Once again Bayer Leverkusen put up formidable numbers at the weekend. They outgunned their visitors RB Leipzig in almost every possible metric; 26 shots to the visitors’ eight, 18 corners to two and 62% possession. Yet the number that will stick in the mind is a significantly bigger one.
Four hundred and sixty-two. That was the number of days since Die Werkself’s previous Bundesliga defeat – before Saturday, when Leipzig finished the job that Borussia Mönchengladbach could not on the season’s opening night. Like Gladbach, Marco Rose’s team came back from 2-0 down at the champions. In contrast, they surfed the momentum, with Loïs Openda adding a firmly struck winner to his equaliser. Leipzig now have the longest unbeaten streak (13) in the Bundesliga. Leverkusen thus tasted domestic defeat for the first time since losing a dead rubber at Bochum in the final game of 2022-23, ending a remarkable run of 43 without defeat in Bundesliga, Pokal and Super Cup.
