SV Elversberg go into Saturday's trip to RB Leipzig knowing they face one of the toughest away assignments in the Bundesliga. Vincent Wagner has made clear that his side will not be taken lightly, but he has also admitted that Leipzig's quality and home strength make this a major challenge.
The match is set for Saturday, 24 October, at 15.30 Uhr in the Red Bull Arena Leipzig. That puts two teams who are close in the table but far apart geographically - about 550 kilometers - into a meeting that comes at very different moments for each side.
Wagner expects a difficult afternoon
Wagner did not hide the scale of the test. He described Leipzig as an “unfassbar starke Mannschaft” and pointed out that they finished with the second-best season in their club's history last year, even if they were still dissatisfied with it. That is the sort of standard Elversberg are walking into.
He also suggested that his team may not receive the same level of attention as recent elite opponents. “Unterschätzt werden wir sicher nicht. Wir werden aber wahrscheinlich auch nicht so ernst genommen wie Real Madrid und das ist auch in Ordnung,” Wagner said. In other words, Elversberg can use the lack of spotlight if they stay organised and disciplined.
Elversberg's injury concerns are adding up
The bigger issue for Elversberg is the growing list of absences. Before the international break, Francis Onyeka was injured in the match at Schalke. Against Augsburg, Noah Darvich and Jan Gyamerah were both substituted before half-time, while Tom Zimmerschied was not in the squad.
Wagner said the club may have “one or two” returnees this weekend and stressed that he still has enough options. He was also upbeat about recovery times, saying the injuries may be more a case of “injury luck” than bad luck, because the issues he is dealing with are expected to last only two or three weeks and the players should be back quickly.
Leipzig's home strength and away wobble
For Leipzig, the contrast between home and away form remains important. Their last home defeat came in January, and they have won all three of their home matches this season with a combined 14:0 goal record. That is the kind of form that makes them extremely difficult to face in front of their own fans.
Yet the backdrop to this game is not entirely comfortable for Leipzig. They arrive after a 1:4 defeat at Real Madrid in the Champions League, and their recent away record has been poor, with two consecutive away losses and a 2:10 goal difference. Even so, none of that changes the basic challenge for Elversberg: they need to cope with a powerful home side on difficult ground.
There is history here too. The two clubs met twice in the 2012/13 3. Liga season, and the home team won both matches. If that pattern means anything this time, it is that the venue may matter as much as the table position. Elversberg will need to be sharp, compact and patient if they are to leave Leipzig with anything.
