ALed by magic foot Christopher Nkunku, RB Leipzig confidently won the long-distance duel against cup finalist SC Freiburg for the premier class. The recently weakening Saxons won 4-0 (1-0) against FC Augsburg on Sunday evening, climbed to fourth place in the Bundesliga and have qualified for the Champions League before the season finale at Arminia Bielefeld again in the Hand.
The outstanding Nkunku (48th minute/57th) was the guarantee of success with his goals 19 and 20 of the season. In front of 37,029 spectators in the Red Bull Arena, André Silva (40th) put RB in the lead. Emil Forsberg (64th) made the final score with a penalty kick.
Three days after the playful Europa League final with the 1: 3 at the Glasgow Rangers and the previous two league defeats against 1. FC Union Berlin (1: 2) and at Borussia Mönchengladbach (1: 3), the struggled Leipziger got back up in time and set an exclamation point ahead of the DFB Cup final against SC Freiburg on May 21 in Berlin.
“That’s what you play football for”
“The second half was fireworks, we played really great football,” said Forsberg on the DAZN streaming service and looked forward to the next two games with anticipation: “These are big games, that’s what you play football for. It’s about the Champions League, it’s about the cup – who couldn’t love that.” Coach Domenico Tedesco was “relieved and happy”.
“We played really badly today. We got really pissed off. In the end it was embarrassing,” said Niklas Dorsch. “It just wasn’t a good performance from us,” agreed Florian Niederlechner.
Tedesco rotates
RB coach Domenico Tedesco had called for a “now more than ever” mentality after the setbacks in the final spurt of the season. Then, of all places, there was support from the eastern rivals Union Berlin, who won 4-1 in Freiburg and thus supported the unpopular “can club” in the battle for the premier class.
Tedcesco – in a white shirt and with his sleeves rolled up – was forced to rotate this time around as Josko Gvardiol had to sit out at short notice with a knee injury and Mohamed Simakan was yellow carded. In addition, Angeliño received a break. Marcel Halstenberg and Nordi Mukiele were in the starting XI. Emil Forsberg got the preference for Dani Olmo and in attack Silva was allowed to play for Yussuf Poulsen.
The Fuggerstadt team found out immediately before kick-off that VfB Stuttgart’s 2-2 draw at FC Bayern Munich saved them from relegation. “That was a great relief and a lot of pressure was off,” said Niederlechner. Augsburg started free and furious. After 14 seconds, Mads Pedersen forced RB keeper Peter Gulacsi to make a brilliant save with a 17-metre shot.
Leipzig combined
On the other side, Silva (6th) miserably missed the RB leadership from close range. After that, the hosts took control of the game with a lot of possession football, but little courage for vertical actions. Also because the FCA defense stood like a bulwark. Even before the change, Silva (40th) took heart and shot from 17 meters, Rafal Gikiewicz had no chance with the placed shot.
After the restart, RB finally combined easily. Mukiele pulled away half-right, played for the waiting Nkunku (48′), who coolly slid in from the penalty spot with the inside. Just nine minutes later, the French international made it more technically adept: this time he took the Mukiele pass, rounded Gikiewicz and slid the ball in to make it 3-0. His 20th Bundesliga goal was Nkunku’s 50th direct goal involvement in all competitions – of the players from Europe’s top 5 leagues only Karim Benzema (57), Robert Lewandowski (55) and Kylian Mbappe (54) scored more. RB needs to qualify for the premier class simply because of Nkunku, who is being courted by the top clubs.
After Pedersen fouled Mukiele, RB received a penalty, which Forsberg (64th) converted safely. Augsburg hardly showed any resistance and were literally overrun by the people of Leipzig, who were now playing their frustration out of their souls.
