Coach Domenico Tedesco jumped into the arms of the replaced Tyler Adams and let out a cheering cry.
Between the European Cup party in Bergamo and the cup highlight against 1. FC Union Berlin, RB Leipzig celebrated an important victory in the race for Champions League qualification.
In the top game of the Bundesliga, which was only one on paper, RB won 1-0 (0-0) at Bayer Leverkusen thanks to Dominik Szoboszlai and edged out the Werkself from third place. “We’re happy about the win. But I don’t think the game was good for either team,” admitted Tedesco on the “DAZN” streaming service.
RB scores three times, Leverkusen at a loss
“I think we wanted that more,” said match winner Szoboszlai. Despite the many changes in the starting lineup, the team didn’t lose any quality and were then able to bring in fresh players like top scorer Christopher Nkunku. “It was difficult because we didn’t play well,” said RB goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, looking at the first half, only then did things get better thanks to the changes.
Leverkusen, who are badly injured, are now just one point ahead of Freiburg in fifth place. Getting into the Champions League, the biggest and last goal of the season, will be difficult. After the final whistle, the Bayer pros looked helplessly at the evening sky. However, Freiburg will come to Leverkusen for a possible final on the last day of the game.
“Not enough at the moment,” stated Bayer goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky and appealed to his teammates to mobilize their last strength in the final spurt of the season. “I think this game didn’t deserve a winner,” added Hradecky.
RB continues to be the best team in the second half of the season
Even the double semi-finalist from Leipzig, who moved into the semi-finals of the Europa League at Atalanta Bergamo last Thursday and will receive Union in the DFB Cup semi-finals next Wednesday, did not look fresh despite Tedesco’s major rotation. For the first time in its Bundesliga history, Leipzig went without a shot on goal in the first half.
That changed with the second half substitutions and Szoboszlai scored the winning goal in the 69th minute. This means that RB is still the best team in the second half of the league and also maintained its proud series in Leverkusen. The Saxons remained undefeated in their sixth appearance in the BayArena.
Leverkusen, for whom Jonathan Tah was able to play despite the bruised rib he suffered last week, played in a comparatively defensive 3-5-2 system with midfielders who are only defensively oriented. Leipzig interpreted the same system with the two eights Emil Forsberg and Szoboszlai nominally a little more offensive.
Tedesco has exchange options with quality
The self-confidence of the guests was also demonstrated by RB’s social media department, which announced the line-up on Twitter with the words “Our Bayer conquerors”. But Tedesco had shaken up his starting eleven again and only left three field players in the team compared to the Bergamo second leg. RB also had too little self-image in its actions, and both teams initially equalized at a tough level, especially in midfield.
The first chance to score came in the 28th minute when Bayer’s Patrik Schick freed his strike partner Moussa Diaby, who failed from a tight angle at RB keeper Gulacsi. Bayer also had the second good opportunity when Schick failed to head a cross from Exequiel Palacios (40′).
At the break, Tedesco brought on the in-form Nkunku. After 39 seconds he dribbled in the penalty area, the ball came to Szoboszlai and he hit the post. About ten minutes later, Tedesco followed up with Dani Olmo and Konrad Laimer, the second match winner from Bergamo. Leipzig was now better in the game. Nordi Mukiele missed the big chance to make it 1-0, but Szoboszlai used it seconds later when Nkunku put it down.