Petes special anniversary!
Peter Gulacsi doesn’t have the best memories of his debut for RB Leipzig. In October 2015, he played for the first time in the second round of the DFB Cup – and had to get the ball out of his own net three times. RBL lost 3-0 to SpVgg Unterhaching and was eliminated.
A lot has happened since then: promotion to the Bundesliga, Champions League semi-finals, DFB Cup victory. In the home game against Borussia Dortmund, our number 1 has made his 300th appearance in the Red Bull jersey. And for us he was the man of the match.
This puts him in fourth place on our list of record players, behind Willi Orbán (306), Emil Forsberg (325) and Yussuf Poulsen (394). This season, Pete has been a particular guarantee of success. Time to take a look back.
Best of Peter Gulacsi
Career Beginnings in England
- At the beginning of his career, it was not known that Peter Gulacsi would become one of the greats in his field. Although he was signed early by Liverpool FC, he did not play a single Premier League game for the Reds. He had to gain match practice on loan in lower-tier English leagues.
Pete made his breakthrough in Austria, where he won the double as regular goalkeeper with Red Bull Salzburg in 2014 and 2015. When he came to Leipzig in the summer of 2015, the Hungarian was initially only number 2 behind Fabio Coltorti.
But Pete waited patiently for his chance and took it. After his competitor suffered a shoulder injury in the second half of the season, Pete impressed with outstanding performances between the posts – and never gave up his place again.
Promotion ero and National Goalkeeper
- With promotion to the Bundesliga, Peter Gulacsi celebrated his first major success in Germany. And from then on, things continued to go uphill. RBL’s performances attracted international attention, and in 2016, Pete logically became number 1 in the Hungarian national team. In his home country, he was named Footballer of the Year in 2018 and 2019.
It would take a little longer until the first title win in Germany. In the summer of 2022, RB Leipzig won the DFB Cup final. In the 4-2 win on penalties against SC Freiburg, Pete was between the posts for over 120 minutes and played a major role in RBL bringing the cup to Leipzig.
“This victory was something very special,” enthused Pete afterwards, adding: “We showed incredible team spirit.”
Long period of suffering
- Our goalkeeper also had to show his morale the following year after he experienced the biggest setback in his otherwise very successful career. On October 5, 2022, he tore his cruciate ligament in the Champions League match against Celtic Glasgow. What followed was a long period of suffering.
Pete had to watch the second DFB Cup title win in a row as a spectator, while his replacement Janis Blaswich established himself between the posts with good performances.
But Pete never gave up, even though he had to start the current season as number 2 and only played in the cup and on the last Matchday of the Champions League group stage.
At the beginning of February, after three Bundesliga defeats in a row, our coach Marco Rose decided to put Peter Gulacsi back in goal. The hope that this measure would give the team stability was fulfilled.
Undefeated after the goalkeeper change
- With Pete in goal, the Red Bulls have not lost a Bundesliga game since then. He was absent from the only defeat since the beginning of February, the 1:2 in Munich, due to muscular problems. But Pete does not want to attribute this series of successes to him alone.
“It’s definitely not just me. We’ve improved together as a team. In the last few weeks, we’ve let little through defensively and we’ve been stable. Offensively, we always knew what qualities we had,” said Pete in a recent interview, adding: “It’s obviously nice that we haven’t lost a Bundesliga game with me in goal, and we hope it stays that way.”
RBL also won the next three Bundesliga matches since Pete said these words, 3-0 against Wolfsburg, 2-1 in Heidenheim and now 4-1 against Dortmund. In the race for fourth place in the table, the Red Bulls are currently five points ahead of BVB.
Guaranteed Success at 34 Years Old
- “We’re doing really well at the moment. And I’m trying to do my part and bring stability to the back,” said Peter Gulacsi after the success in Heidenheim. Now he hopes that it will continue the same way beyond his 300th game for RBL. “That would mean that we’re achieving our goals. We want to be among the top four teams,” emphasises Pete.
Even if the season does not end with a title win this time, it is still a successful season. That applies to RBL as a team, but especially to Peter Gulacsi. Even at almost 34 years of age, the Hungarian is still one of the most important players in the team – and a real guarantee of success. The 300th game for Leipzig will therefore be far from his last.
300 Appearances for RBL
Debuts for RB Leipzig
2. Bundesliga
- 07. February 2016 against Eintracht Braunschweig
1. Bundesliga
- 28. August 2016 against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
DFB Cup
- 27. October 2015 against SpVgg Unterhaching
Champions League
- 13. September 2017 against AS Monaco
Europa League
- 15. February 2018 against SSC Napoli