Baumgartner’s brace books quarter-final spot for Leipzig

After a slow start, RB Leipzig recovered to beat 2. Bundesliga’s Magdeburg in the Round of 16 cup tie.

RB Leipzig were the overwhelming favorites against the bottom-placed 2. Bundesliga team, but the visitors dominated the early exchanges. Boosted by their excellent win over Nürnberg on the weekend, Magdeburg had all the chances inside the first ten minutes.

Maarten Vandevoordt had to make a double save from Alexander Nollenberger and Laurin Ulrich. However, Leipzig’s backup goalkeeper was rooted to his goal when Silas Gnaka gave Magdeburg a shock lead from a penalty-kick. Lukas Klostermann was the culprit with a clear challenge on Falko Michel.

Ole Werner would be delighted by the reaction of his players, though. Conrad Harder nearly equalized right away from a tight angle before Antonio Nusa’s excellent DFB-Pokal form continued in his 50th appearance for the club. The Norwegian scored with a delightful finish for his sixth goal involvement in as many cup games.

Ten minutes later, Leipzig took the lead with another well-worked goal. Having been denied by Dominik Reimann with his second decent chance of the game, Harder set up Christoph Baumgartner’s strike for his first direct goal contribution in Leipzig colors.

Magdeburg dominated possession in the first-half, but the difference in quality was quite visible in front of goal. Werner made two half-time substitutions, and his team started brightly with the masked Yan Diomande testing Reimann in the first minute.

Nicolas Seiwald and Harder tried to score their first goals for the club before the two goal-scorers combined to punish Magdeburg’s slow start. Nusa showed his skills once again before Baumgartner grabbed his second with a fine finish. The Austrian midfielder has had no goals since his brace in the previous round against Energie Cottbus.

In Rômulo’s continued absence, Harder has shown plenty of promise, but he was unable to end the scoring curse. The visitors started to regain momentum after the 65th minute, although they didn’t convert their good spell into chances. At the other end, 18-year-old Andrija Maksimović was denied a first Leipzig goal because of an offside call.

Magdeburg’s hope of reaching the quarter-finals for only the second time wasn’t successful, but their fans created a special atmosphere at the RedBull Arena. Meanwhile, the two-time winners progressed to the last eight for the fifth time in the last six seasons.