A special milestone for RBL!
Our away game againstVfL Wolfsburgon 25th November 2023 marked the 250th Bundesliga game in our club’s history.
In honour of this special milestone, we take a look back on the best statistics and some memorable moments from the last seven years.
RBL reach 250 games in the Bundesliga
1st Bundesliga game in 2016
Impressive record
- With 250 Bundesliga games under our belt, we currently occupy 29th place in the league’s all-time rankings. Our time in the top flight has been a successful one, with RBL never finishing lower than sixth and qualifying for the Champions League in six of our seven seasons in the division.
Our record from our first 250 Bundesliga games
- 135 wins | 59 draws| 56 losses
RBL’s record-holding players
Our all-time record appearance maker in the Bundesliga is goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, who has featured in 203 games. Yussuf Poulsen (194 games) and Emil Forsberg (193) complete our top three.
Top 5: Bundesliga appearances for RBL
- Peter Gulacsi (203 games)
- Yussuf Poulsen (194)
- Emil Forsberg (193)
- Willi Orban (185)
- Marcel Halstenberg (165)
Timo Werner has scored more Bundesliga goals for RBL than any other player (89), followed by Christopher Nkunku (47) and Yussi Poulsen (43).
Top 5: Bundesliga goals for RBL
- Timo Werner (89 goals)
- Christopher Nkunku (47)
- Yussuf Poulsen (43)
- Emil Forsberg (39)
- Marcel Sabitzer (32)
Memorable moments
2016/17: First home game, first win
- After our first Bundesliga game in the 2016/17 season ended in a 2-2 draw in Hoffenheim, we secured our first win in our first home game. On 10th September 2016, we beat Borussia Dortmund 1-0 at the Red Bull Arena with a late goal from Naby Keïta.
“I’m dedicating the goal to the RB Leipzig fans,” Keïta said straight after the conclusion of this historic first game. Additionally, our then head coach Ralph Hasenhüttl waxed lyrical about the game: “That was exactly the game that we all wanted.”
- Noteworthy: Six players who featured that day are also still at RB Leipzig today: Peter Gulacsi, Lukas Klostermann, Willi Orban, Timo Werner, Yussuf Poulsen and Emil Forsberg.
2017/18: Impressive numbers and a first win against Bayern
- Our second Bundesliga season was accompanied by some impressive numbers: We played our 50th Bundesliga game in December 2017 and became the team with the best record after 50 games in Bundesliga history following a 1-1 draw in Wolfsburg.
- Another record: Dayot Upamecano scored RBL’s 100th Bundesliga goal in just our 56th Bundesliga game on 9th February 2018. No other club has ever reached the mark of 100 goals so quickly.
- The crowning glory of the season came on 18th March 2018 when RBL secured their first home win against FC Bayern München. Naby Keïta (37’) and Timo Werner (56’) turned the game around after Sandro Wagner (12’) had put Bayern ahead.
Our then sporting director Ralf Rangnick was full of praise for the team: “Hats off to the performance. Other than the first ten minutes, we dominated the game in all areas. That says a lot against Bayern. We just should’ve scored a couple more goals…”
2019/20: Our biggest win and finishing top at Christmas
- We celebrated our biggest win in the Bundesliga in November 2019, as we put eight past 1. FSV Mainz 05 (8-0 H). The undisputed man of the match was Timo Werner, who bagged a hat-trick of both goals and assists. “We played a fantastic game. Every shot went it,” the striker raved afterwards.
- The 8-0 win was one highlight in a fantastic start to the season, as RBL went on to go into the winter break sitting in first place. It was the first time in our top-flight history that we managed to be top at Christmas, cementing our spot at the top of the pile with a 3-1 win against FC Augsburg on matchday 17.
- We would go on to celebrate a 5-0 win against Mainz in the second half of the season, with Timo Werner netting another hat-trick. He would also score our 250th Bundesliga goal in the process.
2022/23: Our 400th goal and first win away in Munich
- The years since have seen us enjoy more success, in both domestic and international competition. We have qualified for the Champions League in every season and won our first DFB-Pokal title in 2022. The start of the 2022/23 season was marked by Christopher Nkunku scoring the 400th Bundesliga goal in our history during a 1-1 draw in Stuttgart.
- Christo would net one of our more important goals that season on the penultimate matchday, as we celebrated our first ever win away at FC Bayern München.
Serge Gnabry had opened the scoring for the hosts (25′), before goals from Konrad Laimer (65′), Christo (76′, pen.) and Dominik Szoboszlai (86′, pen.) saw us earn a comeback victory.
“We showed that we had what it takes to beat Bayern at the Allianz Arena for the first time. We ran a lot and it paid off,” said Dominik Szoboszlai.
- Christo Nkunku would go on to score a brace in a 4-2 win against Schalke on the final day, taking him onto 16 goals for the season – enough to crown him the Bundesliga’s joint top goalscorer (together with Werder’s Niclas Füllkrug). It was the first time that an RBL player had won the award. The cherry on top of that campaign was our successful DFB-Pokal title defence.
A historic moment for RBL, and certainly not the last…