Herzzerreißende Sperre: Kurz nachdem er das erste Tor erzielt hat, wurde Benjamin Sesko in Allsports wegen der Ausstellung der … gesperrt. Mehr dazu.

Herzzerreißende Sperre: Kurz nachdem er das erste Tor erzielt hat, wurde Benjamin Sesko in Allsports wegen der Ausstellung der … gesperrt. Mehr dazu.

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In the first round of the DFB-Pokal, RB Leipzig will visit Stadion an der Hafenstrasse on Saturday to take on third-division Rot-Weiss Essen.

Rot-Weiss Essen currently sits in ninth place in the 3. Liga, with three points from their first two games. Meanwhile, RB Leipzig is gearing up for the start of their 2024-25 Bundesliga season against Bochum on August 24.

Match Preview: RWE vs. RB Leipzig – Prediction, Team News, Lineups
Despite controlling 62% of the possession in their opening 3. Liga match on August 3, Rot-Weiss Essen fell 2-1 to Alemannia Aachen, allowing 13 shots from their opponents.

In their second game, Rot-Weiss Essen secured a 3-1 victory over Hannover 96 II, though they were fortunate to only concede once. Hannover dominated possession with 57% and registered 24 shots, but missed all three of their big chances, while RWE capitalized on their three opportunities to score.

Promoted to Germany’s third division after winning the fourth tier in 2021-22, Rot-Weiss Essen improved from their 15th-place finish in 2022-23 to finish seventh last season, much to the satisfaction of manager Christoph Dabrowski.

In the 2023-24 DFB-Pokal, RWE suffered a 4-3 loss in the first round on August 13, with Hamburg scoring the decisive goal in the 117th minute.

Interestingly, Rot-Weiss Essen has lost their last two competitive matches at Stadion an der Hafenstrasse and has also been defeated in their last two home games in the DFB-Pokal.

Preview: RWE vs. RB Leipzig – Prediction, Team News, Lineups
RB Leipzig, who face Bochum in the Bundesliga next weekend, will look to build on their fourth-place finish in the 2023-24 season.

Last season, Leipzig accumulated 65 points, one fewer than in 2022-23 but seven more than in 2021-22. This marked the sixth time in the past eight seasons that Die Roten Bullen finished a Bundesliga campaign with 65 to 67 points.

Under manager Marco Rose, Leipzig scored 77 goals and conceded 39 last season, ranking them as the fourth-best offensive team and tied for the second-best defensive team in the Bundesliga.

Leipzig’s DFB-Pokal run last season ended in a 1-0 defeat to Wolfsburg on October 31. However, Rose’s team had previously won the competition in 2022-23 and 2021-22, with a streak of 13 consecutive wins or progressions before their loss to Wolfsburg.