Head coach Xabi Alonso made two changes to his team from last week’s 1-0 victory in Augsburg, restoring Tah and Florian Wirtz to the side in place of Robert Andrich and Adam Hlozek.
Both teams looked to press from the off in freezing temperatures at the Red Bull Arena, but it was the home side who saw more of the ball. Benjamin Sesko produced the first alarm bells of the evening, but Tah managed to block his route to goal inside the box. Openda was then denied by Lukas Hradecky shortly after. However, with eight minutes on the clock, Leipzig got down the left through Sesko, who pulled back for Xaver Schlager. His clipped ball across the box picked out Xavi, who took it down and then spun to pick out the near bottom corner. Marco Rose’s team continued to apply the pressure once again, with Sesko narrowly missing a cross and then Mohamed Simakan forcing Hradecky into action from distance. The Werkself captain was again on hand to cut out a counter before Openda could reach it.
There was little to see at the other end from Bayer 04 as they failed to string together any meaningful attacks. Only Alejandro Grimaldo mustered up a chance that was saved. Jeremie Frimpong then had to go off after half an hour following a heavy blow to his leg, with Tella on in his place. As the first half wore on, Leipzig focused more on defending as Leverkusen started to come to life, but without any real impact as it remained 1-0 at the break.
After the restart it was the Werkself who came flying out of the blocks and struck with their first attack. A peach of a low cross from Grimaldo evaded Patrik Schick in the middle but was perfect for Tella to tuck in at the far post with 47 minutes gone. However, Leipzig had a quick response as Openda launched a counter from a corner before Dani Olmo returned the ball for the Belgian to restore the hosts’ advantage. But again, Leverkusen hit back as Tah climbed highest at the far post to head in a Jonas Hofmann corner less than 10 minutes later. The game was completely open now. Leipzig were defending while Wirtz & Co. kept producing promising attacks, like in the 70th minute when Grimaldo fired just over from outside the box.
Alonso’s league leaders kept going and ultimately got their reward when another corner – this time from Grimaldo on the right – was turned in by Hincapie from close range to finally put Bayer 04 in front in the game with only moments remaining. They held on to retain their status as Europe’s only unbeaten club this season and extend their undefeated start to 2023/24 to 27 matches in all competitions, opening up a seven-point lead over Bayern Munich, who have two games in hand.
Next up for Leverkusen is the first home game of 2024 as Borussia Mönchengladbach visit the BayArena on Saturday, 27 January at 18:30 CET.
Match stats:
RB Leipzig: Blaswich – Simakan (Henrichs 74'), Klostermann, Lukeba, Raum – Seiwald (Kampl 75'), Schlager – Olmo (Baumgartner 74'), Xavi (Elmas 84') – Sesko (Poulsen 74'), Openda
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Stanisic, Tah, Hincapie – Frimpong (Tella 32'), Xhaka, Palacios (Andrich 88'), Grimaldo – Hofmann, Wirtz – Schick (Hlozek 90'+2)
Goals: 1-0 Simons (8'), 1-1 Tella (47'), 2-1 Openda (56'), 2-2 Tah (64'), 2-3 Hincapie (90'+2)
Yellow cards: Simons, Schlager - Tah, Alonso (head coach), Stanisic, Wirtz
Referee: Dr. Matthias Jöllenbeck (Freiburg)
Attendance: 46,529 at the Red Bull Arena
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