the team that played their 16th game in a row without defeat against Stuttgart. The provisional jump to second place was a reward, as was the gap to leader Bayern Munich, which was reduced to one point. But you didn't want to hang it that high. "Bayern do their thing, we do ours," said Schlager.

A bitter message had to be digested at RB. Midfielder Dani Olmo had to be substituted at half-time. Hamstring problems plagued the Spain international. Coach Rose hoped that the precise diagnosis that followed would not be too bad.