Dortmund boss dismisses 'soft drink' RB Leipzig
Berlin - Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has dismissed the commercialism of Red Bull-backed RB Leipzig, but the Bundesliga new boy can make history on Friday by knocking Bayern Munich from top spot.
Second-placed RB Leipzig will become the first club to go 11 games unbeaten at the start of a debut season in Germany's top flight if it avoids defeat at Bayer Leverkusen on Friday.
Ahead of the weekend's matches, both Bayern and RB Leipzig so far have 24 league points.
RB Leipzig, which was only founded in 2009 when the Austrian drinks giant took over a German Football League (DFL) licence, has already matched MSV Duisburg's record of 10 games unbeaten in the 1993-94 season.
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A point in Leverkusen would see Leipzig top the table ahead of Bayern, which is at Dortmund on Saturday evening in the battle of Germany's top clubs - dubbed Der Klassiker.
But Leipzig isn't proving popular on its maiden top-flight campaign due to the commercialism it represents.
Watzke says the club only exists to market its sponsor's product.
Even its full name RasenBallsport Leipzig offends some football fans, as the former is a fabricated German word to get around the DFL rule forbidding clubs from taking a sponsor's name.
Leipzig's four promotions in seven years has done little to impress the Dortmund boss.
"At Rasenballsport (Lawn ball sport), as they are actually called, we have the case, that nothing, absolutely nothing, has developed there historically. Football is only played there to perform for a brand of soft drink," Watzke told magazine Sport Bild.
But love them or loath them, RB has earned a place near the summit of German football.
It has beaten Watzke's Dortmund - 1-0 in Leipzig last September - Hamburg, Wolfsburg, and Werder Bremen in tallying up seven wins and three draws.
If it maintains its impressive form, Leipzig will qualify for a Champions League place next season.
Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has rejected Watzke's criticism, insisting the squad is simply working hard for each other - not to sell a product.
"I do not give a single thought to the idea that we are only here to perform for a can. That would be a pity," said Hasenhuettl on Wednesday.
"Instead, I see the euphoria and the joy that we have in the city.
"That is the most important drive for me.
"We should be given the opportunity to make people happy in our own way."