Under Klopp’s eyes
©IMAGO
In the VIP stand, the new head of football, Jürgen Klopp, warmed his cold hands in thick gray gloves, while on the pitch, Xavi Simons ensured a victorious start to the new year with his comeback gala. Thanks to a brace from their playmaker, RB Leipzig won 4:2 (2:1) against Werder Bremen and moved back into a Champions League place during Klopp’s visit to the Bundesliga, which was not publicly announced in advance.
The day before, Klopp was at FC Paris, in which Red Bull owns a stake. A Sunday visit to Leipzig was actually not planned. Nevertheless, the 57-year-old found himself among the 47,187 fans between sports director Marcel Schäfer and technical director Mario Gomez, smiling into the cell phone cameras at halftime for some selfie hunters. He also saw Leipzig’s dream goals from Simons (23rd minute/35th), Benjamin Sesko (47th) and Christoph Baumgartner (90th) as well as the goals conceded by Mitchell Weiser (26th) and Oliver Burke (90th + 3). . This means that Leipzig remains undefeated at home against Bremen.
Schäfer raved about his future seatmate even before kick-off. “I stand by it, he is an absolute royal transfer,” said the 40-year-old before the game on “DAZN”. “We are all really looking forward to Jürgen Klopp here in Leipzig because he will really help us and everyone else with his expertise, his experience and his great passion for football.”
Simons and David Raum, who had been injured for months, were back in the Leipzig starting line-up after their syndesmosis tears, but this didn’t initially impress Werder. The Hanseatic League, who went into the winter break with four competitive game wins in a row, were evenly matched and particularly applied pressure from the left side with Derrick Köhn. Romano Schmid (11th) had the first good chance, but after a cross from the right side by Marco Grüll, he chested the ball just wide of the goal.
Leipzig had control of the game and relied heavily on Simons’ dribbling – initially unsuccessfully. Then a quick throw-in from Arthur Vermeeren was enough to crack the Werder defense. Lois Openda extended to Simons, who broke centrally through the back four and his low shot passed.
However, it only took three minutes before Weiser walked through the Leipzig defense just as unhindered. A one-two with Grüll – and the full-back found himself free in front of Leipzig’s goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi. Balance.
Then Simons’ solo lesson began. The Dutch international got the ball on the halfway line, shook off various Bremen players and was a bit lucky in the end. His shot was deflected by former Leipzig player Anthony Jung, meaning Bremen’s goalkeeper Michael Zetterer had no chance.
However, the somewhat hapless Openda (63′) did not outsmart Zetterer with his shot at the near corner, two minutes later Simons left the pitch to thunderous applause. In addition, Ridle Baku, who was only signed from VfL Wolfsburg on Friday, made his RB debut.
Leipzig continued to push forward, but after a solo over 60 meters, Antonio Nusa (81′) only hit the post. Shortly before the end, Baumgartner converted into the net on the right before ex-Leipzig player Burke scored for Bremen in stoppage time.