ZBetween the European Cup party in Bergamo and the cup highlight against Union Berlin, RB Leipzig scored an important win in the race for Champions League qualification. In the top game, which was only one on paper, RB won 1-0 (0-0) at Bayer Leverkusen thanks to Dominik Szoboszlai on Sunday and relegated the Werkself from third place.
Leverkusen, who are badly injured, are now just one point ahead of Freiburg in fifth place. Getting into the Champions League, the biggest and last goal of the season, will be difficult. However, Freiburg will come to Leverkusen for a possible final on the last day of the game.
Even the double semi-finalist from Leipzig, who moved into the semi-finals of the Europa League at Atalanta Bergamo last Thursday and will receive Union in the DFB Cup semi-finals next Wednesday, did not look fresh despite the large-scale rotation of coach Domenico Tedesco. For the first time in its Bundesliga history, Leipzig went without a shot on goal in the first half.
That changed with the second half substitutions and Szoboszlai scored the winning goal in the 69th minute. This means that RB is still the best team in the second half of the league and also maintained its proud series in Leverkusen. The Saxons remained undefeated in their sixth appearance in the BayArena.
Leverkusen, for whom Jonathan Tah was able to play despite the bruised rib he suffered last week, played in a comparatively defensive 3-5-2 system with midfielders who are only defensively oriented. Leipzig interpreted the same system with the two eights Emil Forsberg and Szoboszlai nominally a little more offensive.
The self-confidence of the guests was also demonstrated by RB’s social media department, which announced the line-up on Twitter with the words “Unsere Bayer-Bezwinger”. But Tedesco had shaken up his starting eleven again and only left three field players in the team compared to the Bergamo second leg. RB also had too little self-image in its actions, and both teams initially equalized at a tough level, especially in midfield.
The first chance to score came in the 28th minute when Bayer’s Patrik Schick freed his strike partner Moussa Diaby, who failed from a tight angle at RB keeper Peter Gulacsi. Bayer also had the second good opportunity when Schick failed to head a cross from Exequiel Palacios (40′).
At the break, Tedesco brought on the in-form top scorer Christopher Nkunku. After 39 seconds he dribbled in the penalty area, the ball came to Szoboszlai and he hit the post. About ten minutes later, Tedesco followed up with Dani Olmo and Konrad Laimer, the second match winner from Bergamo. Leipzig was now better in the game. Nordi Mukiele missed the big chance to make it 0-1, but Szoboszlai used it seconds later when Nkunku put it down.
