RB Leipzig welcomed Borussia Dortmund to the Red Bull Arena in their first meeting of the 2019. Lucien Favre and his side have been ever-present all season and came up against another master tactician in Ralf Rangnick. It was another stern test to navigate in Dortmund’s march towards the Bundesliga title.
Rangnick’s men, on the other hand, are looking to finish in the top three and have been in fine form with the exception of their narrow loss to Bayern Munich. Both teams have been playing scintillating football this season and the game was expected to produce goals. Both were quietly confident of taking a positive result in a pivotal match of the Bundesliga season.
Team News
RB Leipzig lined up in a 4-1-4-1, but quickly transitioned to a 4-4-2 as the game wore on. Timo Werner looked to be playing at left midfield with Yussuf Poulsen as the lone striker. The midfield was made up of Konrad Laimer, Marcel Sabitzer and Diego Demme playing as the deepest midfielder screening the back four. Ibrahima Konate partnered Dayot Upamecano at centre-back. Marcel Halstenberg and Lukas Klostermann were the two full-backs.
Borussia Dortmund have been dealing with numerous injuries, meaning Julian Weigl started at centre-back partnering Abdou Diallo. The experienced duo of Thomas Delaney and Axel Witsel provided steel and solidarity to Dortmunds midfield away from home. Max Phillip, Raphael Guerreiro, and Jadon Sancho supported Mario Götze.
Lucien Favres side lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation looking to play on the counter-attack and frustrate RB Leipzig. An hour before the game, Dortmund were dealt a massive blow as Marco Reus was not included in the matchday squad. Reus had rolled his ankle in training on Friday and it wasn’t worth risking further injury.
There were questions marks over Weigls place at centre-back. It was a position Leipzig wanted to exploit through the pace of Timo Werner and physicality of Yussuf Poulsen. Were they successful? My analysis answers that question and more.
Tale of two halves – Borussia Dortmund’s persistence
RB Leipzig began the opening five minutes in energetic fashion, winning successive corners and putting Dortmund under pressure immediately. Leipzig would see the majority of the possession for the first half. However, after the initial wave of pressure, Dortmund started to exert their influence over Leipzig and settle into the game.
Out of possession, Dortmund held a stable defensive line trying to push as a team rather than individuals. They allowed Leipzig to have possession and tried to frustrate them by forcing them to play out wide. When crosses were put into the box Poulsen was diligently marked by Abdou Diallo, although the Dane did win the odd cross.
Favre deployed two defensive midfielders in Thomas Delaney and Axel Witsel to offer protection for Weigl and Diallo. Their secondary function was to prevent Kevin Kampl, Marcel Sabitzer and Timo Werner from making deep midfield runs and dictating play off Yussuf Poulsen’s second balls.
Eventually, Lukas Klostermann crosses to Poulsen with a lofted ball which is eventually played down for the onrushing Kevin Kampl. Under normal circumstances, Kampl would drive into the box playing in either striker or taking a shot closer to goal. However, he is now forced to take an attempt from distance with two Dortmund defenders blocking his path.
