Marco Rose liked the snapshot. With RB Leipzig, the 46-year-old football teacher is increasingly becoming the main pursuer of the big FC Bayern. “We want to be where we are at the moment,” he said after the 2-1 (1-0) win at Werder Bremen – at the time RB, the cup winner, was second behind the German record champions and defending champions.
“If you look at it like that, it feels really great,” said goalkeeper Janis Blaswich about the “well-deserved victory”. “Regardless of where we are in the table, we’ve played it extremely hard over the past few weeks,” added the substitute for first-choice goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.
Before the upcoming winter break, Leipzig celebrated their sixth competitive win in a row – it was the fourth success in the league in a row. The Saxons confirmed their excellent form under their current coach in a fast-paced but balanced game. The club have won 12 out of 16 games since Rose took office.
World Cup candidates remain without hits
Both teams are currently among the most dangerous teams in the league. Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku (12 goals) and Bremen’s Niclas Füllkrug (10), who was called up to the German national team’s World Cup squad on Thursday, are currently among the best shooters in the league – but both were unsuccessful at the weekend.
Neither the French World Cup participant Nkunku nor Füllkrug scored a goal in front of 41,500 spectators in the Weser Stadium. Leipzig’s attacker André Silva (13th minute) gave Leipzig the lead with the first big chance by scoring in the penalty area without resistance. Christian Groß (57th) equalized with a deflected shot from the edge of the penalty area. Xaver Schlager (71st) put the Saxons back in the lead and made the final score.
Werder coach Ole Werner was annoyed by the second goal conceded: The goal of the guests was “an action to be defended”. Leipzig defended that very well,” he said.
Filling jug with a good quota
Bremen could have equalized in the final minutes. The Saxons didn’t care. According to Rose, “the boys” reacted well to the equalizer. “We defended it from the back with all the grains that were still in it,” he said.
The green-whites around Füllkrug, who had returned to the starting XI of the Hanseatic League after a back injury, failed again and again due to the Leipzig defense and the overall strong RB goalkeeper Blaswich.
World Cup participant Füllkrug attracted attention with a good rate of tackles, but hardly had any promising goals. On the other side, Nkunku got going late and several times had the possible 2-0 for the guests on his feet (45.1/52.). In the final minutes in particular, some French fans must have held their breath when the attacker was fouled twice and fell briefly on the ground.