RB Leipzig celebrated a prestigious victory in the Champions League before the acid test against Bayer Leverkusen.
RB Leipzig won the meaningless home game against Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday 2-1 (1-0). However, the first win in the seventh game in the premier class is only of a cosmetic nature; RB had already had no chance of making it to the knockout round.
“It’s a deserved win for us because we were the better team in the first half. In the end, Sporting got into the game better,” said coach Marco Rose: “We’re happy about this win, we need it.”
Benjamin Sesko (19th) and substitute Yussuf Poulsen (78th) scored for Leipzig, who had previously lost all six games in Europe’s top league. Viktor Gyökeres (75th) was successful for Lisbon.
With their sense of success against Sporting, Rose’s recently stumbling team warmed up for the important Bundesliga game on Saturday (3:30 p.m./Sky) against champions Leverkusen. Leipzig had previously remained without a win in the league twice in a row and had fallen out of the Champions League ranks.
RB Leipzig says goodbye to the Champions League
In the premier class, RB could say goodbye to the European stage with their head held high at the end of the new league phase next Wednesday (9 p.m./DAZN) against Sturm Graz.
With a view to the game against the Werkself, Rose mixed things up a lot, with six new players in the starting line-up. Among other things, offensive regulars Sesko and Lois Openda returned to the starting line-up, having been suspended from the bitter 3-3 draw in the league at VfL Bochum.
It took Leipzig a while to get going against Sporting. After a long scanning phase, David Raum found Sesko, who was lurking at the second post, who pushed the ball over the line. Another goal from Raum was disallowed due to an offside position according to the video images.
After the break, the Leipzig team came out of the locker room much more seriously than in Bochum. Xavi (48th) chased the ball just over the goal, Amadou Haidara (51st) hit the post from a distance. Things got wild again in the final phase when Gyökeres scored and Poulsen added for RB just three minutes later.