RB Leipzig scored an important 2-1 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt. After a strenuous 90 minutes, the protagonists were overjoyed – and were already thinking about next Friday.
Redemption: Christoph Baumgartner celebrates the home win.
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It was a conciliatory end to the year that the professionals and their fans celebrated after the last home game of 2024. The players thanked the team for their support with a large banner and kind words from captain Willi Orban, and the supporters gave several minutes of conciliatory applause after the deserved 2-1 win against Frankfurt.
After the 2:3 against Aston Villa and the premature failure in the Champions League war, these threesomes were extremely important for the mood in the stands as well as in the club and group management, as RB thus consolidated the important fourth place and connection kept to the top teams. “This victory was brutally important,” said Xaver Schlager.
“Internally everything seems very smooth. We stand together, get a lot of approval, and also achieve a good symbiosis,” said coach Marco Rose, who, with his team’s performance, consolidated sports director Marcel Schäfer’s belief that the sporting turnaround can be successful in the existing constellation. “I can only pay tribute to the boys who were able to play for giving it their all,” emphasized Rose, who had to compensate for seven absences.
Rose sees “light at the end of the tunnel”
Five times this season – against Hoffenheim, Dortmund and in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid, Celtic Glasgow and Juventus Turin – Leipzig lost a competitive game after taking the lead. This time the core squad didn't let the equalizer shock them and throw them off track, which particularly pleased the coach. “This time we showed the things that we missed there and perhaps took a step forward,” said Rose and added: “I hope that this is now also sustainable.”
A very welcome side effect for Rose were the clear signals that the blatant personality was coming to an end. Or as Rose put it: “There is light at the end of the tunnel.” The hitter, who had recovered from a torn cruciate ligament, celebrated his starting eleven comeback after a good seven months and showed his added value with a great pass to Christoph Baumgartner before Benjamin Sesko made it 1-0 . “He is an incredibly important player for us. With him on the field, I'm a different player because he knows what spaces I'm in,” Baumgartner said about his Austrian compatriot.
“I was happy to be back on the pitch, to soak it all up and have fun with the boys again,” said Schlager, who was delighted about his change in the 66th minute: “I was dead.” The midfielder admitted that his return to the field was quicker because of the many absences.
Openda also sees opportunities in Munich
“It was actually agreed that I wouldn’t play from the start this year. But I got the go, and I'm grateful for that.” In addition, David Raum and El-Chadaille Bitshiabu are returning to the squad after long periods of injury and are therefore at least an option in the last game of the year at FC Bayern on Friday.
Schlager also has something in mind for the Leipzig team there: “They are certainly the favorites. But my last memories of Munich are not the worst. That’s why I’m very confident going into this game.”
As in the 3-0 win eleven days earlier in the DFB Cup game against Frankfurt at the same place, RB had Lois Openda as the man for the important goals. In the cup he set the course for victory as the scorer of 2-0 and 3-0, this time he achieved the redeeming 2-1. He also sees opportunities for RB at FC Bayern “if we fight as a team like we do today.”
