DFB Cup: Leipzig confidently beat Cottbus in the round of 16

As of: October 29, 2025 12:21 a.m

The cup journey of third division leaders Energie Cottbus came to an abrupt end in the second main round. The Lausitzers lost 1:4 (0:3) against RB Leipzig on Tuesday evening. The guests particularly celebrated Christoph Baumgartner, who made almost everything clear for the Saxons with a brace in the first half and shot RB into the round of 16 (December 2nd/3rd).

The Austrian, who was also in excellent form in the cup, increased the score for the guests (28th + 37th minutes) after Johan Bakayoko had put them in front early on. After the break, Ezekiel Banzuzi finally destroyed all of Cottbus’s dreams of perhaps bringing about a turnaround that evening (70th).

At the beginning of the second half of the game it was announced that a Leipzig fan who apparently wanted to attend the game had collapsed without any outside influence and died on the way to the hospital. As a result, both fan camps refrained from loud support chants.

“We managed to calm the game down after five or six minutes, score early goals and ensure clear conditions. The boys did that very well today.”Leipzig coach Ole Werner praised his boys on the Sportschau microphone after the game. And when asked about the accident, the RB coach said: “Football completely takes a back seat. The stadium reacted very sensitively to that.”

Pele Wollitz warned of poor defensive performance

Before the game, Cottbus’ coach Claus-Dieter “Pele” Wollitz particularly emphasized his team’s defensive behavior and hoped for a great day from his top performer Tolcay Cigerci. The former Bundesliga star has already scored nine goals and four assists in the current third division season.

But it became clear early on to the almost 20,000 fans in the stadium that Ole Werner’s team was working with all their concentration in Lausitz. Defensively stable and offensively goal-oriented, RB went for the first goal early and didn’t have to wait long. Bakayoko came from the right side, was not attacked, ran horizontally over two players and shot low from the bottom right into the goal.

Cottbuser misunderstanding favors the second goal

Then Baumgartner catapulted himself into the center twice in standard situations and initially benefited from a major misunderstanding in the Cottbus defense. Baumgartner ran centrally in front of the goal from the edge of the penalty area and headed David Raum’s corner resulting from the mishap into the goal from the left.

Cottbus wasn’t shocked, Justin Butler ran through nicely straight after the kick-off, but Merveille Biankadi couldn’t reach the low cross because Leipzig’s central defense around Willi Orban and El Chadaille Bitshiabu were concentrated. Biankadi took a corner a little later, but was unable to capitalize on a double chance from distance.

But then Cottbus allowed themselves to be duped: With a free kick in the left half of the field, Baumgartner indicated that he would like the ball to be played to the left of the penalty area and ran off. The hosts were still mentally preparing for the free kick and had neither space nor the ball or Baumgartner in sight. The next moment the referee blew his whistle and the “3” lit up on the scoreboard for Leipzig’s third goal.

18 minutes of silence in the stadium

After the break, the game was initially very quiet after the news of the Leipzig fan’s death made the rounds.

Cottbus still didn’t find any compelling solutions on the field against the Bundesliga teams. Banzuzi got himself on the top scorer’s list, hitting the goal unstoppably from the edge of the penalty area after a beautiful solo with his left.

In the 64th minute, the Cottbus fan stand started chanting again – Leipzig’s supporters remained quiet. This didn’t change when substitute Conrad Harder failed in a solo attempt against the outstandingly responsive energetic goalkeeper Marius Funk.

Consolation goal for Cottbus

After goal number four, Leipzig only did what was absolutely necessary. And the home team took advantage of that: First, Cigerci narrowly missed with a low shot from around 16 meters. But then Axel Borgmann prepared nicely from the left side of the penalty area, Erik Engelhardt took the shot directly from the penalty spot with his left turn and was a little lucky that the ball slipped under Gulacsi’s replacement Maarten Vandevoordt.

Cottbus really put the pressure on again in the final phase, but both Cigerci was denied by Vandevoordt, and the crossbar also prevented the home team from scoring a second goal.

Leipzig against VfB, Cottbus at 60 Munich

Leipzig awaits VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga next Saturday (3:30 p.m.), Cottbusa will play against the Munich Lions in the 3rd league on Sunday (2:00 p.m.).