Orbán sees red
© Imago
Not a liberation, but an important step out of the crisis: led by magic duo Benjamin Sesko and Xavi Simons, RB Leipzig defeated FC St. Pauli 2-0 (2-0) and consolidated fourth place in the Bundesliga. The Saxons celebrated a victory after four games and for the first time since the start of the year against Werder Bremen. For St. Pauli it was the first defeat after three unbeaten games.
Sesko (16th minute) put Leipzig in the lead with his ninth season goal. According to the Slovenian international, Simon (35th) increased spectators in front of 46,021. In the 69th minute, Leipzig’s defense chief Willi Orbán saw the red card after an emergency brake.
Neither the results nor the way of playing at RB last fit. Coach Marco Rose took over accordingly, switching the starting XI compared to 0-0 at Union Berlin to five positions. The most prominent victim: Loïs Openda. Last season with 24 goals the most accurate Leipziger, currently accompanied by acute charging inhibitions.
Sesko stormed alone, Rose put a counterpart to David Raum in Ridle Baku on the right outer lane. That was not new in itself, but this time it was possible to take the left -wing reliability of the Leipzig game. But at first St. Pauli was very close to the tour. Goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi (3rd) was only able to ward off a free kick from Eric Smith, but the Hamburg captain Jackson Irvine met only one Leipzig defender instead of the empty goal.
Sesko showed how easy it is. Simons sent the attacker into the penalty area, where David Nemeth went down completely unnecessarily next to Sesko-and the 21-year-old pushed the ball into the long corner. Leipzig did not play a lot of chances, but then used them consistently. Sesko combined with Baku on the right side, then put the ball in the back of the defense in the Hamburg penalty area. Simons stood all alone, scored for the third time this year.
St. Pauli made it too easy for Leipzig to go, but did not lose faith. In injury time of the first half, Noah Weißhaupt (45.+1) had the great opportunity to connect when he was released to the volley after a confusion after a long throw -in. The ball clapped against the crossbar, from then on Gulácsis back – and turned out.
Leipzig quickly recovered from the fright and remained variable in the play area. Sometimes with long balls on Sesko, sometimes Simons and Antonio Nusa combined through the center. St. Pauli received his possibilities, but initially remained to be hasty as when the substitute Elias Saad (61.).
Saad was back in the spotlight a few minutes later. After an RB ball loss in the middle, the striker was through and alone on the way to Gulácsi, but captain Orbán stopped the 25-year-old shortly before the penalty area with an emergency brake. After the dismissal, Rose reacted, took Sesko, the prudent Kevin Kampl and Nusa down and brought Openda, among other things.
In the final minutes, RB keeper Gulácsi still had to stretch to prevent the guests in a header from Johannes Eggestein. On the other hand, Openda and Christoph Baumgartner awarded the opportunities to a third goal for Leipzig a little later.