Highlights

Matchday 17

FINAL

Red Bull Arena

Eintracht Frankfurt

KnauffAnsgar Knauff

F. Willenborg

Red Bull Arena

Full-time

Full-time: Leipzig 0-1 Frankfurt

An early goal from Ansgar Knauff on the end of an inch-perfect Nils Nkoukou cross behind the defence was enough for Frankfurt to claim a first-ever win away at Leipzig in the Bundesliga. The hosts had a string of opportunities to level and finished with an xG of 2.68 but were unable to put any past Kevin Trapp. It condemns Leipzig to a first home loss of the season and leaves them stuck in fourth place, while Eintracht climb to fifth ahead of Borussia Dortmund’s visit to Darmstadt.

90'

+ 4

Yellow card

Hugo Larsson

90'

Speed check: The fastest player in the game after 90 minutes

Through high-end camera technology and machine learning, the speed of each player is evaluated in real time. Top speed then means, the fastest measured single frame of a player/game.

Ikoma Loïs Openda34.29km/h

Lukas Klostermann34.25km/h

Xavier Quentin Shay Simons33.18km/h

89'

Elmas debut

On comes new man Eljif Elmas, who recently joined from Napoli. He has scored in Germany before, earning North Macedonia a famous World Cup qualifying win over his new home country.

88'

Substitution

Eljif Elmas

Benjamin Henrichs

87'

Substitution

Castello Lukeba

Mohamed Simakan

84'

Over again

Another cross in from Raum. Simakan and Poulsen go for it and get in each other's way.

84'

Substitution

Jens Petter Hauge

Mario Götze

75'

Leipzig knocking

The hosts are throwing all they've got at this. Raum with an excellent cross following a short corner. Simakan is up at the far post and gets his head to it, but can't keep it down.

72'

Substitution

Kristijan Jakić

Éric Dina Ebimbe

71'

Henrichs!

Good quick feet from the right-back in the box. Trapp is equal to the shot low by his left-hand post, though.

68'

Substitution

Yussuf Poulsen

Benjamin Šeško

68'

Olmo returns

A first sight of Dani Olmo in action for the first time since October after a shoulder injury.

68'

Substitution

Dani Olmo

Christoph Baumgartner

63'

Double switch

Frankfurt withdraw their two new arrivals, who haven't been afforded much playing time in England so far this season.

63'

Substitution

Aurélio Buta

Donny van de Beek

62'

Substitution

Jessic Ngankam

Saša Kalajdžić

57'

Götze!

The visitors are just starting to come out of their shell again. Nkounkou almost with the assist again as he flashes a ball into the middle. Götze is on the stretch but can't quite turn it towards goal.

48'

Over from Openda

Leipzig straight back in the groove. Šeško with the flick through to Xavi, cutback to Openda, but he fires over.

46'

Back we come

What more can Leipzig do this half to get back in it? No changes from either coach at the break.

Kick-off!

Half-time: Leipzig 0-1 Frankfurt

One chance of note for Frankfurt and Knauff took full advantage by hammering in Nkounkou’s sublime cross. Leipzig have been the side in the ascendency ever since that eighth-minute goal but haven’t really been at their best as yet and have struggled to carve out any real clear-cut chances.

Half-time

42'

Leipzig dominant

The hosts lead the shot count by some margin. It's even 6-1 in their favour over the last 20 minutes.

Goal attempts

8off target

3on target

1off target

1on target

41'

First caution

One ex-Paris Saint-Germain man on another as Dina Ebimbe holds back Xavi and goes into the book.

41'

Yellow card

Éric Dina Ebimbe

40'

Now Baumgartner

A poor clearance from Trapp straight to the Austrian, who controls well and sets himself looking to bend it into the top corner. Too close to the goalkeeper, though.

37'

Openda!

Leipzig's top scorer gets in again on the end of a through ball. It's a powerfully struck effort from right of goal, trying to go across. Trapp gets an equally strong pair of hands to it.

31'

Leipzig knocking...

xGoals

The xGoals value of a club is calculated from the sum of all goal probabilities (goals and shots on goal) of that team. During a match, it’s easy to see whether the club is performing better than expected (goals > xGoals) - or maybe even higher (xGoals > goals).

...but with nothing to show for it yet.

xGoals

1.13

0.62

Goals

30'

Speed check: The fastest player in the game after 30 minutes

Through high-end camera technology and machine learning, the speed of each player is evaluated in real time. Top speed then means, the fastest measured single frame of a player/game.

Éric Junior Dina Ebimbe32.55km/h

Ansgar Knauff32.13km/h

Willian Joel Pacho Tenorio31.51km/h

24'

Ball in the net

Openda coolly slots beyond Trapp but he had gone very early there and the flag is quickly raised.

Historic

This is the first time ever that Frankfurt have taken the lead away at RB Leipzig. The Eagles have lost five and drawn three of their prior eight visits here.

12'

Milestone goal

Knauff marks his 50th Bundesliga appearance in Frankfurt colours with his fourth goal of the season. That's more than in his previous four Bundesliga campaigns combined (three).

