Goals from Benjamin Sesko and Lois Openda took Leipzig to a 2-1 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday, days out from their trip to league leaders Bayern Munich. Sesko headed in a rebound after 19 minutes but Frankfurt’s Nathaniel Brown equalised with a clever solo effort on the 41-minute mark, hitting a low shot in off the right upright. Openda, who was unlucky to be called offside when Leipzig’s Christoph Baumgartner scored just one minute into the game, put the hosts back in front with a trademark rocket after 51 minutes. 

Leipzig, who lost 3-2 to Aston Villa on Tuesday to become the first club eliminated from the Champions League midweek, held on to grab all three points.

Leipzig’s Baumgartner toasted his side’s “hard bit of work”.

He added: “We’ve got quality up front and we’ve got speed.

“We’ve got to keep going like this against Munich. We might not have as many chances as we did today, but we’ll go there and see what’s possible.”

The win meant Leipzig drew level with Frankfurt on 27 points, six behind Bayern Munich, who were outclassed 2-1 by lowly Mainz on Saturday. 

Leipzig face Bayern in Munich on Friday. Leipzig could move within three points of the league leaders with a win, while opening the door for defending champions Bayer Leverkusen, who are currently four points behind in second.

Frankfurt, who were eliminated from the German Cup by Leipzig at the same venue 11 days ago, are winless in four in all competitions. 

Dortmund ‘unbelievably bad’

Borussia Dortmund’s recent struggles continued when former BVB forward Jacob Bruun Larsen netted a last-gasp equaliser for Hoffenheim in a 1-1 draw earlier on Sunday at the Westfalenstadion.

Beset by injuries across the park, Dortmund have not won since November in the league and now sit eighth, 11 points off Bayern despite the latter losing on Saturday.

In his first league start since October 2023, American forward Gio Reyna put Dortmund in front in the first minute of the second half, chesting down a headed clearance before blasting home. 

In stoppage time, however, Bruun Larsen was in the right place to score after Dortmund failed to defend a throw-in. 

Dortmund defender Nico Schlotterbeck, named in the starting XI despite being stretchered off against Barcelona on Wednesday, slammed his side. 

“It’s the worst game we’ve played at home,” Schlotterbeck said, calling the performance “unbelievably bad” and “impossible to explain”.

Coach Nuri Sahin agreed, saying he was “really disturbed” by “the lack of energy” on the pitch.

“There are no excuses,” Sahin said, adding it would be “too easy” to blame the club’s injuries.

Hoffenheim now have five points from four league fixtures since Christian Ilzer took over in November.

Stuttgart won 3-1 away at Heidenheim to climb up to sixth.

Germany defender Maximilian Mittelstaedt put Stuttgart in front with a smart finish after bursting into the area on 20 minutes. 

Heidenheim starlet Paul Wanner, on loan from Bayern Munich, equalised with an excellent long-range effort on 41 minutes. 

Stuttgart however hit back just before half-time, Enzo Millot heading in a Josha Vagnoman cross. 

Stuttgart sealed the result from the penalty spot when Nick Woltemade converted a spot-kick in the 85th minute, his fourth goal in his past three games.

“It was a tough fight,” Mittelstaedt told DAZN. “Heidenheim had the knife between their teeth. We threw everything into it.”

Surprise runners-up last season, Stuttgart have struggled to adjust to the demands of a return to the Champions League. Sebastian Hoeness’ side have come into form recently however, with Sunday’s win their fourth in a row.

Conference League participants Heidenheim have also struggled due to Europe this season and are third last, in the relegation playoff spot, with 10 points from 14 games. 

An 85th-minute goal from Ross Barkley took Aston Villa to a 3-2 win at RB Leipzig on Tuesday, sending the visitors third in the table and boosting their hopes of a top-eight finish. Villa were ahead after just 153 seconds thanks to John McGinn, but Leipzig levelled things up midway through the first half when Lois Openda exploited a mix-up in defence. Jhon Duran’s 53rd-minute stunner was cancelled out by a Christoph Baumgartner goal nine minutes later, setting the stage for the substitute Barkley to blast in just two minutes after coming on. 

