On Friday (8.30 p.m., LIVE! on kicker) RB Leipzig will be visiting TSG Hoffenheim. Almost eight years ago, the Saxons played their first of what have now been 269 Bundesliga games in the arena in Sinsheim. Four players from that squad are still in the Saxons’ squad today: Peter Gulacsi, Willi Orban, Lukas Klostermann and Yussuf Poulsen. Now another duel is coming up.
Hoffenheim has it in front of him: RB coach Marco Rose. IMAGO/osnapix
The game in Hoffenheim ended 2-2 on August 28, 2016 in Sinsheim, with Dominik Kaiser and Marcel Sabitzer securing a point for RB with their goals. The team and officials could live with a draw at TSG next Friday (8.30 p.m., LIVE! on kicker) during the upcoming 32nd Bundesliga matchday.
However, they would much prefer a win in the fight for Champions League qualification in order to maintain their five-point lead over BVB after the 4-1 win against Dortmund last weekend. Leipzig could make fourth place perfect on this match day: with a win and if Dortmund doesn’t win against Augsburg.
The fact that RB is playing at TSG on a Friday should encourage coach Marco Rose and his team. Leipzig won both Friday games 5-1 this season: on matchday 2 against Stuttgart and on matchday 26 in Cologne. RB has only lost two of the 21 Friday games in the Bundesliga since promotion in 2016 (with 15 wins and four draws): on December 3, 2021 at Union Berlin (1:2) and on March 3, 2023 at Borussia Dortmund (1:2 ).
Club record in sight
The people of Leipzig recently proved insurmountable abroad. Rose’s team won the last four guest games – in Heidenheim (2:1), in Freiburg (4:1), in Cologne (5:1) and in Bochum (4:1) – and the club record is seven away wins in a row and comes from the 2018/19 season. The 62 points currently achieved are the best for a fourth-placed team after 31 match days since the introduction of the three-point classification, and Leipzig can still break the club record for total points this season.
Hoffenheim will be the next challenge.
So far this is the same as the 67 points that RB recorded in their first division debut season in 2016/17. “There are still a few nice things on the way,” says Rose, “Hoffenheim will be the next challenge. If we master that, then we have every chance for the last two games. We just want to stay in the flow.”
Things have also been going like clockwork for Lois Openda recently. The Saxons’ top scorer can also break a mark in Hoffenheim. If he scores, the Leipzig goalscorer (24 goals so far) would be the first RB player to score against 15 different teams in one season. The 14 opponents in one season that he scored a goal against are a unique selling point for the Belgian. Openda is still scoreless against Hoffenheim in this round, as well as against Frankfurt, where RB is a guest on the last matchday. Only against Mainz 05 did the 24-year-old fail to score in both games in this round.
It is not yet clear whether Openda’s teammate Mohamed Simakan will be able to take part on Friday. After he had to be substituted in the 4-1 win against Dortmund due to calf problems, the French defender was able to train again on Wednesday, but not yet in full.
2024-05-01 15:15:00
#Friday #promising #combination
