A tight game was blown open at the worst possible moment for Leipzig
Thirty-four minutes in, Christopher Nkunku turned the ball home and Leipzig had the lead. Then the flag went up.
Offside, and the afternoon swung the other way. Bayer Leverkusen won 2-0 on Sunday to close out matchday four, and the disallowed goal sits right at the centre of how it happened. The build-up had been good work too: Tidiam Gomis, once of Caen, driving down the right and finding Romulo, whose low ball across the face was begging to be finished.
Not much had happened before that. Leipzig turned up on the back of a 5-0 demolition in Hamburg, Leverkusen still chewing over a 2-2 draw with Augsburg, and the opening 20 minutes were two sides cancelling each other out.
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Schick and Gutierrez punish the let-off
The reprieve lasted about ten minutes. Miguel Gutierrez hung a cross on the penalty spot in the 45th, Patrik Schick met it, and Leipzig went in behind instead of level. Cruel timing.
The second arrived on the counter just before the hour. Ibrahim Maza tore down the left and fired it into the box, Ridley Baku only half-cleared, and Gutierrez took a touch before beating the keeper. One assist, one goal, and the Spaniard walked off with the afternoon.
Fifth place, and a club that no longer settles for it
Leverkusen move up to fifth. Since that first Bundesliga title in 2024 the club measures itself against the teams at the top, not the pack behind them, and fifth in September is a starting position rather than a result.
Leipzig got nothing out of their Hamburg statement. They met a side content to sit off and hit them fast, and after the break they never found a way through it.
Four rounds gone, gaps already opening, and Bayern Munich rolling along at the usual pace at the front.
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