Leipzig climb to Champions League place with thrilling win | OneFootball

Having picked three points in his Bundesliga debut last week, Zsolt Löw made two forced changes to his starting XI replacing the injured duo Willi Orbán and David Raum. Former Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhüttl also went for two tweaks for the hosts with Bence Dárdai and Denis Vavro the beneficiary parties.

Leipzig started the game knowing a win would momentarily put them in a Champions League spot. And, they didn’t waste any time to push for the opening goal. The usual suspects Xavi Simons and Benjamin Šeško had opportunities inside the first five minutes.

Wolfsburg coped well in the next five minutes, but they fell behind when Loïs Openda beat Kamil Grabara with a low shot from outside of the box. On his return to Volkswagen Arena, Ridle Baku provided the assist for the Belgian striker’s 13th goal in all competitions.

Ten minutes later, Šeško also had the ball in the net, but the goal chalked off for offside after a VAR review. Moments later, Wolfsburg nearly equalized when Dardai’s header bounced off the post. The 19-year-old also had an opportunity to convert the rebound, but his shot failed to hit the target.

Leipzig did score the second before the 30th minute mark with yet another fine finish from outside the box. Xavi provided the final touch for his eighth Bundesliga goal of the season. Hasenhüttl will surely be furious since they lost possession in the final third on both occasions.

Before the half-time break, Wolfsburg once again hit the woodwork when Jakub Kamiński’s solo effort was denied by the crossbar. Meanwhile, Yannick Gerhardt and Xavi saw their fifth yellow cards of the season as they’ll miss next week’s actions.

But that didn’t deter Xavi from producing another excellent moment. The Dutch midfielder found the net again from distance after Baku’s second assist of the game. Wolfsburg responded immediately with their own strike from outside the box.

Kilian Fischer scored with a beautiful curler for his first-ever goal in professional football. Wolfsburg continued to push for a second goal, and they did get their reward through winter signing Andreas Skov Olsen.

Fellow Danish international Joakim Mæhle played a big part in the goal that served a nervy finale for the visitors. With Leipzig shaken by Skov Olsen’s strike, Wolfsburg’s grip in the game massively grew after they reduced the deficit to a single goal.

Five minutes before the end of regular time, Peter Gulácsi made a great save from Gerhardt’s volley. As Wolves threw everything in search of a late equalizer, Leipzig also had few chances to put the game to bed before injury-time. Löw’s men survived the closing moments to secure a big win away from home.

Before Mainz’s trip to Hoffenheim, RB now climbed to fourth in the standings. Wolfsburg scored for the first time in four games, but they only picked up a point from their last five Bundesliga encounters. However, they’ll remain in 12th place regardless of results elsewhere.