When there were still a few minutes left to play, the cell phone lights went on in the Leipzig stadium. Football fans silently sent a message of sadness after learning of two deaths before and during the game. “There are two very, very bad cases,” said RB sports director Rouven Schröder on Sky after the 2-0 win in the Bundesliga game (1-0) against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday evening.
The approximately 3,500 visiting fans held back from the start with their support, “since a member of the fan scene died in a traffic accident,” as Borussia announced during the game on the X platform (formerly Twitter). The Leipzig team were mostly quiet shortly after kick-off because a person in the stadium had to be resuscitated, as RB also announced on X. During the half-time break, the stadium announcer announced the sad news that “unfortunately the fan has died”.
“You definitely feel a very strange mood at the very beginning. We had heard that from Gladbach before the game and were of course deeply affected,” said Schröder, describing his impressions. “We realized relatively quickly that it was very, very quiet in our block.” Then we got the information that something had also happened in the RB block: “It was a very, very strange atmosphere – and Of course it’s really tragic.”
“Very mature performance, deserved to win”
It was correspondingly quiet after the final whistle as the players applauded their fans at a large distance from the fan curves. RB defender Benjamin Henrichs summed up the sport’s essentials: “A very mature performance, deserved to win.” After the goals from Xavi Simons (14th minute) and Lois Openda (57th) in front of 44,822 spectators, the German cup winners only have one left One point behind fourth place in the Champions League. Previously, rivals Dortmund had only played 1-1 in Wolfsburg. For the Gladbachers it remains the same: they didn’t get a win in the eighth game in Leipzig either. “After the game I’m disappointed – especially with the result,” commented Gladbach’s coach Gerardo Seoane, who lacked “assertiveness” in his team.
The Leipzig team, wearing a special black jersey with a flame design and the words “Leipzig on fire” on their necks, started strongly: After 72 seconds, Yussuf Poulsen had the lead after a through ball from Dani Olmo, but lobbed the ball over the goal from six meters . Marco Rose, who broke the 100-point mark as RB coach with the victory over his former club, this time relied on Poulsen instead of Benjamin Sesko in the attack. He also brought in Amadou Haidara in defensive midfield.
Xavi Simons takes the lead
In the 13th minute, Dani Olmo tested guest goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas with a shot from 13 meters, who parried brilliantly. Shortly afterwards the goalkeeper was powerless. Xavi Simons skillfully received the ball with his thigh and scored his sixth goal of the season from 14 meters to take the lead in the 14th minute. Then Nicolas once again prevented Leipzig from making it 2-0 when he saved a Simons shot (19th) from ten meters.
After just 23 minutes, Rose was forced to make a substitution because Lukas Klostermann apparently suffered a muscle injury in his right thigh. Mohamed Simakan came for him. On the other hand, Seoane was without Alassane Plea (bruised bone) and Florian Neuhaus (muscular problems) before kick-off. Overall, the Borussia defense was stable and initially allowed little apart from conceding a goal. And if he did, Nicolas saved like he did against Openda (40th), who was, however, offside.
Published/Updated: Published/Updated: Published/Updated:
After the substitution, Gladbach sent a signal of caution with a header from Jordan (52′) – but the ball just missed. Otherwise, RB goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi had little to do. Gladbach combined well, but there was a lack of accuracy when it came to the last pass or when finishing.
On the other side, Nicolas was overthrown by Openda (57th) after he started free after a strong pass from Xaver Schlager. The linesman raised the flag, but the video assistant took corrective action – the goal, Openda’s 16th of the season, counted. After about an hour, Rose Sesko came on for Poulsen and Nicolas Seiwald for Haidara. Gladbach also tried to provide fresh impetus with Marvin Friedrich. Sesko (73′) then had the chance to make it 3-0, but the strong Nicolas was there with a reflexive foot save.
