PLAYER RATINGS | RB Leipzig 2-0 Borussia Dortmund | OneFootball

In a must-win game for both sides, RB Leipzig held off Borussia Dortmund to win for the first time in five Bundesliga games.

The first 45 saw Dortmund allow Leipzig to play them on the counter (which in a season where Leipzig have been poor, this is literally the only thing they are consistently good at). David Raum would be left with plenty of room to bomb down the left-hand side and Waldemar Anton struggled to deal with him. When it came to chances, Leipzig could easily be 3-0 up, they had plenty of chances to score before and after they opened the score. The opener came from a Raum cross that was parried by Gregor Kobel, and took a deflection, to land in the path of Xavi Simons.

The second half couldn’t have started any worse for Dortmund as Leipzig win a corner and Loïs Openda is left wide open at the back post to loop the ball into the far corner to make it 2-0. The second Leipzig goal flicked a switch in Dortmund as they then started to play a lot better and had a myriad of chances to get a goal back, their only issues were their inability to be clinical in front of goal and when their shots were on target, Peter Gulacsi was there to make a save. Dortmund would try and try to give themselves hope of a comeback, but for whatever reason they were unable to make the net ripple.

Just like in midweek, Dortmund were poor in the first half and a lot better in the second half, but by the time they decided to actually turn up, the game was too far out of reach for them to mount a comeback. What was also evident is that Niko Kovac should probably utilise the pairing of Maximilian Beier and Serhou Guirassy more often, as the pair were very active, they just couldn’t find the back of the net. What this means is Dortmund are now eight points off of the Champions League places. As things stand, Dortmund’s best chance is probably to win the Champions League if they want to qualify.

Kovac’s time at Dortmund can best be summed up by two steps forward, one step back. The upcoming international break should give him time to drill his ideas into the players that will be present over the break (quite a few of them) as Dortmund’s next opponent is Mainz.

This win will give Leipzig a massive boost not only in the table but also confidence-wise. There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the futures of players and head coach Marco Rose. The win for Leipzig brings to an end a torrid run of form and should give them the much needed confidence to attack the final stages of the season after the international break as they were within touching distance of the Champions League spots.

Not only was this a terrific team performance from Leipzig, but several individuals who had questions marks over them stepped up, Simons, Gulacsi (more on them below), Openda, Raum and Seiwald all put in shifts this evening. However, today’s performance also suggested that if Leipzig do have to sell a big name in the summer, they are unlikely to miss Benjamin Seško who was rather absent (“oh but he got an assist” – that was barely an assist).

RB Leipzig XI:

Peter Gulacsi (8), Lutsharel Geertruida (6), Willi Orban (6), El Chadaille Bitshiabu (6), Ridle Baku (6), Christoph Baumgartner (6), Nicolas Seiwald (6), David Raum (7), Xavi Simons (8), Benjamin Seško (6), Loïs Openda (7)

Others: Kevin Kampl (5), Lukas Klostermann (5), Amadou Haidara (-), Castello Lukeba (-), Tidiam Gomis (-)

Borussia Dortmund XI:

Gregor Kobel (5), Waldemar Anton (3), Emre Can (5), Nico Schlotterbeck (5), Julian Ryerson (6), Marcel Sabitzer (-), Pascal Groß (5), Karim Adeyemi (6), Julian Brandt (4), Maximilian Beier (6), Serhou Guirassy (6)

Others: Ramy Bensebaini (5), Carney Chukwuemeka (5), Jamie Gittens (5)

GGFN Man of the Match: Xavi Simons (8)

In a week where there has been a lot of talk about his attitude and future, the 21-year-old provided the perfect response. Simons created the joint most chances on the Leipzig side (three), scored and assisted, and when he was subbed off in the second half, you could see the physical effort he put in as well as he looked exhausted.

Peter Gulacsi also deserves praise as he was pivotal in the fact that the game never truly got out of hand for Leipzig. The Hungarian made nine saves to keep out a relentless Dortmund side in the second half.

GGFN | Jack Meenan