‘Bundesliga Bayern Chasers’ | Borussia Dortmund vs. RB Leipzig player ratings and tactical review

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The Bundesliga’s highly anticipated “battle of the Bayern Munich chasers” actually proved to be a rather anticlimactic encounter. Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig ended up splitting the difference in a 1-1 draw at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday afternoon. The final xG stats (Dortmund 0.88, Leipzig 1.05) illustrate that the final scoreline was even a little generous. Chances were few and far between in a tightly contested game between the table’s second and third-placed teams. 

Some interesting storylines still emerged. Dortmund remain undefeated this season ahead of their showdown with Bayern after the international break. Leipzig, meanwhile, continue their undefeated run since being utterly humiliated by Bayern on opening night. Ole Werner’s RasenBallSportler have now won four and drawn once since the 6-0 FCB shellacking. In their last 450 minutes of Bundesliga football, the German Red Bulls have conceded only two goals. 

The rundown of the match:

Baumgartner scores against BVB again

After not registering any tallies against Dortmund during the 2024/25 season, Leipzig’s Christoph Baumgartner got back on the scoresheet against the team he struck against twice during the 2023/24 campaign. The Austrian midfielder found himself in the right place at the right time off a 7th-minute free-kick. RB captain David Raum played short. Nicolas Seiwald, Baumgartner’s Austrian compatriot, then swung in a diagonal. An excellent aerial win from new Germany U21 call up Assan Ouédraogo placed the ball right on Baumgartner’s boot.

A simple first-time drop kick finish from close range made it 0-1 in favor of the guests. Prior to the opening goal, not much happened from open play. The two sides traded half-chances off corners in the opening five minutes. BVB and German national team returnee Nico Schlotterbeck found himself booked for a late sliding tackle on RB striker Romulu on a run just past the halfway line in the 6th-minute. This resulted in the set-piece that led to the opening goal.

Baumgartner scores at the wrong end

Schlotterbeck ended up redeeming himself with a fine clearance of another Raum set-piece take in the 19th-minute. Two minutes after that, Baumgartner earned the second booking of the match for a rough challenge on Dortmund’s Yan Couto. Baumgartner would find himself on the wrong end of another encounter with Couto shortly thereafter. Couto was technically credited with the 23rd-minute equalizer, but it was Baumgartner who deflected the former Manchester City wingback’s shot in.

The lead-up to the 1-1 featured some excellent play from the Westphalian hosts. Ramy Bensebaini lifted a useful ball in on the left. Maximilian Beier hustled to the touchline to collect and cut back for Serhou Guirassy. The BVB lead striker – rather than take a shot himself on the turn – alertly spotted Couto encroaching on the right. Couto didn’t hesitate to polish off Guirassy’s lay-off with his weaker left foot.

Excitement at both ends of the half

The two teams managed to score on their only real respective chances of the match. Neither side produced much of anything until shortly before the break during what was an intense midfield contest. There wasn’t another goal-scoring chance until first-half injury time. Raum was involved at both ends, whiffing on a shot in a promising position at 45+1 and then clearing a Karim Adeyemi effort away from an empty net at 45+3.

Dortmund didn’t appear to be quite into the game just after the restart. Schlotterbeck and BVB keeper Gregor Kobel had to intervene to stop solid efforts from Antonio Nusa, Romulo, and Johan Bakayoko between the 46th and 51st minutes. Matters then settled down again as the hosts were able to stabilize and hold a compact shape. Things then didn’t pick up for a while. 

The late pushes

Adeyemi made some decent incursions down the right for Dortmund while RB substitute Yan Diomande (on for Antonio Nusa in the 67th-minute) demonstrated his dribbling qualities on multiple occasions. Truly dangerous chances nevertheless failed to materialize. Baumgartner (70th and 77th minutes) tried to influence the match yet again with a pair of hopeful efforts. 

Egged on by the hometown crowd, Dortmund endeavored to find a late winner. BVB substitutes Jobe Bellingham, Julian Brandt Fabio Silva saw decent attempts on goal cleared away. Bensebaini came the closest to making something happen with a ranged shot that RB keeper Peter Gulacsi had some trouble handling in the 90th.

