Our next opponents: Without Orban but with a super sub

Position

It was a tough job against the team that nearly got relegated last season. In the end, Leipzig were satisfied with their Bundesliga opening match that brought a 1-0 win against VfL Bochum. "We've made a good start to the season – with a home win in front of our fans, three points and a clean sheet," summed up coach Marco Rose. The winner against Bochum was scored by new signing Antonio Nusa after the hour mark. The sub had only been on the pitch for four minutes. In the 4-1 victory over third division Rot Weiss Essen in the first round of the DFB Pokal, the Norwegian scored to make it 3-1 74 seconds after coming on as a substitute. The other Leipzig goals were scored by the established forwards Benjamin Sesko, Lois Openda and Xavi Simons.

Last weekend, Leipzig not only worked up a sweat thanks to the high summer temperatures of 33 degrees. The final minutes of the game at the Red Bull Arena were thrilling after Willi Orban received a red card for a professional foul on Bochum's Boadu on the edge of the RBL penalty area.

The team that finished fourth last season go into the game against the champions of Germany with lots of respect. "Bayer have a great team, a great coach and a clear way of playing," said Marco Rose at the pre-match press conference before adding: "We are facing a big challenge. But we’re completely happy about it and we're up for it." A look at last season gives the RBL coach confidence: "We did a lot of things right both in Leverkusen and at home and we had our chances," said Rose recalling the narrow 3-2 defeats against the Werkself.

RB Leipzig also reckon they have good chances in the newly formatted UEFA Champions League. In the league phase, like the Werkself, RBL will play Liverpool, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid. "We are very ambitious, have high expectations of ourselves and we want to make headlines in this competition," said Marcel Schäfer, sporting managing director, in commenting on the draw.

Personnel

After the big upheaval of last season, Leipzig have had a relatively quiet transfer window this summer. Only one top class player has left the club to date: The Spanish European champion Dani Olmo joined Barcelona for a big transfer fee. RB have a settled squad this season that – as usual at Leipzig – has been strengthened with the addition of young and upcoming players.

New additions to the squad in addition to the two-time goalscorer Antonia Nusa (19, Club Brugge) are goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt (22, KRC Genk) plus the two midfielders Assan Ouedraogo (18, Schalke 04) and Arthur Vermeeren (19, on loan from Atletico Madrid). The latter is set to fill the gap in holding midfield arising from the injury to Xaver Schlager. The Austrian is still in rehab recovering from a torn cruciate injury.

Despite the number of young players, it is the older ones with a long time at the club like Peter Gulacsi (34), the captain Willi Orban (31), Lukas Klostermann (28), Kevin Kampl (33) and Yussuf Poulsen (30) who form the backbone of the Leipzig team. Poulsen has long been a cult figure at the Red Bulls. The Dane, at RB since 2013, is the record appearance maker at the club with 397 appearances (90 goals). Willi Orban, also a club legend, has made 312 appearances since 2015. The key player in defence is ruled out for his team at Leverkusen due to the red card in the Bochum game. In addition to Orban and Schlager, Assan Ouedraogo will also miss the game at the BayArena due to a knee injury.

Goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi has also broken the 300 mark for Leipzig. Poulsen, Orban, Gulacsi: All three are cornerstones of the team. That also goes for the former Leverkusen player Kevin Kampl and Lukas Klostermann who has played for Leipzig since 2014. It is no wonder that the club extended the contract of this quintet in recent months. They have also kept holding midfielder Xavi Simons. The Netherlands international on loan from Paris Saint-Germain and sought after by top European clubs – including Bayern Munich – is set to stay at Leipzig for at least another year. Xavi was the best provider last season with 15 assists not just for RB but also across the whole Bundesliga.

Problems

Things did not really go that well for Leipzig in the opening match at home to Bochum. That was freely admitted by coach Marco Rose who listed a number of points of criticism: "We weren’t decisive enough up front, we could have played a lot of situations much better. We have to be more certain on the ball. We didn't control the ball properly and we unnecessarily put our goalkeeper in trouble in two or three incidents." The coach believes there is room for improvement. And Leipzig's sporting director Rouven Schröder recognised: "We saw a game that is not unusual for matchday one. Our lads needed something to get into their rhythm. It got better over the course of the game."

Performers

This season the squad is again full of good players in all positions. The mix between experienced players and young talents, a good balance between defence and attack – those were big strengths of RBL last term. After Bayer 04 (24), Leipzig had the second best defence in the Bundesliga along with VfB Stuttgart with 39 goals conceded. And the 77 goals scored represents the fourth best attack in the league. In terms of counter pressing and transition play Leipzig have been the best for years that the league has to offer. Above all, the trio of Lois Openda (24 goals, eight assists), Benjamin Sesko (14/2) and Xavi Simons (8/15) were in the spotlight last season. The Red Bulls could be even more difficult to predict with the addition of new signing Antonio Nusa. And stalwart Yussuf Poulsen is always capable of scoring a goal or two as a backup or substitute. The two Germany full backs David Raum and Benjamin Henrichs are also strong going forward into the attack.