Home win against Freiburg!
Just like in our victory over Crvena zvezda, RBL took the lead early on. Xavi opened the scoring yet again, curling the ball into the far corner in the 6th minute to make it 1-0. Leipzig kept the pressure on Freiburg and the away side came close to falling apart. Benjamin Sesko’s powerful header in the 17th minute went just wide and Lois Openda was denied by Freiburg’s keeper Noah Atubolu shortly afterwards (23′).
Christian Streich’s side grew into the game after weathering the Leipzig storm. Janis Blaswich was called into action for the first time in the 34th minute, as he saved Maximilian Eggestein’s long-range effort. Merlin Röhl went on a superb run down the right-hand side in the dying minutes of the first half and equalised for SCF.
Freiburg looked to get forward more at the start of the second half and put in more challenges. Lucas Höler thought he’d given Freiburg the lead in the 52nd minute, but Noah Weißhaupt was offside in the build-up. Freiburg’s well-structured defence meant that it was hard for RBL to carve out chances, and the visitors were also looking for their second goal. However, in the 78th minute, substitute Christoph Baumgartner was brought down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Up stepped Lois Openda, who coolly converted the penalty to give RBL the lead again. Only a couple of minutes later and RBL had another. Xavi played Baumi through on goal, and the Austrian’s deflected effort found the back of the net to seal a Leipzig victory (80′).
Bundesliga | RB Leipzig – SC Freiburg
LINE-UPS
RBL: Blaswich – Simakan (63′ Henrichs), Castello Jr., Raum, Klostermann – Haidara (68′ Kampl), Schlager, Xavi (86′ Lenz), Forsberg (C, 63′ Baumgartner) – Openda, Sesko (63′ Poulsen)
SCF: Atubolu – Gulde (89′ Schmidt), Lienhart, Ginter – Weißhaupt, Eggestein, Höfler, Sildilla – Grifo (C, 79′ Gregoritsch), Höler (89′ Adamu), Röhl (79′ Doan)
RBL bench: Zingerle, Werner, Seiwald, Carvalho
SCF bench: Müller, Makengo, Rüdlin, Baur
GOALS
1-0 Xavi (6′), 1-1 Röhl (45+6′), 2-1 Openda (78′, penalty), 3-1 Baumgartner (80′)
Yellow cards
Haidara (62′), Openda (64′)
Officials
Referee: Patrick Ittrich (Hamburg)
First assistant: Sascha Thielert (Buchholz i. d. Nordheide)
Second assistant: Thomas Gorniak (Bremen)
Fourth official: Robert Schröder (Hannover)
Video assistant: Pascal Müller (Freudental)
ATTENDANCE
41,117 at the Red Bull Arena
4th minute: First chance for RBL
RBL look dangerous for the first time after a corner. Freiburg clear it as far as Xaver Schlager, who heads it onto Amadou Haidara. The midfielder heads goalwards, but it’s an easy save for Freiburg keeper Noah Atubolu.
6th minute: Xavi opens the scoring!
It’s that man again! Xavi picks the ball up in midfield and curls it into the bottom corner from around 20 yards out.
15th minute: Early pressure for RBL
RBL have looked very lively for the first 15 minutes of the game. The visitors are sitting back and we’re not giving them a moment’s peace. Leipzig are getting forward all the time and are winning pretty much every challenge.
17th minute: Forsberg and Sesko go close
Almost 2-0! Emil Forsberg finds himself in space and lets fly, but his shot takes a deflection and trickles just past the post. Benjamin Sesko’s powerful header from the resulting corner also goes just wide.
23rd minute: Big save from Atubolu
RBL are putting the pressure on SCF again and getting into some dangerous positions. Lois Openda takes a shot from just outside the box and Atubolu has to get down quickly to tip it away from goal.
32nd minute: Leipzig continue to dominate
RBL are making SCF do a lot of running with some precise passing. We give the ball away sometimes, but most of the time we win it back. Janis Blaswich is having a quiet evening in the Leipzig goal so far and has only been called into action on a couple of occasions.
34th minute: First chance for Freiburg
The visitors look threatening for the first time, as Maximilian Eggestein shoots from outside the box. Janis Blaswich is equal to it, but he parries the ball into Kiliann Sildillia’s path, who pokes the ball home. The flag is up for offside, though – phew.
45+6th minute: Freiburg hit back
SCF equalise. Merlin Röhl breaks away on the left wing and dribbles his way into RBL’s box. He gives Janis Blaswich no chance and levels the game up again.
52nd minute: SCF have the ball in the back of the net…
…but it’s disallowed for offside! Noah Weißhaupt finds some space on the left wing and crosses it to Lucas Höler. SCF’s striker scores, but Weißhaupt was clearly offside in the build-up.
63rd minute: A scrappy game
RBL are finding it hard to play with pace and the ball is going awry far too often. Freiburg are also winning the ball more often.
67th minute: Baumgartner with a good run
Substitute Christoph Baumgartner goes on a nice run down the right-hand side and finds himself in the Freiburg box, but Lois Openda can’t control his cross.
75th minute: A strong last 15 needed!
It’s an intense game dominated by challenges and the Leipzig boys are running their socks off. The visitors look defensively solid and are also looking for their second goal.
78th minute: Ice-cold Openda
Christoph Baumgartner is brought down in the box by Vincenzo Grifo and the referee points to the spot after a VAR check! Lois Openda steps up and converts to put us back in front!
80th minute: Two in two minutes for RBL!
Xavi finds himself unmarked in the middle of the park and plays Baumi through on goal. Our number 14’s shot takes a big deflection and hits the back of the net!