Second win after two defeats
RB Leipzig turns things around with force and fight
November 12, 2023, 9:31 p.m
Defending champions RB Leipzig were eliminated from the cup in the second round, and a defeat at Kellerkind Mainz meant they lost sight of the top of the Bundesliga table. After the hard-fought early advancement in the Champions League, the team is now moving on in the league.
RB Leipzig got back on the road to success with a lot of effort and a lot of confusion. With the 3-1 (1-1) win against SC Freiburg, coach Marco Rose’s team moved past Borussia Dortmund into fourth place in the Bundesliga table and is back on track for the premier league after the 0-2 slip-up in Mainz.
Xavi Simons (6th minute) gave the cup winners the lead in front of 41,117 spectators. Merlin Röhl (45th + 6th) equalized for Freiburg before Lois Openda (79th) with a penalty and Christoph Baumgartner (80th), who previously took the penalty, made the decision. This means that Freiburg remain winless for the third game in a row and remain in eighth place in the table.
“We are very happy that we won the game. It always felt like we were on a knife’s edge,” said RB sports director Schröder. Quality is about getting through such a phase, he said, and particularly praised Rose as a motivator for the turnaround. Before kick-off, Rose once again called for determination in order to generate more chances. His players started right there. Simons won the ball from Lucas Höler, hit a few hooks and shot from 20 meters – 1-0. His fourth Bundesliga goal was almost identical to the opening goal in the 2-1 Champions League win at Red Star Belgrade, when RB booked their place in the round of 16 early.
From then on, Leipzig only stormed the Freiburg goal. The Breisgauers were well staggered behind the halfway line, so that Leipzig needed patience when building up the game, but the guests themselves were not dangerous in the first half hour. Christian Streich raged wildly on the sidelines, directed his team and tried to show passing routes by gesticulating. “You have to be extremely brave with your own balls, otherwise you have no chance,” he said before the game between the two strongest teams on DAZN. Breisgauer’s first chance to score had Maximilian Eggestein, but Janis Blaswich parried and let the ball bounce forward, where Kiliann Sildilla pushed the ball over the line – but before that he was offside.
Usury of opportunities is not punished
At this point, RB already had six shots on goal with 70 percent possession. But like recently, the Saxons exploited opportunities. And so the guests, who had more of the game at the end of the first half, built up again. So it was almost logical that Röhl first let Lukas Klostermann – who was preferred to Benjamin Henrichs – get out and then deliberately shot in to equalize (45th + 6th). Blaswich, who had been parrying brilliantly for weeks and was called up to the German national team for the first time during the week, had no chance.
After the restart, Openda (46′) had the chance to take the lead on the left half, but narrowly missed from a tight angle. On the other hand, Freiburg did better: Höler (53′) slid precisely into a cross from Noah Weißhaupt – but the referee looked offside and missed the goal. Four minutes later, Blaswich parried a shot from Vincenzo Grifo. Suddenly Freiburg, who had not been able to win their last nine competitive games against RB, were more present.
Rose reacted after an hour with a three-man substitution, bringing in fresh players, including Yussuf Poulsen, who had to miss the game due to adductor problems. Leipzig pressed, but shied away from the risk. But the changes brought more structure back into the game. Above all, Baumgartner, who has been strong for weeks, first took the penalty and then scored himself to make it 3-1.