RB Leipzig has taken over the top of the Bundesliga table for at least one night. The Saxons prevailed 1-0 (0-0) at VfB Stuttgart on Saturday and gave the Swabians a sporting damper in the midst of their own leadership crisis. Spain’s national player Dani Olmo (67th minute) ensured the deserved victory of coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team, who now have a point ahead of FC Bayern. However, a draw against FSV Mainz 05 would be enough for the people of Munich on Sunday (6:00 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) to get past RB again.
“It was a great game, we deserved to win,” said Leipzig’s goalscorer Olmo. But his coach Julian Nagelsmann struggled after the victory with the lack of opportunities. “But of course it was a deserved win,” he said on Sky. The Stuttgart remain without a home win this season and slipped to eleventh place in the table. In addition, only 1. FC Köln have conceded more goals in their own stadium than Stuttgart. “We were on par in the first half,” said Gonzalo Castro. “But Leipzig is a top team and I think they will play for a very, very long time,” he added.
There was only halfway positive VfB news before kick-off. In a surprising conversation before the game, CEO Thomas Hitzlsperger and President Claus Vogt took a step towards each other in their heated argument. Both even followed the game side by side in the stands. From a “conversation between men”, wrote Vogt on Twitter. “Were not the best days that are behind us, but today’s conversation with @ clausvogt1893 makes me confident that we will solve the upcoming tasks in the interests of VfB,” announced Hitzlsperger on his Twitter channel.
Then both of them saw a game that took a few minutes to pick up. It got tricky for the first time after 21 minutes when VfB defender Pascal Stenzel fouled Leipzig’s Emil Forsberg in the penalty area. For the subsequent penalty kick, the Swedish international took it himself – and failed to goalkeeper Gregor Kobel, who steered the ball with his right leg to the lower edge of the bar. So two of the last three Leipzig penalties did not find their way into the goal.
Both teams competed somewhat unusually each with a back four and extremely compact, which is why the game initially remained largely without any spectacular highlights. Only after the break did Leipzig become stronger in terms of opportunities. Amadou Haidara (47th) and Forsberg (48th) initially gave the best opportunities, only Olmo made it better.
Stenzel headed off an Angeliño cross, but the ball landed on the far post at the Spaniard and Olmo pushed it into the goal from a few meters. Stuttgart, on the other hand, was surprisingly harmless this time. The greatest chance missed the advanced defender Waldemar Anton (86th), who failed free in front of the goal against the strongly reacting RB keeper Peter Gulacsi.
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