RB Leipzig vs St. Pauli

Red Bull Arena sets the stage as RB Leipzig and St. Pauli face off against each other in an all-Bundesliga DFB-Pokal Round of 32 clash.

Leipzig fought back from a halftime deficit to beat Freiburg 3-1 at home last weekend and keep up with Bundesliga pacesetters Bayern Munich after their fourth consecutive league victory. As one of only two Bundesliga teams yet to lose a top-flight fixture this season (W6, D2), Marco Rose’s men enter this clash in high spirits, looking to replicate an emphatic scoreline, which saw them thrash RW Essen 4-1 in the opening DFB-Pokal round. However, ‘Die Roten Bullen’ have blown hot and cold across their last five competitive matches on home turf (W2, D1, L2), with three of them seeing one or both sides fail to score.

Meanwhile, St. Pauli shared the spoils with Wolfsburg in a tepid 0-0 home draw last weekend to end a two-game losing Bundesliga streak. However, that wasn’t enough to steer them away from the bottom three, as they finished the round three points adrift of safety. Therefore, the upcoming DFB-Pokal clash could be a welcome distraction for Alexander Blessin’s side, even though they needed extra time to overcome lower-league Hallescher in round one (3-2). Worryingly, a lack of defensive solidity has seen St. Pauli concede 2+ goals in five of their nine competitive outings this season. They’ve also lost three of their last four on the road (W1).