Mark Uth and Serge Gnabry shine as five-star Hoffenheim leapfrog Leipzig
Hoffenheim traded places with RB Leipzig to move up to fifth with an emphatic 5-2 win at the Red Bull Arena on Saturday, with Mark Uth involved in four of the guests' goals.
Leipzig 2-5 Hoffenheim
Goals: 0-1 Uth (14'), 0-2 Gnabry (35'), 0-3 Kaderabek (45'), 1-3 Baumann (o.g. 58'), 1-4 Uth (49'), 1-5 Rupp (64'), 2-5 Upamecano (88')
Red card: Forsberg (47')
Having beaten Leipzig 4-0 in the reverse fixture, there was an understandable spring in the step of the Hoffenheim players as they found the opening goal within 15 minutes. Serge Gnabry, who scored from the halfway line in Sinsheim in December, set up Nico Schulz for a shot which Peter Gulacsi could only parry out to Uth, who accepted the gift from close range. Ademola Lookman had a good chance to level in the 27th minute, but Oliver Baumann somehow managed to scoop his shot behind with his right arm. The visitors doubled their lead soon afterwards, Gnabry slotting past Gulacsi from Uth's precise pass. The Cologne-born forward provided another assist as Hoffenheim turned the screw on the stroke of half-time, Pavel Kaderabek stealing in to score his first Bundesliga goal.
Leipzig's hopes of mounting a second-half recovery suffered a setback when Emil Forsberg was shown a red card for reacting to a Florian Grillitsch foul. They got the break they needed when Naby Keita's shot struck the post and rebounded in off Baumann's back, only for Hoffenheim to restore their three-goal advantage when Andrej Kramaric's dinked cross to the far post was nodded in by the unmarked Uth. The Leipzig defence was caught napping again as Lukas Rupp added a fifth from Nadiem Amiri's cross, rubbing further salt into the hosts' gaping wounds. A late Dayot Upamecano goal after great work from Lookman was no more than a consolation as Hoffenheim extended their unbeaten streak to eight and climbed above their hosts in the standings.
Watch: Gnabry cooking up a storm in Hoffenheim
Want more Bundesliga Action?
Match stats
- Hoffenheim have scored at least once in each of their last 16 Bundesliga fixtures.Mark Uth has scored four in four games against Leipzig; he now has 14 this season.Gnabry has scored seven goals in his last seven games, while eight of his ten league strikes this season have come in 2018 – only Robert Lewandowski has more in the current calendar year.Kaderabek scored his first Bundesliga goal on his 77th appearance.Hoffenheim are unbeaten in their last eight league games (five wins, three draws). Leipzig's 4-0 loss to Hoffenheim in the reverse fixture was the club's heaviest ever defeat in the Bundesliga.With 33 goals since the winter break, Hoffenheim have the best attack after Bayern Munich in 2018.
Line-ups
Leipzig: Gulacsi – Klostermann, Orban (c) (Upamecano 62'), Konate, Bernardo – Forsberg, Ilsanker (Keita 46'), Demme, Bruma (Augustin 46') – Lookman, Werner
Unused subs: Mvogo, Kampl, Kaiser, Poulsen
Absentees: Halstenberg (cruciate ligament), Laimer (thigh), Sabitzer (shoulder)
Coach: Ralph Hasenhüttl
Hoffenheim: Baumann – Akpoguma, Vogt (c), Hübner (Nordtveit 46') – Kaderabek, Amiri, Grillitsch (Demirbay 56'), Schulz – Kramaric, Gnabry (Rupp 54') – Uth
Unused subs: Kobel, Rupp, Polanski, Zuber, Szalai
Absentees: Geiger (thigh), Posch (groin)
Coach: Julian Nagelsmann
As it happened