The goal, a deflected long-range effort, was Barkley’s first in the Champions League and has Villa on track for a top-eight finish in their return to Europe’s top competition after 41 years.

McGinn told the UEFA website the goal “felt amazing, because it’s been a bit of a dry spell for me. 

“I think over 90 minutes we were the better team — Leipzig’s goals were against the run of play.”

“That’s the role of the lads on the bench,” Barkley told Amazon Prime. “I’m happy to come off the bench and score the winner.”

“They all count, don’t they?” Barkley said of his deflected winner.

Teams finishing in the top eight qualify directly and avoid an additional set of knockout fixtures.

The loss, Leipzig’s sixth in six Champions League games this season, extinguished the hosts slim hopes of a place in the knockouts.

A “disappointed” Openda told reporters his side needed to “keep fighting… This can happen. We will get another chance for next year and we will need to learn from our mistakes.”

Villa travelled to Germany having won two straight Premier League games to break an eight-game winless run.

Leipzig however were very much at the last-chance saloon, with five losses in five putting them on track to miss the knockouts — a fate they only suffered twice in six seasons under the previous format.

Returning to his preferred European stage, Villa manager Unai Emery urged his side to “break our limit” and the visitors heeded his words early, opening at break-neck speed. 

McGinn put Villa ahead three minutes in, hammering home from close range after Ollie Watkins nodded a perfect header into his path.

McGinn’s goal was just one of many chances inside the opening 15 minutes, including golden opportunities for Watkins and Youri Tielemans as Villa’s movement and precision overwhelmed the sluggish hosts. 

Leipzig’s young side have lacked confidence this season, particularly in Europe, so they were fortunate when a poor defensive mix-up allowed Openda to level things up after 27 minutes. 

Villa’s centre-backs and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez held off a high ball, allowing Openda to slip through, collect it before the bounce and slot calmly into an empty net. 

With Leipzig in the ascendency as half-time came, Emery summoned John Duran from the bench at the break and the Colombian had Villa back in front with an incredible goal eight minutes in. 

Fed by Tielemans on the break, Duran collected the pass and unleashed a dipping shot from well beyond the penalty arc which evaded Leipzig goalie Peter Gulacsi. 

Duran looked to have scored again minutes later but his strike was ruled out for the narrowest of offsides by VAR. 

The hosts hit back seconds later, Openda breaking through on the counter and chipping for Baumgartner, who volleyed Leipzig level.

Summer arrival Barkley was the visitors’ unlikely hero, his deflected shot — the 31-year-old’s first Champions League goal — finding the net and continuing Villa’s incredible return to the European stage.

Inter Milan took another step towards direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League with Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Leipzig which moved the Italians top of the table. Castello Lukeba’s own goal midway through the first half was enough for Inter, who are the only team yet to concede a goal, to win their fourth straight match in Europe’s elite club competition. Italian champions Inter lead Barcelona and Liverpool, who host Real Madrid on Wednesday, by a point after a narrow win which should have finished with a more emphatic scoreline for the hosts.

Simone Inzaghi’s side return to their Serie A title defence at high-flying Fiorentina on Sunday after a routine win at a far from full San Siro which makes a top-eight finish extremely likely with three matches remaining.

“We’re not certain of everything, we need to wait for tomorrow’s matches, 16 points might not be enough,” Inzaghi told reporters when asked if his team needed one more win to ensure a last-16 spot.

“We’re going really well and we need to keep on, this is no time to be making calculations.” 

Leipzig meanwhile remain on no points after a fifth defeat in as many games in the Champions League, with even qualification for the play-offs looking tricky.

Marco Rose travelled to Italy with just 17 players as an injury crisis left him with few options, and Leipzig only got into the game once Inter inexplicably slackened off in the second half.

