Bundesliga
Leipzig beat Leverkusen in the battle for third place. Szoboszlai scored, Nkunku assisted
The 30th round of the German Bundesliga concluded with a match between Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig. It was a direct battle for third place in the table. Czech striker Patrik Schick played the whole match for the home team, but he did not score his first goal after returning from injury.
The 30th round of the German Bundesliga concluded with a match between Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig. It was a direct battle for third place in the table. Czech striker Patrik Schick played the whole match for the home team, but he did not score his first goal after returning from injury.
Given the position of both teams in the Bundesliga standings, an even match was expected. And at least the percentage of ball possession confirmed it. The visitors had a slight edge in this statistic, as they spent 53% of the match time with the ball on their hooves.
Probably the best chance of the first half was an attempt by Moussa Diaby, who was prevented from scoring by Leipzig’s Hungarian goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi, who managed to block a shot heading for the bottom left corner. The visitors were unable to get a shot off in the first 45 minutes, and the game was scoreless.
Visiting coach Domenico Tedesco decided to substitute striker André Silva at the break, sending Christopher Nkunku on the pitch instead. Just two minutes into the second half, Leipzig had a big chance. Willi Orban, however, only hit the bar from close range.
The only goal of the game came in the 69th minute. Hungary’s Dominik Szoboszlai shot from the edge of the sixteen after a cross from substitute Nkunku and Leipzig took the lead after a run by one of the home team. No one else made a breakthrough, not even Schick, who had not played all of March due to injury. He has not yet built on his scoring form from previous games.
The second half was more evenly matched, but the BayArena crowd only saw a one-goal performance in the end. Leipzig leapfrogged Leverkusen and are in third place with four rounds to go in this year’s top German football competition.
In the next round, Schick’s team will play last-place Fürth, against whom the Czech forward shone with four second-half goals in December. Leipzig will face Union Berlin, who are fighting for a place in the European Cups. Saturday’s showpiece will be a clash between Bayern and Dortmund at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
Source: Bundesliga, Livesport
