RB Leipzig have shown they can see off big names - beating Bayer Leverkusen this season - despite a winless start to the UEFA Champions League. - © IMAGO/Michael Taeger

bundesliga

5 reasons RB Leipzig can beat Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League

17.11.2024

After a tough start to the campaign, Marco Rose's RB Leipzig will be out to strike a blow in the Champions League when they take on Inter on Matchday 5. bundesliga.com has five reasons why Die Roten Bullen can accomplish their mission in Milan...

RB Leipzig may be in a tough spot in the Champions League this season, staring down the barrel of direct elimination following four losses on the bounce. After facing tough opposition in Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool and Celtic, there are plenty of reasons to think that the Matchday 5 trip to Milan could result in Die Roten Büllen pulling off an Italian Job.

1) The Bundesliga's meanest defence

However Leipzig have been faring in Europe, they are in positively hermetic form in the Bundesliga this season. With just five goals conceded in ten matches - including clashes with champions Leverkusen and high-flying Freiburg, Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund - Rose's men have the best defensive record in the division. Hungary keeper Péter Gulácsi has kept a league-high seven clean sheets, but it's not that he hasn't been kept busy - he sits fourth on the Bundesliga saves chart with 38, just four shy of leader Timon Weiner of Holstein Kiel.

This incredible performance between the sticks - aided by the no-nonsense leadership and aerial prowess of captain Willi Orbán - has seen the side from Saxony climb to second place in the Bundesliga table after ten matches with a record of six wins, three draws and just one defeat - and can only bode well for the trip to Milan.

Watch: Are RB Leipzig genuine title candidates?

2) Šeško loving life in Europe

Slovenia striker Benjamin Šeško spent last season working his way into Rose's starting XI - bagging 14 goals along the way - and this season it seems the 21-year-old has set his sights on Europe. With three goals, he is Die Roten Büllen's top scorer in the Champions League this season, and equal seventh on the competition's scorers chart.

He smashed two on a stunning individual performance against Juventus, where he twice put Leipzig ahead - with a thundering strike in off the underside of the bar and then a masterfully struck penalty - as he went goal for goal with Dušan Vlahović before Conceição hit that late winner. Juventus may not be Inter and vice-versa, but can Šeško do a job against a steely Italian side? No question.

Watch: Best of Benjamin Šeško in 2024/25

3) Openda - lightning rod

Take a look at Loïs Openda's assist for Šeško's opener against Juventus - a visionary pass that sliced right through La Vecchia Signora's defence - and you could be forgiven for thinking that cooking up goals for team-mates is his stock in trade, but it is of course only part of what the Belgium striker brings to the table.

Indeed, the pacy 24-year-old is primarily a goal taker, as his 24 strikes last season (third in the Bundesliga behind Harry Kane and Serhou Guirassy) attest, but it's his versatility that makes him so dangerous - and helps make Leipzig the Bundesliga's top counter-attacking side, with four goals from quick transitions this term. In the current campaign, Openda has followed on from a brace against tough-defending champions Bayer Leverkusen with three goals and three assists in his last six league matches and will certainly be looming large on Inter boss Simone Inzaghi's radar when it comes time to gameplan the Matchday 5 clash.

4) Baumgartner stepping up

As will Christoph Baumgartner. In the absence of playmaker Xavi Simons, likely out for another several weeks following surgery on an ankle ligament injury picked up against Liverpool, Rose has looked to Baumgartner to step into the breach - and the Austrian international has been impressive, to say the least. Despite having been often played as a wide attacker, Baumgartner prefers the No.10 role and his goal against Celtic, plus his goal-and-assist turn in the DFB Cup win over St. Pauli, showed that he is taking no time to transition and provide the kind of link-up play that has made Simons so pivotal to the side.

What's more, he has been on fire in the UEFA Nations League as well, scoring in Austria's recent 2-0 win in Kazakhstan to take his tally to two goals and four assists in the latest edition of the competition. An attack-minded player with plenty of pace and no shortage of silky skills, Baumgartner brings his fellow forwards into play and will doubtless be looking out for ways to exploit the pace, power and footballing IQ of the likes of Šeško, Openda and Antonio Nusa and break down the Inter defence.

Christoph Baumgartner has 32 goals in the Bundesliga for Hoffenheim and Leipzig. - IMAGO/opokupix

5) Encouraging track record

So, with a steely defence and an array of incisive attacking talent, Leipzig clearly have the potential to upend Inter at the San Siro on Matchday 5. But how have they fared against similar clubs in the past? Well, against Italian clubs, Leipzig have a dead-even record of two wins (over Atalanta and Napoli), two defeats (to Napoli and Juventus), and one draw (with Atalanta). What's more, both of those wins were clinched away from home, i.e. in Italy.

On top of this, Leipzig boss Rose has faced Inter before, notably claiming a 2-2 draw in Milan in the Champions League 2020/21 group stage (while he was in charge at Borussia Mönchengladbach). He also has a proven track record against big European sides, having claimed a win and a draw against Real Madrid (also with Gladbach), another win over Real and a draw with Manchester City, both with Leipzig.