A dream debut for Demichelis as RB coach: 3-0 win over Gladbach

Goals, intensity, and plenty of pressing: Martín Demichelis celebrated a coaching debut that was right up his alley with RB Leipzig. His team literally overran Borussia Mönchengladbach and won 3-0 (1-0). Ridle Baku (26th minute) put Leipzig ahead in front of 47,800 spectators at the sold-out Red Bull Arena, before Antonio Nusa (49th) and Rocco Reitz (66th) added to the lead.

Before kickoff, the Leipzig fans staged a massive choreographed display to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the opening of the Zentralstadion, now known as the Red Bull Arena. RB then immediately set out to implement Argentine coach Demichelis’s philosophy—speed, depth, and pressing.

But despite all the intensity, the finishing touches were still a bit lacking. Ezechiel Banzuzi (16th minute) fired wide from twelve meters out, missing an early lead. Gladbach then had a chance of their own after RB goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt deflected a shot by Hugo Bolin (21st minute) onto the post. Then the ball rolled across the goal line. Before a Borussia player could push it over the line, Leipzig’s new number one scraped the ball away with his hand at the last moment.

Nusa’s dream goal

Leipzig finally had something to celebrate. After a give-and-go with Tidiam Gamis—who was once again preferred over Conrad Harder—Baku (26') slotted the ball home unchallenged to make it 1-0. Gladbach kept putting RB in a bind—as with Lukas Ullrich’s deflected shot (31'). But the hosts had the better chances, such as Antonio Nusa’s (38’) first-time shot off a cross into the box or Willi Orban’s (42’) header that hit the crossbar.

After the break, Nusa (49th) skillfully curled the ball from the edge of the box under the crossbar—a true dream goal. After that, the pressure from RB grew steadily, and the visitors could barely break free. A triple save by Moritz Nicolas (60') prevented the damage from getting worse. Eugen Polanski wanted to change the momentum and brought in fresh legs. But Demichelis had better options, such as Christopher Nkunku. He promptly set up Reitz (66'), who extended the lead against his former team. He refrained from celebrating, yet the visiting fans still greeted him with a chorus of boos.

Former captain Reitz scores against Gladbach

For new signing Reitz, the match marked a special moment with his starting lineup debut. When his move to Leipzig was announced in April, he faced a lot of backlash from Gladbach fans (“Anyone who wants this can never be our captain”). Due to an infection, he was unable to say goodbye to his longtime club. Well before kickoff, he greeted his former teammates with hugs; the Foals fans responded to these scenes—and later to the player introductions—with boos. 

New striker Nkunku initially took a seat on the bench, partly because he signaled to the coach that he wasn’t quite fit yet. Then, after an hour, the fans celebrated the returnee’s substitution with wild enthusiasm.