Defeat in Leverkusen: RB Leipzig were beaten 4-1 in Saturday night’s Bundesliga Topspiel on matchday 32, as they missed the chance to guarantee a top-four finish.

Both teams went at it from the first whistle, with no sign of either side feeling their way into the game. In the 17th minute, we came close to taking the lead when Xaver Schlager did brilliantly to win the ball from Palacios. It eventually found its way to Rômulo, who struck first time from close range, but his low effort was kept out by Garcia with a last-ditch clearance.

Leverkusen began to take charge after that – and following an RBL corner, a ball boy played a key part in the opening goal. He quickly fed the ball to Bayer 04 keeper Flekken, who sent the lively Tella away from his long goal kick. Leverkusen broke at pace as Leipzig players were still scrambling back, and Schick finished the move off to make it 1-0 (25’).

RBL threaten from range

The hosts kept pushing after going in front, but our boys dug in together and Maarten Vandevoordt produced strong saves to prevent a second, notably against Tella in the 30th minute.

The Red Bulls became increasingly dangerous in the minutes before half time. Max Finkgräfe (39’, 41’) and Schlager (42’) all tried their luck from range, and all three went close. The next goal went Leverkusen’s way again though, as Tella slotted home from Garcia’s delivery (45’).

Schick completes his hat-trick

Ole Werner made attacking changes, bringing on Brajan Gruda for the start of the second half before introducing Conrad Harder and Assan Ouedraogo soon after. But it was one of those nights for RBL. Despite creating several good chances, it was Schick who found the net again. The Czech forward was played through one-on-one with Vandevoordt and finished clinically to make it 3-0 (76’).

Christoph Baumgartner pulled one back with a header (80’), but our team’s late push went unrewarded. Schick then had the final say with his third goal of the night (89’), as RBL suffered their first defeat after five straight wins.