Unstoppable at home, struggling away: What’s behind RB Leipzig’s inconsistency?
Victory over Elversberg on Matchday 7 saw RB Leipzig remain one of just four teams with a 100 percent home record in the 2026/27 Bundesliga, while extending their record winning run at the Red Bull Arena. It has been a different story on the road for Martín Demichelis’ side, however, as recent trips to Munich and Madrid have shown.
In fact, you have to go back to February and a 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund for the last time Leipzig dropped points in their own backyard. The last defeat came at the hands of Mainz at the end of January.
A run of nine straight Bundesliga wins at the Red Bull Arena is a club record for Die Roten Bullen, including four victories to kick off 2026/27 with a pretty flawless return of 18 goals scored and zero conceded. You can also throw in a 1-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League.
Nevertheless, despite the positive emotions that came with thrashing Elversberg 4-0 on Matchday 7, Christoph Baumgartner took recent results into account for his level-headed post-match assessment. “Right now there’s still too much up and down - no need to sugarcoat it," said the Austrian, who netted Leizpig's third against the Saarlanders.
Watch: Leipzig brush past Elversberg
Baumgartner continued: "We’ve got two important away games coming up. In the cup we absolutely want to win away, and that won’t be easy either. We need to bring our performances to a more consistent level. Everyone has to pull together.”
That is the ups of playing at home followed by downs of heading out on the road. Apart from beating fourth-tier side Eintracht Trier 6-0 in the first round of the DFB Cup back in August, Leipzig have lost their other five away fixtures this season.
In the Bundesliga, they have gone down 3-1 at Werder Bremen, 2-0 at Bayer Leverkusen and most recently 6-1 in Munich. There were also 4-1 defeats at Como and Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Watch: Leipzig brushed aside at Bayern
Managing director Marcel Schäfer said recently: “It’s too easy for me to talk about two sides to us.”
On the surface, however, that does appear to be the case this this season.
Leipzig’s stats from four Bundesliga home games read: three wins, 18 goals scored (xG 13.48), 72 attempts, 16 big chances (seven converted), zero goals conceded (xGA 3.62), 42 shots faced.
Meanwhile, Leipzig’s return from three Bundesliga away games reads: three losses, two goals scored (xG 3.04), 41 attempts, one big chance (and converted), 11 goals conceded (xGA 7.35), 59 shots faced (of which 29 came against Bayern).
They are clearly creating and scoring far more at home than away, while conceding and allowing opponents far more attempts on their travels.
You can talk about a team being punished for not adapting away from home, but Demichelis sacrificed an out-and-out striker for an extra midfielder in the Bayern game and they still got blown away, conceding six despite Maarten Vandevoordt setting a season record of 11 saves.
The Belgian, who’s taken over as first choice this season, had also made 10 stops the previous week against Frankfurt and tops the Bundesliga with 38 saves.
Dig deeper into the stats and things don’t quite add up. Leipzig actually average more possession away (53 percent) than they do at home (52 percent) and have a marginally better pass completion rate (88 percent vs. 87.1 percent).
Effort also hasn’t appeared an issue, covering marginally more ground on average on the road (118 kilometres) than at home (117 kilometres) and being only a fraction of a second down when it comes to ball recovery time (16.2 seconds vs. 16.3 seconds).
When David Raum spoke at the start of October about “fluctuations” in performance, he can’t have meant those metrics.
Is a problem for Leipzig that they have become too one dimensional? They and Leverkusen are the only teams yet to score from a set piece in the Bundesliga this season, meaning all 20 goals have come from open play. On a positive note, they have only conceded once from a dead ball.
It is all a conundrum that Leipzig need to find a solution for quickly. They will believe they can continue their winning run at home when Augsburg and Mainz come to the Red Bull Arena next.
But Demichelis’ men also have a tricky away run at Schalke, Union Berlin and Freiburg where they will need to start to click.
