Leipzig's promotion series continues against Cologne

Ouedraogo makes his goalscoring debut

Former Schalke player Ouedraogo, who played after injuries to Xaver Schlager (calf) and Antonio Nusa (broken arm), justified coach Ole Werner's confidence with his first goal in an RB shirt on his starting debut. When the Cologne backline failed to clear the ball after a corner, the U20 international fired the ball under the crossbar from three meters after failing to beat Marvin Schwäbe at the first attempt.

Thielmann (23) made the most of Cologne's first chance to equalize. After a through pass from ex-Leipzig player Eric Martel, he slid the ball past RB keeper Peter Gulacsi to make it 1-1. RB then pressed, Romulo (43) had the lead again on his feet, but did not get enough pressure on the ball from close range. The Brazilian then did better a minute later, when he lashed the ball into the net. In stoppage time of the first half, captain Raum increased the lead to 3:1 with a direct free-kick.

After an hour, Cologne coach Lukas Kwasniok brought on three fresh players. Joker Ragnar Ache (60') had the equalizer on his feet, but missed from close range. Leipzig's Yan Diomande (59) could have added to his tally but failed to beat FC goalkeeper Schwäbe. Leipzig then gave the Rhinelanders too much space, slowed down the tempo a little and mainly lurked on the counter-attack. Romulo shot onto the outside of the net at the end.