RB Leipzig and VfL Wolfsburg met on Wednesday night at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig.
Both sides went into the game motivated to reach the cup semifinals and needed a pick-me-up, as neither was in the best form in the Bundesliga.
Leipzig had won only two of their last nine league fixtures, while Wolfsburg had won just one of their last seven league fixtures going into this cup tie.
So the opportunity to put themselves on the cusp of a domestic cup final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin came as a welcome distraction for both outfits, particularly for the team led by Marco Rose, who has been under pressure with Leipzig sitting outside the Champions League spots in the league in sixth, behind the likes of Freiburg and Mainz despite Leipzig’s vastly superior resources.
For Wolfsburg, who are only five points off from a top-four berth themselves, it was a chance to inch themselves closer to a first cup final appearance since their one and only DFB-Pokal triumph in 2015, when their side, spearheaded by one Kevin de Bruyne, disposed of Borussia Dortmund 3-1 in the final in what was Jürgen Klopp’s final game as the manager of the Schwarzgelben.
At the end of Wednesday night’s match, Leipzig prevailed with the solitary goal coming from a Benjamin Šeško spot-kick, which was enough to send them into their fifth cup semi-final in seven Pokal editions.
In this tactical analysis, we will examine the midweek battle between these sides and how Leipzig eventually broke down a resilient Wolfsburg defense to advance to the last four, albeit with the aid of a controversial call that went in their favor.
RB Leipzig Vs Wolfsburg Lineups & Formations
Marco Rose’s RB Leipzig lined up in a 3-1-4-2 formation, with four changes to the team that came from behind to draw Heidenheim at the weekend.
On his 23rd birthday, young Belgian goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt started in goal, while Lutsharel Geertruida, captain Willi Orbán, and El Chadaille Bitshiabu formed the central defensive trio in front of him.
Ridle Baku, who joined from Wolfsburg in January, and David Raum were the wing-backs.
Arthur Vermeeren and Kevin Kampl were in central midfield, while Xavi Simons sat behind their usual front pairing of Benjamin Šeško and Loïs Openda.
For Wolfsburg, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s men set up in a 4-1-2-3 system, with three players coming into the side that was disappointingly held at home by struggling Bochum last Saturday.
Marius Müller retained his place between the sticks, which he’s been occupying since Kamil Grabara went down injured.
Kilian Fischer came in at right-back for Mads Roerslev as the only change at the back from the weekend, alongside Denis Vavro, Konstantinos Koulierakis, and Joakim Mæhle.
Swedish international Mattias Svanberg captained and anchored the side, with the defense behind the adventurous midfield pairing of Bence Dárdai and Patrick Wimmer.
The front three consisted of Andreas Skov Olsen and Tiago Tomás, flanking their top scorer, Mohamed Amoura.
RB Leipzig Early Missed Chances
Wolfsburg had enjoyed a decent defensive spell since the Bundesliga restarted following the winter break, conceding more than one goal just twice in eight games.
They also shut down their opponents in the three previous rounds of the Pokal, which helped them get this far.
On the other side, under Marco Rose tactics Red Bull Leipzig had only failed to score on three occasions at home this season, the last of which was in early November, so expectations were that they’d find a way to break down their visitors’ resistance at some point.
While they did by the end of the night, the game could have been much smoother had they converted the opportunities they had very early on.
First, Šeško received the ball on the left channel, putting him in a position to go one-on-one with a defender.
His strike partner, Openda, was also an option in the penalty area.
He ended up taking that option by playing an early pass with the outside of his foot, which put Openda in a great position with either side of the goalkeeper to aim for.
Instead, he did not get the cleanest of contact on his shot, which went harmlessly wide and was a spurned chance even just under four minutes into the contest.
The next big chance also fell the way of Openda, with a long clearance from Wolfsburg at the back due to Leipzig’s high pressure ended up with the ball quickly being moved up field, into Openda’s foot who had time and space in front of him to decide what he wanted to do with it, a rarity for the Leipzig forwards for much of the game.
Although he had Šeško holding his run on his right and Simons making another one down to his left, he ended up taking it on himself early from outside the box and skied it well over the bar, which was another tame conclusion to what should have been a promising attack for the home side.
The last big chance in the early proceedings fell to Šeško, who found himself with a yard of space on the right of the penalty area after some quick combination play ended with the ball released to him in the position above.
