Totaler Blödsinn; Spieler bestätigt, dass er den Verein nach Vertragsauflösung verlässt

In the first round of the DFB-Pokal, RB Leipzig are set to travel to Stadion an der Hafenstrasse on Saturday, where they will face third-division Rot-Weiss Essen.

The home side are currently ninth in the 3. Liga and have three points after two games, while the visitors will begin their 2024-25 Bundesliga campaign against Bochum on August 24.

Despite having 62% possession in their opening 3. Liga match, the hosts lost 2-1 against Alemannia Aachen on August 3 and allowed their opposition to produce 13 shots.

In their second game, Rot-Weiss Essen beat Hannover 96 II 3-1, but they were quite fortunate to have only conceded once.

Hannover had 57% possession, 24 shots and missed all three of their big chances, while Rot-Weiss Essen were far more clinical considering they scored all three of their big chances.

RWE were promoted to Germany’s third division after winning the fourth tier in 2021-22, and after finishing 15th in 2022-23, manager Christoph Dabrowski will be pleased that his side significantly improved last term and finished seventh.

In their 2023-24 DFB-Pokal campaign, RWE lost 4-3 in the first round on August 13 after Hamburg scored a 117th-minute winner.

Interestingly, Rot-Weiss Essen have lost their last two competitive games at Stadion an der Hafenstrasse and have also lost their last two home ties in the DFB-Pokal.

Opponents RB Leipzig play Bochum in the Bundesliga next weekend and will hope they can improve on their fourth-placed finish in 2023-24.

Leipzig’s points tally of 65 last term was one fewer than they achieved in 2022-23 but was seven more than they totalled in 2021-22.

Last season was actually the sixth time in the last eight seasons that Die Roten Bullen have ended a Bundesliga campaign with between 65 and 67 points.

Manager Marco Rose’s side ended 2023-24 having scored 77 goals and conceded 39 times in Germany’s top flight, and this made them the division’s fourth-best offensive and joint second-best defensive team.

Leipzig were eliminated from the DFB-Pokal last season after losing 1-0 against Wolfsburg on October 31.

Rose’s team did win the competition in 2022-23 and 2021-22, and prior to the loss against Wolfsburg, they had won or progressed from their last 13 games.