Usury of opportunities, referee anger – and an artificial shot in the heart: RB Leipzig is threatened with elimination in the round of 16 in the Champions League despite a courageous performance against Real Madrid. In a first leg at eye level, the Bundesliga team demanded everything from the record winners of the premier class and ultimately lost extremely unfortunately 0-1 (0-0).
In the second leg on March 6th at the Bernabeu, RB has its back against the wall. Brahim Diaz (49th) reduced Leipzig’s chances of progressing with a remarkable goal.
“We’re certainly not afraid, we’re not afraid of anything,” coach Marco Rose had said in advance. It was already clear before the game that at least Jude Bellingham posed no danger. The English superstar did not make the trip to Leipzig because of an injury to his left ankle. Toni Kroos, whose possible DFB comeback continues to be speculated, was in Real’s starting line-up.
The 2014 world champion was initially challenged primarily defensively, because RB started with a lot of offensive urge – and celebrated early. After a poorly cleared corner, Benjamin Sesko headed the ball into the goal (2nd). The attacker was not offside, but Real’s strong goalkeeper Andrij Lunin was slightly hindered by national player Benjamin Henrichs – a tough and debatable decision by the often not confident referee Irfan Peljto.
Leipzig was not deterred by this. Rose’s team bridged the spaces with quick combinations or long balls and created further chances. Sesko aimed from a slightly tight angle in the penalty area but too centrally (10th). Leipzig stayed on the trigger: Henrichs failed from distance (15th), Sesko (19th) hit the side netting.
With a lot of possession, Leipzig managed to barely let Real’s playful strengths develop. When the Spaniards occasionally advanced into the final third, the defense was secure. The RB partially defended the dribbling of Real winger Vinicius Junior with three players.
Leipzig takes a lot of risks, gets lucky – and misses the equalizer
The game lost some structure and momentum. Many small fouls disrupted the flow of the game. Real came closest to taking the lead when Rodrygo narrowly missed a cross (42′).
Leipzig started the second half just as energetically as the first, but continued to be too imprecise in front of the goal. Brahim Diaz, however, took measures. The attacker did a lot of dribbling and shot the ball into the corner from around 20 meters. Even Bellingham was thrilled. “Oh my god Brahim!!!” he wrote after the hit on X.
Leipzig increased the risk and gave Real space to counterattack. Rodrygo (64th) had the second goal on his feet. Vinicius Junior (72nd) hit the post. But the hosts also remained dangerous. But Sesko failed because of Lunin (81′).