Leipzig on brink

Leipzig’s poor luck with injuries also looks to have got worse as Assan Ouedraogo had to be substituted on the hour mark after catching his foot in the turf and falling over.

“It’s very simple, we have three matches and nine points available, with nine points we can get to the play offs,” said Rose. 

“Let’s see how we go in the next match and then I’ll be able to say more because we clearly need to win all three matches.”

Inter should have been ahead in the 18th minute when, during an intense spell of pressure from the home side, Lautaro Martinez scuffed a great chance to lash home from a low cross with his left foot.

The hosts’ main threat had been from crosses from the flanks and it was a vicious Federico Dimarco delivery which Lukeba diverted into his own net in the 27th minute.

Leipzig did next to nothing in the first half and they were lucky not to be two goals down almost immediately after the restart.

Denzel Dumfries went on a marauding run up the right flank and exchanged perfect passes with Martinez, but when it came to applying the final touch the Dutch wing-back could only smash his finish way over.

More chances came and went for wasteful Inter who allowed Leipzig to get a foothold in the game when they should have already been out of sight.

Fortunately for Inter, goalkeeper Yann Sommer was at his best to keep out Leipzig’s only shot on target, a well-struck effort from Antonio Nusa from a tight angle, allowing home fans to let out a mighty roar at the final whistle. 

RB Leipzig lost more ground on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich with a 4-3 defeat at lowly Hoffenheim on Saturday and were overtaken into second by Eintracht Frankfurt. Equal on points with Bayern just three matchdays ago, Leipzig have since lost two and drawn one to sit eight points behind the league leaders. Hoffenheim came from a goal down to equalise three times and took the lead with four minutes remaining in a wild debut for new manager Christian Ilzer. Hoffenheim’s Adam Hlozek collected a brace while Tom Bischof scored a clever free-kick and Jacob Bruun Larsen was responsible for the winner in the 86th minute.

Leipzig’s efforts came through Willi Orban, Antonio Nusa and an own goal from Hoffenheim’s Stanley N’Soki.

The team from eastern Germany had only conceded five goals in the league season before Saturday’s defeat.

“We’re incredibly disappointed. We went ahead three times and lost in the end, that really hurts,” Leipzig’s Christoph Baumgartner told Sky.

Mario Goetze, the hero of Germany’s 2014 World Cup win, scored in his 100th Frankfurt game as his side beat Werder Bremen 1-0 to continue their impressive league form and move two points ahead of Leipzig in second.

Goetze’s 45th-minute goal, blasted in from near the penalty spot, was set up by a delicate pass from French striker Hugo Ekitike, his sixth assist of the league campaign.

A “happy and proud” Frankfurt captain Kevin Trapp said “Leipzig’s loss gave us some good momentum”. 

As chants of “German champions, it can only be Frankfurt” rung out, Trapp tried to downplay expectations. 

“First spot is far away but we’ll take the euphoria and self-confidence with us — it can only do us good.”

‘Special place’

Borussia Dortmund beat Freiburg 4-0 at home thanks to goals from Maximilian Beier, Felix Nmecha, Julian Brandt and Jamie Gittens, while the visitors finished with nine men.

Under fire and sitting outside the European spots coming into the match, Dortmund’s one saving grace this league campaign has been their home form, with five wins from five.

“It’s a special place here, with the fans behind you,” Brandt told Sky, with an eye on next week’s home clash with Bayern. 

“That’ll be a sensational game.”

The hosts got on track early, when Beier, who scored a double for Germany’s Under-21s against France this week, opened the scoring seven minutes in.

Midfielder Nmecha, who netted for Germany’s senior side in their 1-1 draw in Hungary midweek, added a second with a superb long-range effort. 

Freiburg’s hopes of a comeback were snuffed out after 63 minutes when Patrick Osterhage picked up a second yellow card for a rough tussle with Marcel Sabitzer. 

From the ensuing free-kick, Dortmund’s Brandt curled the ball home and England winger Gittens bent in a fourth to seal the win. 

