The penultimate matchday of this season's Bundesliga saw 10-time reigning league champions Bayern Munich host RB Leipzig. A Bayern victory would all but certainly guarantee them a record-extending 11th consecutive league title. However, this was not to be the case as Leipzig came from behind to register a remarkable 3-1 victory.
Bayern scored first by way of Serge Gnabry and took this one-goal lead into the halftime break. After the interval, Konrad Laimer scored Leipzig's equalizer, adding additional intrigue to not only this match, but the title race as well. In the 76th minute, Leipzig took the lead after Christopher Nkunku scored from the penalty spot after earning the spot-kick. Four minutes before the end of regulation time, Dominik Szoboszlai clinched all three points for Die Bullen by converting a penalty of his own.
Leipzig's victory just about sank Bayern's hopes of winning the league once again. Bayern will now not only have to beat Köln on the final matchday in order to clinch the Bundesliga title; they will also have to do so while Borussia Dortmund do not beat Mainz. Any other permutation of results will cause Dortmund to win the Bundesliga for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
As for Leipzig, this latest victory adds another step forward in their strong finish to what had once seemed as though it would be a season full of struggle. Following an off-season transfer window which included several questionable decisions, Leipzig stumbled out of the gates. After seven league matchdays, the club from Saxony were in 12th place in the league, had lost their first two Champions League matches including a crushing 4-1 defeat at the hands of Shakhtar Donetsk, and had just fired head coach Domenico Tedesco; he was replaced by Marco Rose. It was certainly possible that Leipzig could have been heading for their worst season since their first promotion to the Bundesliga in 2016.
Slowly but surely, however, things began to change at the Red Bull Arena. With Rose in the dugout, the team gradually began to gel. The wins started to pile up and Leipzig embarked on their ascent of the league table. An undefeated streak of 12 league matches put Leipzig in fourth place in early February. Leipzig did not let up; they went on to reach the final of the DFB-Pokal with an impressive victory against Dortmund along the way. Leipzig have also won six of their last seven league matches and will finish the season in the top three of the league for the fifth time in the past seven seasons.
Although Leipzig will not win the Bundesliga for the first time in the club's history, they do have a golden opportunity to do so next season. Bayern are in their weakest and most vulnerable state in more than a decade. Dortmund, meanwhile, are likely to lose several players in the upcoming off-season including, most notably of all, Jude Bellingham. One of world football's most promising young talents, the English midfielder is widely expected to land a move to Real Madrid before the 2023-24 season begins. This is likely to leave a power vacuum at the top of the league - a vacuum into which Leipzig could easily step.
Leipzig have been linked with Real midfielder Dani Ceballos and Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun. While Ceballos is certainly no scrub, Balogun is by far the more intriguing prospect. Leipzig's leading goalscorer in the league this season is Nkunku with 14 goals; no other player has reached double figures. Almost a year ago, Leipzig made the critical error of letting Ademola Lookman leave for Atalanta for just €9 million; the Nigerian striker has since had a breakout season. However, Balogun appears due for a breakout season of his own. At just 21, the American is brimming with potential after an excellent season on loan at Reims. Balogun appears ready to make the step up to a major European league.
Despite early missteps, the energy surrounding RB Leipzig is completely different to that of the beginning of the season. They could now be just a few well-planned moves away from building something truly special. No club other than Bayern or Dortmund has won the Bundesliga since VfL Wolfsburg's stunning triumph in the 2008-09 season. It's certainly not out of the question that Leipzig could end this streak next season.
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