Leipzig split from coach Marsch after just 5 months

RB Leipzig parted company with coach Jesse Marsch after just five months in charge on Sunday, as last season's Bundesliga runners-up struggle to move on from the loss of Julian Nagelsmann to Bayern Munich.

Marsch's former assistant Achim Beierlorzer will sit on the bench as interim boss against Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The club intends to present a successor to Marsch "in the near future," they said.

"It was not easy for us to part company with Jesse Marsch, because I hold Jesse in high regard as a person and as a coach," Leipzig chief executive officer Oliver Mintzlaff said.

"It is a shame that things did not work out as we had hoped with this setup, and that this step has now become necessary. Unfortunately, the development we were hoping for and the results needed to achieve our goals for the season have not been achieved."

The team is 11th in the Bundesliga, have exited the Champions League in the group stage and are "currently running short of our own expectations," Mintzlaff added, saying it was hoped to "create a new impulse" with the decision.

Marsch, who was previously in charge at Red Bull Salzburg, took up the post in Leipzig in the summer after previous coach Nagelsmann moved to champions Bayern. The US national had previously been at Leipzig in 2018-19 as Ralf Rangnick's assistant.

In recent weeks he had been unable to be on the sidelines for three games due to a coronavirus infection and had virtually coached the team - missing several players amid an outbreak - from quarantine.

Leizipg only picked up 18 points under Marsch in 14 league games. The team failed to achieve a single victory away from home with Friday's 2-1 defeat at Union Berlin the last straw.

"Up until the very end, I remained hopeful that after a troubled start to the season and inconsistent performances, we would find more cohesion and stability as a group and turn our fortunes around," Marsch said.

"Unfortunately, we didn't manage to do that – after a discussion with Oliver Mintzlaff, we came to the joint decision to make a change in the coaching position."

After initially mixed performances - including a 6-0 thrashing of Hertha Berlin - the team's league performance plummeted following the highlight of winning 5-0 at Club Brugge.