Freiburg’s Junior Adamu received a straight red for striking Dortmund’s Waldemar Anton in stoppage time, reducing his side to nine men. 

Dortmund have now won their past six against Freiburg, scoring 24 and conceding five. 

Defending champions Bayer Leverkusen came from two goals down to win 5-2 at home against Heidenheim thanks to a hat-trick from Patrik Schick. 

Heidenheim, who host Chelsea in the Conference League on Thursday, were two goals up within 21 minutes, with Niklas Dorsch and Mathias Honsak taking advantage of some sleepy defending. 

Argentine World Cup winner Exequiel Palacios pulled one back on the half-hour mark before Schick scored three unanswered goals to wrestle back control of the match, before Granit Xhaka added a fifth. 

Xhaka told Sky: “Patrik is a striker who has needed to be patient, but when you need him, he’s there.

“He doesn’t need that many chances.”

Last season’s runners-up Stuttgart scored two second-half goals through Chris Fuehrich and Justin Diehl to win 2-0 at home over bottom club Bochum, who have just two points from 11 games this season. 

Elsewhere, Ridle Baku scored the only goal as Wolfsburg defeated Union Berlin 1-0 at home. 

Victor Boniface’s 72nd-minute goal was the difference as Bayer Leverkusen beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at home, while RB Leipzig won 2-0 at Mainz to go top of the table. Omar Marmoush sent Frankfurt 1-0 up, before Robert Andrich equalised for the champions midway through the first half and Boniface completed the comeback in the second period. Leverkusen were given an early chance when Amine Adli was felled in the box, sending Boniface to the spot after a long VAR review. 

The Nigerian’s shot, too soft and central, was gobbled up by Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. 

Just five minutes later, the referee was sent to the video screen again, this time finding a penalty for Frankfurt, with Andrich lightly touching Marmoush’s foot. 

Marmoush showed Boniface how it is done, blasting a low shot left to give the visitors the lead on 16 minutes. The Egyptian now has an incredible nine goals and five assists in just seven league games this season.

Andrich made good on his error soon afterwards, combining expertly with Adli and Martin Terrier to flit through the penalty area for a superb one-touch goal in the 25th minute.

Boniface would also redeem himself, giving Leverkusen the lead inside the final 20 minutes, heading in a deflected cross from substitute Florian Wirtz to put the hosts on course for victory.

Andrich told Sky Germany “we were focused and played good football — and there was a nice goal from me.”

The 30-year-old midfielder, who made his Germany debut last season after a career largely spent in the lower divisions, said of his performance: “I always have fun playing football, but I maybe have to work a bit harder than the rest.”

Days out from their home Champions League clash with Liverpool, Leipzig beat Mainz to go top of the table, at least until Bayern Munich’s home match against Stuttgart later on Saturday.

At kick-off, the Mainz fans unveiled a series of banners critical of former coach Jurgen Klopp’s decision to take over as football boss at Leipzig’s parent company Red Bull. 

The home fans asked “Are you crazy?” and accused Klopp, who coached Mainz to a debut promotion before joining Borussia Dortmund and later Liverpool, of “forgetting everything we gave you”.

Still unbeaten this season in Germany despite two Champions League losses, Leipzig took the lead after 20 minutes thanks to an excellent solo effort from Xavi Simons. 

Leipzig captain Willi Orban tapped in a rebound from a Lois Openda cross to put his side 2-0 up.

Orban told Sky: “We could have finished things off earlier but we’re happy with the win.”

Elsewhere, Freiburg continued their impressive start to the season with a 3-1 home win over Augsburg to go into outright second. 

Freiburg were three goals up at half-time, with Vincenzo Grifo, Philipp Lienhart and Christian Guenter scoring, before Augsburg’s Phillip Tietz pulled one back in the second period.

Borussia Moenchengladbach striker Tim Kleindienst scored a double, days after making his Germany debut, in a 3-2 home win over former club Heidenheim.

