RB Leipzig suffer comprehensive UEFA Champions League defeat away to Real Madrid
Martín Demichelis's RB Leipzig suffered a second defeat on the road in the UEFA Champions League as they were downed 4-1 at the hands of Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Real Madrid 4-1 RB Leipzig
Goals: 1-0 Silva 44’, 2-0 Güler 52’ (assist: Mbappé), 3-0 Mbappé 83’ (assist: Diomande), 3-1 Gomis 85’ (assist: Baumgartner), 4-1 Diomande 87’ (assist: Díaz)
With an eye on next weekend's league meeting with Barcelona, José Mourinho made wholesale changes to his Real Madrid side that had beaten Sevilla last time out, bringing Antonio Rüdiger, Álvaro Carreras, Eduardo Camavinga, Bernardo Silva and Vinícius Júnior into the starting line-up.
Demichelis, meanwhile, made three alterations to his Leipzig side that had been beaten 6-1 by Bayern Munich on Matchday 6. Ridle Baku, Nicolas Seiwald and Rômulo all came in, whilst Christoph Baumgartner returned to the matchday squad for the first time in four months after recovering from a long-term injury.
Leipzig started the brighter of the sides, pressing high and matching Madrid for long periods of the opening half. Though the hosts frequently probed forward, their killer instinct lacked for much of the first 45.
Kylian Mbappé broke through at pace on 22 minutes, firing a low effort across the face of goal before Vinícius forced a fine save from Maarten Vandevoordt on 31 minutes and Jude Bellingham flashed a strike from the edge of the box high and wide of the mark.
Leipzig, however, had the better of the chances through Christopher Nkunku, who was denied by Thibaut Courtois when clean through on 41 minutes.
But not 180 seconds later, Madrid struck. Arda Güler's low shot from inside the box was parried by Vandevoordt, with Silva pouncing on the rebound to make it 1-0 at the break.
With their noses in front at the break, Madrid upped the tempo after the restart and doubled their lead on 52 minutes. Bellingham's cross from the left found Mbappé at the far post, whose header back across goal was poked home by Güler.
Mourinho then brought on Marc Cucurella and ex-Leipzig winger Yan Diomande on 70 minutes, whilst Demichelis introduced Tidiam Gomis and Baumgartner shortly after, laying the foundations for a frantic finish, complete with a flurry of late goals.
Not long after his introduction, Diomande teed up Mbappé on the edge of the box in the 83rd minute, who in turn curled a superb finish into the far corner to make it 3-0 to Madrid.
Two minutes later, however, and Leipzig replied. Baumgartner turned on the turbo in midfield to get past Dean Huijsen before threading a pass into the box for substitute Gomis, who drilled a low finish into the bottom corner to make it 3-1 with a well-worked consolation goal.
Nevertheless, it would be Madrid who had the final word, when - two minutes later - Brahim Díaz chipped a cross to Diomande, who volleyed the ball first-time high into the top corner at the near post from just inside the box to complete the rout.
Leipzig return to champions League action on 4 November when they welcome Manchester City to the Red Bull Arena. They're currently outside the league phase's play-off qualification spots, with three points from three games.
