Goals guaranteed against Leverkusen
RB Leipzig welcome Bayer 04 Leverkusen to the Red Bull Arena on Sunday | History of thrilling encounters between the sides | Memorable match in first meeting
Leipzig host Leverkusen in what will likely be another thrilling encounter at the Red Bull Arena on Sunday (17:30 CET).
After a big 5-0 win against Club Brugge in the Champions League, RBL will be looking to build on this success in the Bundesliga. The team can draw confidence from their strong form at home this season, having taken 15 of their 18 points in the Red Bull Arena and scored 20 of their 23 goals there. The Bulls also have a positive record against their upcoming opponents from Leverkusen, having won five, drawn four and lost just one of their ten matches against the Werkself.
Meetings between these two sides have also featured plenty of goals. In particular, the very first clash stands out: RBL went 1-0 down after just one minute at the BayArena as Kevin Kampl scored for the hosts. Just minutes later, we equalised through an own goal (4’). Julian Brandt then restored Leverkusen’s advantage just before the break (45’+2). In the 54th minute, Péter Gulácsi denied them a third by saving a penalty from Hakan Calhanoglu. It proved to be a key moment in the match, as RBL battled back to win 3-2 thanks to goals from Emil Forsberg (67’) and Willi Orban (81’).
Back then, the 3-2 against Leverkusen saw us extend a six-game winning run. RBL started the 2016/17 season with an 11-game unbeaten run – the best start to a campaign of any newly promoted side in league history. The Bulls would only suffer their first defeat of the season on matchday 14.
In the years that followed, fans were able to witness several other thrilling results against the Werkself. In particular, both matches in the 2018/19 season featured plenty of goals. In the first meeting at the Red Bull Arena that season, we dominated our opponents and had already taken five shots to Bayer’s zero by the 26th minute. We then took a deserved lead through Yussuf Poulsen (27’).
A solid defensive performance saw Leipzig keep a clean sheet and even build on their lead, as Lukas Klostermann (68’) and Poulsen again (85’) helped secure a 3-0 win.
In the second half of the season, Leipzig showed good morale to battle back after conceding twice down early on. Kai Havertz netted a penalty in the 11th minute before bagging his second off a volley (23’).
Marcel Sabitzer got the Bulls on the board in between, as he netted a direct free-kick to halve the deficit (17’). Leverkusen then thought they had scored again, but Leon Bailey’s strike was disallowed due to an offside call (51’). Timo Werner (64’), Emil Forsberg (71’ pen.) and Matheus Cunha (83’) all bagged to lead Leipzig to a 4-1 win.
Let’s hope that Sunday’s meeting will be equally as exciting!