Leipzig beats Sporting, who suffered their third consecutive defeat in the Champions League
German club wins 2-1, with goals from Sesko and Poulsen
THE FIRST HARD-EARNED VICTORY
Leipzig beat Sporting 2-1 on Wednesday in the seventh round of the League Phase. At home, Marco Rose’s team scored with Sesko, saw the visitors reduce the deficit with Gyökeres, but recovered the victory with Poulsen. Leipzig is no longer in a position to qualify for the round of 16, but managed to secure its first win in the tournament and moves up to 30th place. Meanwhile, the Portuguese club suffered its third consecutive defeat and dropped to 19th.
HOW WAS THE GAME?
Leipzig came out swinging for the seventh round looking to break the deadlock in their winning streak. The home team had the best chances of the first half. In the 19th minute , Xavi Simons started the play in the middle and passed to Raum, who was entering the area on the left side. The full-back crossed low for Sesko to finish straight at goal. The German club scored once more before half-time, with Raum, but the move was disallowed due to Openda being offside.
Rui Borges’ team started the second half better and managed to equalize with their great striker. The ball was stolen in midfield and quickly passed from Daniel Bragança to Gyökeres. With mastery, the Swede carried the ball into the area and shot into the corner to confuse the marking in the 29th minute. But the day belonged to Leipzig, who turned the score around three minutes later . Sporting’s defense poorly cleared the ball, got tangled up and gave it away to the opponents in attack. Baumgartner received the ball in the area and left Poulsen one-on-one with the goal to score.
