Harrison, NJ — For the first time in its club history, RB Leipzig, sister club of Red Bull New York, is embarking on an American preseason tour. July 31st would mark the club's first game on American soil as they defeated Premier League club Aston Villa 2-0 to start their tour on the right foot.
Andre Silva would open the scoring for Leipzig in the 17th minute thanks to a costly mistake by the Villa defense trying to play out from the back. Leipzig would double their lead just before the half when Belgian striker Lois Openda put away his rebound in the 41st minute to lock up the victory.
This "friendly" game between two Champions League was anything but friendly. Tackles were flying in from every direction, elbows were thrown, a red card was given out and so much more.
The first goal of the game in the 17th minute came off a fantastic press from RB Leipzig. From a goal kick, Aston Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen played a pass to Ross Barkley who was instantly dispossessed by Amadou Haidara who was now one-on-one with Olsen.
With his head up all the way, Haidara calmly passed the ball over to a wide-open Andre Silva who tapped the ball into the net while falling to give Leipzig the lead. To add insult to injury, as Haidara was passing the ball, he accidentally kneed Olsen in the face and the goalkeeper had to be subbed off in the 30th minute with a head injury, with backup goalkeeper Oilwier Zych coming on in his place.
Speaking about that red card from before, it was handed out to Aston Villa's Diego Carlos who clotheslined Openda down to the ground after he scored the second goal for Leipzig. Check it out!
The goal came off so exceptional play from Leipzig down the left wing. After some beautiful one touch passing in the midfield for Leipzig, Kevin Kampl played it to left back El Chadaille Bitshiabu, who's normal a center back, and the big frenchmen crossed the ball pas the defnder and into the of Openda. The Belgian striker went for a fancy backheel flick, which was saved, but luckily the rebound fell right back to Openda to double Leipzig's lead in the 41st minute.
That wasn't the first time the two clashed in the first half. In the 27th minute, Carlos elbowed Openda in the head as the striker attempted to get around the Brazilian, resulting in a yellow card for Carlos. Openda also received a card for his retaliatory actions following the play.
Talking about Openda post-game, Leipzig manager Marco Rose had this to say. "It's difficult to defend him for everyone, even for top defenders. He's [Openda] not so tall, but he's strong. He uses his body in the perfect way, in the right moment, good timing and if he gets the ball in space it's really hard to follow him. He scored and that's important for him and I'm satisfied with his performance today."
In the second half with Aston Villa down to 10 players on the field and players changing throughout both teams lineups, the action in the game died down. With no golas from other side in the second 45 minutes of the game, the final whistle blew with RB Leipzig winning the game 2-0.
After the match Leipzig's center-back and captain Willi Orban talked to the media about the "physicality" in their friendly match agaisnt a top English side,
"Yeah, it's always physical against a team from the Premier League, so that's what we expected. I think we played our game. We had some good actions against the ball, won many balls and scored two nice goals. Overall I think the win was deserved."
Just three days after arriving in the United States, Leipzig looked like a team that was already in the groove of their Bundesliga season, dominating Aston Villa, who's a potential Champions League oppenet, in every facet of the game from the opening whistle.
With players like Benjamin Sesko, Lois Openda and the heavily rumored return of Xavi Simmons from PSG leading the attack once agian this season, Leipzig look like they could once again compete with the big boys atop of the Bundesliga like Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Muncich and Borrusia Dortmund for the Meisterschale.
The US tour continues for Leipzig as they head down to Miami to take on another Premier Leagues side in Wolverhampton on Saturday night, August 3rd, before they head home to Germany to prepare for the start of the new season.
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