Leipzig stops horror series thanks to veteran Poulsen

Champions League on Wednesday

Horror series stopped: Leipzig gets its first victory

The exit from the Champions League was already sealed for RB Leipzig before the game against Sporting. Nevertheless, at the end there was reason to celebrate for the first time.

Thanks to its accurate strikers Benjamin Šeško and Yussuf Poulsen, RB Leipzig stopped its horror series in the Champions League on Wednesday evening and scored the first three points in this year’s competition. The Saxons, who had already been eliminated before the game against the Portuguese representative Sporting Lisbon, beat them 2-1 (1-0) in front of their home crowd.

Šeško had shot the fifth-placed team in the Bundesliga into the lead after 19 minutes on an assist from DFB professional David Raum. Sporting, who are still fighting for a place in the next round of the premier class, owed a lot for long stretches and were lucky that another goal from Raum was denied recognition after VAR intervention.

In the second period, RB missed their best chance of making it 2-0 and suddenly had to swallow the equalizer. Sporting superstar Viktor Gyökeres, who is on the radar of numerous top clubs, scored powerfully for the guests (75th minute). But Leipzig had the perfect answer. After Baumgartner’s preparatory work, Poulsen stumbled the ball into the net for the celebrated victory (78th).

Thanks to the three points, coach Marco Rose’s team climbs to 30th place in the Champions League table for the time being. Because Leipzig lost the first six games in the competition, the victory is likely to only have a symbolic meaning. RB will play the last premier class group game in a week in Graz. The first away game in the league at the weekend is against champions Leverkusen.

At the invitation of RB, emergency services from the Magdeburg Christmas market attack were in the stadium for free. A good 400 people accepted the offer. They saw the first good Leipzig combination on the right side after eight minutes, but Loïs Openda’s finish was too harmless.

Things went better eleven minutes later. Christoph Baumgartner’s pass after winning the ball was intercepted, but the ball landed at the feet of Xavi Simons. The Dutchman served DFB professional David Raum on the left side, after his equally flat and sharp cross, Šeško only had to hold out his foot centrally.

Both teams initially remained at about the same level, in the impressive game Maximiliano Araujo (29th) had the equalizer on foot. However, Baumgartner intervened in dire need. Shortly afterwards, Raum celebrated loudly, but the national player’s goal (32nd) was withdrawn after video evidence. Openda was offside. Shortly before the break, Raum (43′) was there at the back and blocked a shot from Ivan Fresneda, who was standing free in the penalty area.

The level of entertainment remained high. Simons (48th) went around two Sporting defenders in the penalty area, but shot over the already empty goal. Amadou Haidara (51′) failed to hit the post with his shot from distance. Lisbon coach Rui Borges had seen enough and brought on his star player Gyökeres in the 55th minute.

It took about 20 minutes to get started. The Swede got the ball a good 25 meters from the goal, allowed RB defense chief Willi Orban to run with him briefly before leaving him standing and sending the ball into the corner. This season the sixth premier class goal in the seventh game for Gyökeres.

Poulsen doesn’t have nearly as good a rating. But the RB attacker still scored for Leipzig straight away.