Borussia Dortmund Player Ratings

Gregor Kobel (6) – Ramy Bensebaini (7), Nico Schlotterbeck (6), Waldemar Anton (5),  – Daniel Svensson (5), Felix Nmecha (5), Marcel Sabitzer (5), Yan Couto (6) – Maximilian Beier (6), Karim Adeyemi (6) – Serhou Guirassy (6)

Substitutes: Julian Ryerson (5), Julian Brandt (6), Jobe Bellingham (6), Fabio Silva (5), Pascal Groß (4)

RB Leipzig  Player Ratings

Peter Gulacsi (5) – David Raum (6), Castello Lukeba (5), Willi Orban (4), Ridle Baku (7)  – Nicolas Seiwald (6) –Antonio Nusa (5), Christoph Baumgartner (6), Assan Ouédraogo (6), Johan Bakayoko (6)  –  Romulo (5)

Substitutes:  Ezechiel Banzuzi (5),Yan Diomandé (6), Conrad Harder (-), Andrija Maksimovic (-) 

GGFN Player of the Match: Ramy Bensebaini (7)

In a match full of forgettable performances, the Algerian international’s forward work sticks in the memory. Couto is able to commemorate his first Bundesliga goal thanks to an excellent forward chip from Bensebaini “from the deep“; something witnessed on two other occasions from him late on. There was also that excellent finish off the turn as the game entered second half injury time. 

Bensebaini racked up 72 touches, connected with 90 percent of his 48 passes, and won all but one of his eight ground duels. Two top-notch aerial wins from the 30-year-old also impressed. Widely regarded as something of a flop run his first two BVB seasons, the former Borussia Mönchengladbach defender has actually displayed strong form thus far this year. 

Tactical Review, Borussia Dortmund

Kovac hasn’t really employed any big tactical tweaks since the last time we checked in with Dortmund in depth. Kovac runs a simple enough 3-4-3 that works well with the interchangeable parts of his squad. Four changes from the UCL victory over Bilbao saw Schlotterbeck, Couto, Beier, Felix Nmecha start in place of Bellingham, Julian Ryerson, Niklas Süle, and Carney Chukwuemeka.

Lineup—BVB—(3-4-3)

Four of the five straight-arrow substitutions (Ryerson, Brandt, Silva, and Bellingham for Couto, Adeyemi, Guirassy and Nmecha) made perfect sense. When Pascal Groß attempted to play in Beier’s position, however, things got weird. Groß working near the touchline near the end led to two poor crosses from the left that might have otherwise resulted in better BVB scoring chances. Kovac probably opted for Groß over Chukwuemeka betting that the game would probably be decided on a dead ball.

Tactical Review, RB Leipzig

Leipzig’s tactical journey features many more twists and turns, in part due to the fact that we haven’t looked in on Ole Werner’s German Red Bulls since the week before the current Bundesliga campaign started. Slowly and steadily, Werner tries to get back to his pre-season 4-1-4-1 blueprint. We’ve seen 4-3-3s, 4-1-2-3s, and even 4-1-3-2s. What we witnessed today certainly counted as a mixture of all three approaches. The binding thread remains Werner’s desire to build around a solo midfield “holding six.”

Lineup—RBL—(4-1-2-3)

Everything became a bit of a free-for-all once Ezechiel Banzuzi and Yan Diomande entered for Nusa and Ouédraogo in the 67th. Diomande clearly had license to do whatever the hell he wanted to and, one can fairly say, managed to do a fairly decent job at that. There were plenty of rotations on the top axes prior to the substitutions anyway, proving that fluidity is encouraged within this team. 

On a technical level, both sets of wingers and fullbacks performed well. Ridle Baku – with the author’s inherent German bias noted – was probably the strongest RB actor on the pitch. The Mainz native is clearly buoyed by the return to the German national team that – in the opinion of most of – took far too long. Three successive incompetent Bundestrainers have failed to see the obvious solution when it comes to the team’s problem at right back.

Welcome back, Ridle! 

GGFN | Peter Weis