Hoffenheim won their first game since their season opener, with Andrej Kramaric, Marius Buelter and Haris Tabakovic scoring in a 3-1 win over lowly Bochum, who sit last with just one point from seven games.

Fans of Bundesliga side Mainz unveiled banners slamming former coach Jurgen Klopp’s decision to join Red Bull in Saturday’s 2-0 home loss against RB Leipzig. Using a play on words with Klopp’s last name, the home fans asked “Are you crazy?” and used a quote from their side’s former boss: “I like people until the point they disappoint me.” A larger banner, in big red letters, asked Klopp if he had “forgotten everything we gave you?”. A former player at the club, Klopp coached Mainz for seven years, taking the team to the top flight for the first time before moving to Borussia Dortmund and later Liverpool. 

Klopp stepped down as Liverpool manager in the summer having won several titles, including the Premier League and Champions League. 

In October, Klopp announced he would join energy drink company Red Bull, which owns clubs in Leipzig, Salzburg and New York, as their global head of football from January 2025.

His decision to take up the job at Red Bull has annoyed supporters in Germany — particularly at ex-clubs Dortmund and Mainz — who have a long-standing dislike of RB Leipzig.

Some fans believe Leipzig, founded in 2009, are not consistent with Germany’s 50+1 rule, which requires member control of clubs, while others have hit out at the multi-club ownership model used by Red Bull.

Leipzig’s win at Mainz sent the club, who are yet to lose in the league this season, top of the table — at least until Bayern Munich’s match against Stuttgart at home later on Saturday.

Leipzig coach Marco Rose, who played under Klopp for several years at Mainz, dismissed the fans’ criticism as a minority opinion. 

“There are 35,000 people in the stadium, many of whom have an opinion. I believe that around 34,936 people love Kloppo for the fact that he shaped an era here, that we achieved something great together,” said Rose. 

“He was here in Mainz for a long time.

“Everyone has their own life somewhere and the right to decide things freely and for themselves. Not everyone has to love it.”

Rose added that: “(He) didn’t even notice (the banner), so it can’t have been that wild.”

Holders Real Madrid will face Liverpool away and host Borussia Dortmund in a repeat of last season’s final in the league stage of the new-look Champions League, the draw for which took place on Thursday. Every team will play eight games against eight different opponents in the new format of Europe’s elite club competition, with all 36 clubs now pooled together into one league rather than split into groups. Madrid, who have signed France superstar Kylian Mbappe since winning a record-extending 15th European Cup, will also notably play AC Milan at home and will go to Atalanta.

Real beat last season’s Europa League winners Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup in Warsaw earlier this month.

Liverpool, who are back in the Champions League after a one-season absence, will also notably meet Milan and take on tournament debutants Girona.

However, supporters of the Anfield club will perhaps be most excited about the prospect of hosting German champions Bayer Leverkusen, coached by former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, winners of the competition in 2023, will play at home to Italian champions Inter Milan and go to both Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.

However, they were also handed more comfortable opponents including Club Brugge, Sparta Prague and Slovan Bratislava, who have never played in the modern Champions League proper.

Other standout head-to-heads will include Bayern Munich against both PSG and Barcelona, and Arsenal against Inter and Paris.

The number of clubs in the Champions League has increased from 32 in the past, with the 36 participants split into four seeded pots of nine for the draw.

Every team faces two teams from each of the four pots, one at home and one away. The first matches will be played on September 17, 18 and 19.

The two extra matchdays in the new league phase will take place in January, at the end of which the top eight clubs in the 36-team classification will advance directly to the last 16.

Those ranked between ninth and 24th place will go through to play a play-off round from which will emerge the remaining eight sides advancing to the last 16.

The bottom 12 in the league phase will be eliminated altogether, with no clubs parachuting down into the Europa League as in the past.

The Europa League and third-tier Conference League, the draws for which take place on Friday, will also now feature 36 clubs, although the latter competition will involve only six matchdays in the league phase.