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Europa League: Late leveler sends wasteful RB Leipzig out

December 13, 2018

A late goal from Norwegian side Rosenborg means RB Leipzig won't join Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt in the knockout rounds. Despite a favor from their sister side, the German outfit will rue missed chances.

https://p.dw.com/p/3A4zL
UEFA Europa League 6. Spieltag | RB Leipzig vs. Rosenborg Trondheim | TOR Leipzig
Image: Imago/Picture Point LE

RB Leipzig 1-1 Rosenborg
(Cunha 47' - Reginiussen 86')

A late header entirely aganst the balance of play sent Leipzig out of the Europa League, with Yussuf Poulsen's miss likely to haunt the Danish striker.

The home side's campaign, which begun with qualifiers as far back as July, was ended despite fellow Red Bull affiliates Salzburg beating Scottish side Celtic to open the door for their Bundesliga counterparts.

Jean-Kevin Augustin, on a run of just one goal in 10 games but preferred to Timo Werner, missed Leipzig’s best chance of the opening period while skipper Willi Orban rattled the bar with a header as the hosts ramped up the pressure heading towards the break. But still they couldn’t quite find the breakthrough.

At that point, neither could either of the sides in Glasgow, with the group hanging on a knife edge.

Leipzig looked like fulfilling their side of the bargain shortly after the break, when Cunha’s deflected strike looped in to give them the lead. But still Leipzig needed a favor from their Austrian sister club Red Bull Salzburg.

Poulsen came close to making the points safe for the dominant Germans just after the hour mark but his curled effort bounced back off the post.

But shortly after that, good news came from nearly 1500 kilometers away as Munas Dabbur’s header put Salzburg ahead and Leipzig through, as things stood. But Poulsen spurned yet another gilt-edged chance, hitting the keeper from 10 yards despite having plenty of time 15 minutes before the end of the game.

Despite that, a second Salzburg goal meant Ralf Rangnick’s men just needed to avoid conceding to keep their European campaign alive in to 2019.

But they couldn’t manage it. With less than five minutes remaining, veteran center back Tore Reginiussen popped up at the back post to send Celtic through and win Rosenborg's first point of the group stage.

Leipzig will now have to watch as Leverkusen, who hammered AEK Larnaca 5-1, and Frankfurt, who became the first German side to win all six of their group games with a 2-1 win over Lazio, find out who they'll play in the last 32 on Monday.