If you judge the top teams in the Regionalliga Nordost, last year’s Berlin-based top trio Viktoria, Union and Türkiyemspor go almost without saying, but to their number should be included RasenBallsport Leipzig II. The U-20 team, who have been playing in the Regionalliga since 2020, finished behind Türkiyem’ in 4th last season.

The 23-year-old has not been effective in every match but shone at the City Ground on Sunday, scoring his first Premier League goal since October before expertly slipping through Dalot to .

“An unpleasant opponent who are especially strong in attack and against whom we will have to produce another good performance,” explained coach Mike Tullberg ahead of the match. His team are on track both in the Bundesliga and in the UEFA Youth League. At the halfway point of the group stage, AC Milan, BVB and Paris Saint-Germain occupy the top three spots with six points apiece. After their victory at Newcastle United, the Black & Yellows can build upon their good position in the return fixture against the English outfit on Tuesday 7 November (14:00 CET at the Youth Performance Centre). The race for top spot in the group and second place, which secure automatic qualification for the last 16 and a play-off place respectively, is likely to go down to the wire.

Wöber and Lainer victorious with Austria Maximilian Wöber and Stefan Lainer celebrated a friendly victory over...

While the Bavarians played with a vim and vigor that has not always been present this season, it just simply was not enough against a very stout Manchester City side.

After winning the DFB Pokal last season, Leipzig also won the 2023 Super Cup in August when Marco Rose’s team defeated FC Bayern 3-0 in Munich. However, RasenBallsport got off to a bad start in the Bundesliga, losing their opener 3-2 at Leverkusen. One week later, however, the Saxons were stung, and reacted, beating VfB Stuttgart 5-1.

Amid competition from Manchester City and Real Madrid,

BVB will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they face Leverkusen. After four wins in a row, the BVB women’s handball team were knocked out of the cup and then suffered their first Bundesliga defeat of the season last Saturday. The game against TuS Metzingen was the subject of extensive discussion this week. “We analysed the game again with the team over two meetings,” said coach Henk Groener, adding: “We found good solutions in attack in the first half, but that said, we conceded 17 goals. We then improved our defence after the break. However, that coincided with us no longer having the answers on offence.” Groener also felt his team were lacking their usual tempo, one of the unit’s strengths, in the game against Metzingen. “We have to continue to make improvements in this area. That, and our defence, are the key points if we want to be successful in Leverkusen,” he added.

While City was no slouch, it was yet another unceremonious exit for Bayern Munich from Europe’s top competition after Manchester City advanced by a 4-1 score on aggregate.

Following the draw for the UEFA Champions League group stage, the European football association has now...