On Saturday evening, RB Leipzig eased to a 4-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park.
Playing at home in front of a full house at Signal Iduna Park, Borussia Dortmund fell to a disappointing 1-4 defeat against RB Leipzig in tonight’s Bundesliga top-of-the-table clash.
Erling Haaland shook off a knock to start from the home side, but the Norwegian superstar could do little against a ruthless Leipzig side.
Konrad Laimer opened the scoring after 21 minutes, delightfully chipping Gregor Kobel after receiving a pass from Christopher Nkunku.
The defensive midfielder struck again nine minutes later to seal a rare brace as hit shot deflected off Emre Can and went into the net.
Christopher Nkunku made it 3-0 just shy of the hour mark, finishing off an excellent team move after a back-heel pass from Laimer.
Second-half substitute Donyell Malen gave Dortmund a glimmer of hope with a headed goal after 84 minutes.
But Leipzig immediately struck back through Dani Olmo, who killed the game with a stunning shot that hit the bar and went in.
Hummels Post-match reaction:
“Of course, this is disappointing for us,” Hummels conceded afterwards, “We had different plans for the audience.”
“I know that there’s a lot of frustration after a defeat like this,” he continued, “and you can tell that from my statement right away. But I believe that Leipzig’s victory today was a matter of chance utilization. This was by no means a 4-1 game in terms of the performance ratios.”
“I also believe that the Leipzig players know that things could have gone differently in the first half,” Hummels emphasized, “They deserved to win, but one can’t say that they hammered us 4-1. We worked and didn’t platy listlessly. We also won a lot of midfield balls.”
Positives aside, some aspects of the BVB game were explicitly far too weak. Defensive lapses allowed Leipzig to score the goals in the first place and had the Saxons been in the mood to pile on. In addition, the German Red Bulls could have capitalized on multiple blown marking assignments after the 3-0.
“We got a bit hectic,” Hummels conceded, “We tend to leave our positions, lose concentration, and then ball-watch in some circumstances.”
The veteran defender then took special care to emphasize that he didn’t wish to criticize his teammates too much.
Hummels deferred if the “headless chickens” metaphor applied to Dortmund’s sometimes frazzled defence.
“I’m not sure I would say that,” he noted, “There’s just too many mistakes.”
So, what’s next Borussia Dortmund and RB leipzig?
Second-placed Dortmund is now nine points behind league leaders Bayern München at the table. Leipzig sits fourth, three points clear of Freiburg in fifth place.
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