Bitter clapping and whistling from their own fans: RB Leipzig suffered the next major setback in the fight for the Champions League places on the first day of work for its new sports director Rouven Schröder. The helpless Saxons lost 0:3 (0:1) against the in-form FSV Mainz 05 in front of their home crowd and after the third league defeat from the last four games they have to play in the premier class, the sporting director Max Eberl before the game as a “must”, fear.
Marcus Ingvartsen (9th), Ludovic Ajorque (57th) and Dominik Kohr (67th) scored for Mainz, which after the seventh game in a row without defeat is increasingly emerging as a real contender for an international place.
Leipzig, where Schröder, who was handicapped by a torn Achilles tendon, took up his post alongside Eberl on Saturday, are only five points ahead of Rheinhessen in fifth place after the third goalless competitive game in a row.
Before the international break, the Saxons were in a downward spiral, the 0:7 in Manchester and the 0:1 in Bochum hurt a lot. “We have clear goals, and we have to underpin them with conviction and sustainability,” emphasized coach Marco Rose – but against the second-best team in the second half of the season, Leipzig were caught off guard.
Leandro Barreiro failed after a cross at RB keeper Janis Blaswich, but Ingvartsen easily dusted off the early tour of the visitors. The Saxons took a moment to recover from the early setback. A shot by Andre Silva was narrowly deflected wide of the goal (23′).
Leandro Barreiro failed after a cross at RB keeper Janis Blaswich, but Ingvartsen easily dusted off the early tour of the visitors. The Saxons took a moment to recover from the early setback. A shot by Andre Silva was narrowly deflected wide of the goal (23′).
The guests acted from a compact defense and countered extremely dangerously: The active Ingvartsen scored, Blaswich prevented the 0:2 (25th). Just a little later, Barreiro headed the ball against the crossbar after a cross from Anton Stach (30′) – the Leipzig defense was completely off the mark in this phase.
Offensively, the hosts lacked a brilliant idea for a long time, after a long ball from Dominik Szoboszlai, national striker Timo Werner appeared completely free in front of the Mainz goal – but failed to Robin Zentner (41st). At the half-time whistle there were whistles from their own fans for RB.
Rose brought on Amadou Haidara and David Raum in the second half, but there was no improvement in Leipzig’s game. Sturmtank Ajorque extended a pass from Stach fantastically into the far corner to make it 2-0, Kohr scored the decision from a distance.