Knauff with the early opener!

The Germany youth international gets the goal but this is all about the delivery from Nkounkou, bending a ball in behind the Leipzig defence from wide on the left. Simakan can't do anything about it and Knauff is there behind him to steer past Blaswich.

Ansgar Knauff

GOAL!

0:1

Goal probability

Goal probability determines the likelihood that the ball will land in the goal from every position on the pitch. The value is based on large amounts of data from previous years; factors such as shot angle, distance to goal and opponent pressure - as well as mathematical models.

43 %

Shot speed

Shot speed describes the maximum speed in km/h that a ball reaches in a shot on goal. The distance is measured from the location of the shot to the centre of the goal.

102.49 km/h

Distance to Goal

The distance to goal is measured at the time of the shot - from the position of the ball to the center of the goal.

10.67 m

Kick-off!

A minute's silence

Before we kick off in Leipzig, we pause for a minute of silence in honour of Franz Beckenbauer, the German footballing great who passed away last Sunday at the age of 78.

Full house

The Red Bull Arena looks at capacity as the locals prepare for another big year in Leipzig. Both teams are in the tunnel now.

0:15

Watch: Openda in the house

Frankfurt team news

Dino Toppmöller also makes four changes from the team that beat Gladbach in 2023's final game. Max (bench), Chaïbi, Marmoush and Skhiri (all at AFCON) make way for Nkounkou, Larsson, van de Beek and Kalajdžić. The latter two become the 476th and 477th players to represent Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. No other club has used so many different players in Germany's top flight.

Leipzig team news

Marco Rose makes four changes from the side that drew with Bremen in the final game of 2023. Simakan, Baumgartner, Schlager and Šeško come in, with this the latter's first start since Matchday 11 and only fourth overall in the Bundesliga. Castello, Poulsen (both bench), Haidara (Africa Cup of Nations) and Forsberg (has left for New York Red Bulls) are the four to drop out.

0:25

Watch: Eyes on Frankfurt's new big man

This will be Kalajdžić's first Bundesliga outing since August 2022 for Stuttgart.

Leipzig starting XI

Blaswich - Henrichs, Simakan, Klostermann, Raum - Baumgartner, Schlager, Kampl (c), Xavi - Openda, Šeško

Leipzig subs

Gulácsi, Lenz, Bitshiabu, Elmas, Olmo, Poulsen, Seiwald, Castello, Eduardo

Frankfurt starting XI

Trapp (c) - Tuta, Koch, Pacho, Nkounkou - Knauff, Götze, Larsson, Dina Ebimbe - Van de Beek - Kalajdžić

Frankfurt subs

Grahl, Smolčić, Jakić, Ngankam, Hasebe, Hauge, Buta, Aaronson, Max

0:57

Watch: Xavi named December's Rookie of the Month!

Rose's view on Frankfurt

"They've brought in two good guys [Donny van de Beek and Sasa Kalajdzic]. The way Eintracht want to play won't change. They're a team who play with an intense style, work hard in defence and have good pace out wide. They attack well both through the middle and out wide. Now there's the subject of crossing. They haven't done much of that, but it should change with Sasa as a target man."

Toppmöller's view on Leipzig

“I expect an RB team who will play very aggressively, who will certainly try to press us high because that’s kind of in the DNA of their play, even though they have situations now and then where they press more in midfield. They’re certainly a team in hot form. They’ve had a very good season so far. Nevertheless, we don’t just want to defend there but also get forward and play. That also depends on how much the opponents allow, though. In any case, I’m looking forward to the match because it’s a match between two teams who are very active and know what they have to do with the ball. Leipzig have a clear concept with the ball.”

Minute's silence

In honour of Franz Beckenbauer, there will be a minute’s silence held before all Bundesliga Matchday 17 matches, while players will also wear a black armband as a mark of respect for the passing of one of the all-time greats of German and world football.

Probable line-ups

Who’s set to play this weekend? Who’s going to miss out? Keep up to date with all the latest team news right here!

0:30

Watch: Get set for the Bundesliga's return!

Leipzig - the season so far

Leipzig kicked off 2023/24 by beating Bayern 3-0 in the Supercup, but some inconsistent showings have left them nine points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen almost halfway through the 34-match campaign. Summer signings Xavi and Loïs Openda have been the real stars with 15 goals and 11 assists between them, while Dani Olmo is "basically ready" after a shoulder injury kept him out for the last two months. Their hopes of landing a third straight DFB Cup were ended by Wolfsburg, but Marco Rose's charges do have a UEFA Champions League last-16 tie with Real Madrid to look forward to.

Frankfurt - the season so far

Eintracht are ticking along nicely under Dino Toppmöller. The Eagles are sixth after 16 games, albeit nine points behind fourth-placed Leipzig. Their 5-1 win over Bayern on 9 December has been the high point, but they begin the new year without seven-goal top scorer Omar Marmoush, who's on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Egypt. Talented Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek has come in on loan from Manchester United, though.