Champions League reigning champions Real Madrid suffered their first defeat of the season as RB Leipzig intensified their hopes of making it to the Champions League knockout stage.
Real Madrid was handed their first defeat in all competitions on Tuesday night, slumping in the hands of the German club, RB Leipzig in the Champions League qualifier rush.
Former Chelsea beleaguered striker Timo Werner proved his worth again after coming off the bench to give his side victory over Los Blancos.
The Champions League giants got their night started on the wrong foot against their host, falling behind 2-0 before the 20th minute of play.
RB Leipzig started the clash comfortably on the ball and opened the scoring after 16 minutes of the first half.
Leipzig took the lead when Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol headed the hosts ahead before France national team forward Christopher Nkunku doubled the lead.
Dominik Szoboszlai’s brilliant cross was met by Andre Silva and halted by Real’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, but the Real Madrid goalkeeper could not do anything to stop Josip Gvardiol from nodding home.
Christopher Nkunku doubled the lead just five minutes later as he launched the ball into the roof of Courtois’ net from close range.
From a corner cross, the ball somewhat landed in front of Christopher Nkunku, who then smashed his strike off the underside of the bar.
Reports have it that Chelsea is reportedly close to agreeing on a deal for the forward and could bring him to Stamford Bridge as soon as the January transfer window is unlocked.
Just when it appeared Leipzig would head into the halftime break with 2-0, Real Madrid pegged back with a well-taken header from Vinicius.
Marco Asensio’s sharp cross from the right found the Brazilian at the penalty area, and he skillfully floated his strike past Leipzig goalkeeper, Janis Blaswich.
The visitors pushed forward in search of a quick equaliser after the break, but the host turned down Carlo Ancelotti’s men effort in their struggle to create clear cut chances.
Although Vinicius cut into the deficit just before the break, but Timo Werner came off the bench to seal the victory of the German club in the 81st minute of play.
The home team rounded up proceedings in the 81st minute before stoppage time after a bursting run forward by Mohamed Simakan.
The Frenchman then slipped a cross in the face of a goal, with Timo Werner getting in-between Thibaut Courtois and Real’s defense to fire home the third goal.
However, Rodrygo netted a penalty with what was the last kick of the match and the first defeat for Real Madrid this season, who remain top of the group with 10 points, with RB Leipzig now just one point behind.
Timo Werner is worthy to be called the savior of Leipzig in Tuesday’s night clash against Champions League arch-rival Real Madrid as his brilliant goal prevented what could have been a 2-2 draw.
At a time when Werner was on the brink of returning to RB Leipzig, there were myriads of resentments from Chelsea fans that the 26-year-old German forward deserved to be branded as an attacking flop at Stamford Bridge.
However, since his reunion with RB Leipzig, Timo Werner has certainly given his attacker reasons to pile on with their wrong assertions, exhibiting incredible playing patterns that fault Chelsea of either not putting him to the best use, or grievances from their fans endangered his form at Stamford Bridge.
Since his reunion with Leipzig this summer, Werner has scored 8 goals in 14 appearances in all competitions contrast to his drought of goals last season with the Blues where he scored only 9 goals in 30 appearances across all competitions.
On the other hand, despite being thrashed 3-2 in their 5th group stage match, Ancellotti’s Real Madrid has already qualified for the knockout stage.
Nonetheless, the German club, unlike Los Blancos, is yet to clinch a spot in the knockout round, as they need one point in their final match when they take on Shakhtar, who drew 1-1 with Celtic in the other Group F match.
