Bayer Leverkusen kept RB Leipzig scoreless at the Bay Arena on Sunday, winning 2:0 in the Bundesliga's fourth round. Patrik Schick opened the scoring in the forty-fourth minute, and Miguel Gutiérrez added a second shortly after the hour mark. The result leaves Leverkusen in tenth place with four points, while Leipzig drop to seventh with six.
And here's the thing about that first half — Leipzig felt they had one before the break. Christopher Nkunku thought he'd scored in the thirty-fourth minute, but a VAR check ruled it out. Schick then gave the hosts something to build on, and they held their shape as the game moved into the second period.
Leipzig came for the opener with more urgency, and their substitution pattern reflected that. Brajan Gruda came on in the twenty-sixth minute, and later Nkunku and Ridle Baku both entered the fray. But Leverkusen's defence stood firm, clearing nineteen balls and winning thirteen aerial duels. To be fair, the visitors created only one big chance all afternoon.
The numbers tell the same story. Leverkusen's expected goals stood at 2.19 against Leipzig's 0.85, and the hosts registered six shots on target to three. They won fifty-one percent possession and completed 404 passes, while Leipzig managed 400. But possession means little when the final ball doesn't find its mark.
We had Leipzig winning at 41 per cent confidence, and that didn't materialise. The away side held every card on paper — two wins from three games — but fell apart after the cancelled goal. By then, Leverkusen were already back in full control, and the match settled into a rhythm they dictated.
Five substitutions were made across the evening, mostly by the hosts. Rômulo Cardoso and Ezechiel Banzuzi came on together in the sixty-seventh minute, and Schick was replaced himself in the seventy-seventh. The yellow cards told a different tale — Leipzig picked up three, Leverkusen two — but neither side showed any red cards. The result changes nothing in the short term, but it shifts momentum.
