Tragedy in Leipzig
Deaths overshadow important RB victory
February 17, 2024, 8:27 p.m
RB Leipzig celebrates an important victory in a difficult sporting situation on matchday 22 of the Bundesliga. But the success over Borussia Münchengladbach is overshadowed by deaths: a Leipzig supporter dies during the game, and a visiting fan died on Friday.
RB Leipzig is back within touching distance of the Champions League places. With a 2-0 (1-0) at home against Borussia Mönchengladbach, the German cup winners reduced the gap to fourth place in the Bundesliga to one point. Previously, rivals Dortmund had only played 1-1 in Wolfsburg. In front of 44,822 spectators, Xavi Simons (14th minute) put Leipzig in the lead on Saturday evening before Lois Openda (57th) increased. For the Gladbachers it remains the same: they didn’t get a win in the eighth game in Leipzig either.
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 Dani Olmo’s through ball, but lobbed the ball over the goal from six meters . Marco Rose, who broke the 100-point mark as RB coach with the win against the former club, this time relied on Poulsen instead of Benjamin Sesko in the attack. He also brought in Amadou Haidara in defensive midfield. After that it became unusually quiet in the stadium.
The approximately 3,500 visiting fans held back their support “because a member of the fan scene died in a traffic accident,” Borussia announced during the game on the X platform (formerly Twitter). The Leipzig team were mostly quiet shortly after kick-off because a person had to be resuscitated in the stadium, as RB also announced on X. During the half-time break, the stadium announcer announced the sad news that “unfortunately the fan has died”. There was only occasional applause during the game.
“Really tragic, of course”
“You definitely feel a very strange atmosphere, right at the beginning. We had heard that from Gladbach before the game and were of course deeply affected,” said RB sports director Rouven 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.”
The players tried to concentrate on sports. In the 13th minute, Dani Olmo tested visiting 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 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, Gladbach’s coach Gerardo Seoane had to do without Alassane Plea (bruised bone) and Florian Neuhaus (muscular problems) before kick-off. Overall, Borussia’s defense appeared to be stable; apart from conceding a goal, they initially didn’t allow much. And when he did, Nicolas saved, like against Openda (40th), who was, however, offside.
VAR makes the decision
After the substitution, the Gladbachers sent a signal of caution with a header from Jordan (52nd) – 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 overtaken by Openda (57th) after he started free after a strong pass. Although the linesman raised the flag, 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 made it 3-0, but the strong Nicolas was there with a reflexive foot save.