Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen welcome RB Leipzig to the BayArena for their first top-flight home fixture of the 2024-25 campaign on Saturday afternoon.
The two teams, who will soon be competing in the newly-expanded Champions League, meet for the first time since January when Leverkusen claimed a 3-2 top-flight away victory.
Match preview
After celebrating a historic Invincibles title triumph and German Cup double last season - narrowly missing out on the treble courtesy of their Europa League final loss - Bayer Leverkusen have since come out on top in each of their opening three matches of the new season in all competitions.
A penalty-shootout victory over Stuttgart in the DFB-Supercup was followed by a thrilling 3-2 away win over Borussia Monchengladbach in their opening Bundesliga fixture. Leverkusen scored a remarkable 18 goals beyond the 90-minute mark last season and they netted another last weekend through Florian Wirtz, who initially missed a 101st-minute penalty before tapping home the rebound.
Leverkusen have since progressed to the second round of the DFB-Pokal after securing a slender 1-0 away victory over fourth-tier outfit Carl Zeiss Jena on Wednesday, with Jonas Hofmann scoring the decisive goal seven minutes after half time.
Head coach Xabi Alonso admitted after the match that "it wasn't easy" playing against a spirited Carl Zeiss Jena side, who finished 60 places below then in the German football pyramid last season, and has acknowledged that he and his players "have to work on a few things" in order to improve in the coming weeks.
Nevertheless, Leverkusen have extended their impressive record-breaking unbeaten run in domestic competitions to 43 games, and they will fancy their chances of success on Saturday as they have won each of their last three Bundesliga meetings with Leipzig.
After coming from behind to thrash lower-league side Rot-Weiss Essen 4-1 in the DFB-Pokal first round, RB Leipzig picked up maximum points in their opening Bundesliga match of the new season courtesy of a narrow 1-0 win over VfL Bochum last weekend.
Summer signing Antonio Nusa scored his second goal in as many matches for Die Roten Bullen just three minutes and 40 seconds after coming on as a substitute, and although Willi Orban was sent off for a last-man tackle in the closing stages, they held on to preserve their perfect start to the campaign.
Marco Rose was pleased to see his side get off the mark in the Bundesliga, but he believes that "there is room for improvement in all phases" and is "aware that things should and will get better" in the coming weeks.
Including results from last season, Leipzig are now unbeaten in their last 12 Bundesliga games (W8 D4) which is their joint-longest such run under Rose, and only Saturday's opponents Leverkusen (35 games) boast a longer undefeated streak in the German top flight.
Leipzig travel to the BayArena having previously failed to score in just one away league game last season, but they have somewhat surprisingly conceded in each of their last 14 Bundesliga matches on the road - an unwanted club record - and have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 20 away games across all competitions - another unwanted club record.
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Team News
Bayer Leverkusen are still having to cope without midfielder Exequiel Palacios as he continues to recover from a knee injury, while defender Odilon Kossounou has joined Atalanta BC on loan with an option to buy.
Jonathan Tah has been linked with a move away from Leverkusen, but he could retain his spot at the heart of a three-man defence next to Edmond Tapsoba and Piero Hincapie, while versatile defender Nordi Mukiele could make his debut after joining on loan from Paris Saint-Germain.
Lukas Hradecky, Jeremie Frimpong, Alex Grimaldo, Granit Xhaka, Victor Boniface and Florian Wirtz are all expected to be recalled to the starting lineup.
As for Leipzig, Xaver Schlager is a long-term absentee after tearing his ACL in May, while Assan Ouedraogo suffered a knee injury during the club's pre-season tour of the United States and is expected to be out of action for several weeks.
Saturday's game may also come too soon for Chad Bitshiabu who is recovering from a hamstring injury, while Orban is suspended following his red card last weekend, so Lukas Klostermann could fill in a centre-back alongside Castello Lukeba. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether Saudi-linked Mohamed Simakan will be named in the matchday squad.
Eljif Elmas and Christoph Baumgartner recovered from knee injuries to make the matchday squad last weekend and the midfield duo will both be in contention to feature in some capacity against Leverkusen.
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie; Frimpong, Xhaka, Andrich, Grimaldo; Hofmann, Wirtz; Boniface
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Klostermann, Simakan, Lukeba, Raum; Seiwald, Kampl; Haidara, Simons; Openda, Sesko
We say: Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 RB Leipzig
Ten goals were scored across two meetings between Leverkusen and Leipzig last season and another entertaining, end-to-end contest could be on the cards on Saturday.
Alonso's men did the double over Die Roten Bullen last season and after resting a number of star players in midweek, we feel that they will find a way to come out on top once again on home soil.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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