Xavi Simons is once again available for RB Leipzig against Union Berlin on Sunday
Xavi’s influence was sorely missed as Leipzig fell to a 5-2 defeat at third-placed VfB Stuttgart last time out. The Paris Saint-Germain loanee was serving a mandatory one-match ban for an accumulation of yellow cards, but is set to go straight back into the side on Matchday 20. Christoph Baumgartner will likely make way as Marco Rose’s team bid to end a three-match losing run, which has seen them drop out of the top four. The fit-again Dani Olmo is expected to continue on the opposite flank for the third game in succession, while young striker Benjamin Šeško appears to be the preferred choice alongside top scorer Loïs Openda, having started every game so far in 2024. Right-back Benjamin Henrichs is set to be recalled at Mohamed Simakan’s expense, but Nicolas Seiwald should continue in midfield after Amadou Haidara’s Mali booked their place in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Union were undone by a very special Xavi performance in the reverse. That 3-0 defeat marked the start of an alarming run of form that led to the end of Urs Fischer’s tenure, but the capital club have turned a corner, picking up 10 points in six league games under the watch of new head coach Nenad Bjelica, three more than in their first 12 matches of the 2023/24 campaign. Victory over bottom side Darmstadt gave them a five-point buffer to the relegation zone – and they have a game in hand against 17th-placed Mainz to come next week. Benedict Hollerbach’s third goal in five outings made the difference last weekend. The 22-year-old should keep his place in attack, but Kevins Behrens and Volland are doubts. New signing Chris Bedia – the Swiss Super League’s 17-goal top scorer before leaving Servette in January – is poised to come in for his full Bundesliga debut.
Match stats
- Openda has a team-leading 13 Bundesliga goals so far this season. Among all Leipzig players past or present, only Timo Werner scored more 19 matches into a single top-flight campaign (20, 2019/20).
- Leipzig are in danger of losing four consecutive Bundesliga matches for the first time in their history.
- The only Bundesliga team without a point in 2024, Die Roten Bullen have also shipped a league-high nine goals across their first three games of the year.
- Behrens scored four times across the first two matchdays of the season, but has failed to fire in 16 since. He’s still the club’s joint-top scorer in 2023/24, though, alongside Robin Gosens.
- Rani Khedira played for Leipzig between 2014 and 2017, earning promotion to the Bundesliga with the club in 2016.
- Union are the only team to have won more than half of their previous Bundesliga meetings with Leipzig (five of nine).
Probable teams
Leipzig: Blaswich – Henrichs, Klostermann (c), Lukeba, Raum – Xavi, Seiwald, Schlager, Olmo – Šeško, Openda
Out: Haidara (international duty), Simakan (suspended)
Doubtful: –
Coach: Marco Rose
Union: Rønnow – Knoche, Vogt, Leite – Král – Trimmel (c), Tousart, Schäfer, Gosens – Bedia, Hollerbach
Out: Juranović (muscular)
Doubtful: Behrens (knee), Roussillon (knock), Volland (concussion)
Coach: Nenad Bjelica
