On Saturday evening, Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen will welcome RB Leipzig to the BayArena for their first home fixture of the 2024-25 Bundesliga season.
Both sides have enjoyed a positive start to their campaign as Leverkusen claimed a 3-2 away victory against Borussia Monchengladbach whilst Leipzig defeated Bochum 1-0 at home.
Leverkusen continued their old habits from last season by leaving it late to score their winning goal as Florian Wirtz scored the rebound from his saved penalty in the 111th minute.
Xabi Alonso’s side have since progressed to the second round of the DFB-Pokal after narrowly defeating fourth division side Carl Zeiss Jena on Wednesday, with Jonas Hoffman scoring the only goal.
After their 1-0 win over Bochum last weekend, RB Leipzig also recently progressed to the second round of the DFB-Pokal after coming from behind to then comfortably defeat Rot-Weiss Essen 4-1.
They now face one of their toughest tasks of the season as Leverkusen have won each of the last three meetings between the two sides.
Team News
Bayer Leverkusen will be without Exequiel Palacios as his recovery from his knee injury continues.
Nordi Mukiele could be set to start in defence after recently completing his loan move from Paris Saint-Germain.
Leipzig will continue to be without Xaver Schlager after tearing his ACL back in May.
Assan Ouedraogo also picked up a knee injury during pre-season will be out for several weeks.
Captain Willi Orban received a red card in the 84th minute against Bochum last week and therefore will not be available for the match due to suspension.
Lukas Klostermann is expected to play at centre-back alongside Castello Lukeba.
GGFN | Matthew Gritton