His attempt also sailed over the bar, and it was another wasted opportunity to test Müller in the opposition goal.
Had Leipzig converted any of these chances early on, it would likely have been a very different game.
However, as on many occasions this season, their finishing was lackluster, and they failed to take advantage of the openings they had, which soon changed the tide of the encounter.
RB Leipzig Initial Struggles Against Wolfsburg Defense
As those chances above came and went without being realized, Leipzig began to struggle to reach the Wolfsburg penalty area with a similar threat, as the visitors tightened up at the back, making it hard for the Leipzig forwards to receive the ball in space and turn towards goal.
Although they had opportunities to score, they came about during transitions.
However, in general play, their initial shape early on was well scouted and nullified by Wolfsburg’s organized defensive structure and pressing.
An example of that can be seen above, where Leipzig is set up in a more 4-2-3-1, with Geertruida and Raum inverting as full-backs, while Baku and Openda take up very wide positions, with Simons behind Šeško centrally.
Under Ralph Hasenhüttl’s tactics, Wolfsburg’s back four were well spread out to cover the front three in this situation, while Simons was too far from the ball to pick up any spaces he loves to exploit, with two opposing midfielders nearby.
This allowed Wolfsburg’s front four to push higher to press and try to win the ball, or at least make Leipzig’s task of playing around them and progressing into the attacking half harder, which they did.
The positional structure in Leipzig meant there was no outlet to connect the midfield to the attack, and the only way to circulate the ball was to go sideways and backward, which they did before finally ceding possession when trying to play a forward ball that wasn’t on.
Another situation they had problems with was when the ball was in wide areas, like in the above scenario.
Whenever they managed to get the ball to one of their wide men in the attacking half, Wolfsburg’s defenders quickly moved over to shut down the spaces and outnumber the Leipzig players, making it very difficult for them to continue their attacks down the sides.
Part of the issue here was Leipzig not committing enough men forward to help occupy one of their defenders with another runner, either out of fear of getting caught on the break or out of a desire to play it safe.
This made it harder to break down their opponent.
The same situations occurred down the middle, too, with Vavro and Koulierakis commonly squeezing tight on Openda and Šeško when they’d receive the ball with their backs to goal, making sure there was no avenue for them to get past.
Marco Rose Tactical Offensive Adjustments
Eventually, Marco Rose made some tactical adjustments during the game, which tilted it in their favor.
One of those came in the first half, which we’ll see below.
Xavi Simons starts in a more central position here, but noticeably checks over his shoulder to see where Raum is positioned.
A few seconds later, Raum pushes higher up the field almost as a winger, while Simons moves into the space he previously occupied.
This allows Leipzig to get their star midfielder on the ball earlier in the build-up phase, something they would definitely want against a tough defensive unit, given what Simons possesses in terms of ball-carrying and creativity.
Another change also came in the center of midfield in the second half, with Kevin Kampl making more forward runs.
The score was still 0-0, as shown below.
This allowed Leipzig to have an extra body making runs into the attack besides their two strikers, especially since Simons was now operating more from a deeper position to help progress the play forward.
These changes also benefited them by opening up more spaces on the sides for the likes of Raum and Baku to move into, and a higher volume of crosses started to come into the box as well.
Ultimately, it was a refereeing decision that decided the game, but Leipzig’s adjustments eventually swayed it in their favor, as they started to find more success generating scoring opportunities in the final third.
On another night, with the quality of their chances, they could have put three or four away, but they had to settle for one, which was enough to book them another cup semifinal appearance.
They also relied on their goalkeeper to bail them out a few times, which should be noted, but in the end, they got the win on the night, something they’ll gladly take given their recent form.
Conclusion
A tight knockout cup tie brought a happy ending for the home side, as Leipzig reached their fifth Pokal semi-final in the last seven seasons.
This result may at least temporarily ease some pressure on under-fire manager Marco Rose.
With a cup semi-final to look forward to and only one point separating them from Champions League football, there’s still plenty to play for this season at Red Bull Arena, and expectations will understandably be high to meet those targets.
As Wolfsburg, the dream of a return to Pokal final exactly one decade since their last Pokal success is now over, but European football is still very much within reach as they sit just outside those spots in the league with plenty of action still to come.
