Bundesliga: RB Leipzig Usher in a New Era

RB Leipzig vs FSV Mainz 05

The first matchday of the 2020/21 Bundesliga season is upon us and football fans over at Germany can’t wait to see their favourite teams and players back in action.

Weeks after completing the historic treble, Bayern Munich will be coming into the season with huge targets on their backs as numerous teams will look to mount a serious challenge.

One of them will be RB Leipzig, who finished at third place last season. Although they are sporting a new look, Julian Nagelsmann’s side remains to be a top contender for the German trophy.

They will start their campaign against Mainz 05, who finished at the 13^th spot last term. Since the game will be played at the Red Bull Arena, the Bundesliga 2020 odds heavily favour the home side to emerge victorious.

Last season, Die Roten Bullen demolished Die Nullfunfer in back-to-back fixtures. But with the latter bringing back some key players, can they put up a valiant stand this time around?

Let’s take a look at both of these clubs through this match preview courtesy of SBOTOP.

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Talking Points

RB Leipzig to start life without Timo Werner

Team boss Julian Nagelsmann will have his work cut out for him as his team will try to build off their massive success from last season.

RB Leipzig not only punched above their weight in the Bundesliga standings, but they’ve also made history for themselves amongst the elite clubs in Europe.

They went to as far as the semifinals in the Champions League. And although they eventually bowed out against Paris Saint-Germain, the Red Bulls’ journey wasn’t so bad after all considering that they defeated Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in the earlier rounds.

But now with Timo Werner venturing into the Premier League, the focus will be on whether who will fill in for their departed striker.

Newly-minted skipper Marcel Sabitzer is a surefire candidate alongside Yussuf Poulsen and they were able to bring in Hwang Hee-chan from Salzburg to bolster their attack.

Their midfield is also decent as they have the likes of Dani Olmo and Christopher Nkunku, who are more than capable of producing topnotch Bundesliga 2020 highlights.

Meanwhile, the Red Bulls will be formidable at the defence. They have big, physical centre-backs in Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate, while they will be supported by Angelino, Tyler Adams, Lukas Klostermann, and Benjamin Heinrichs.

A trip back to the Champions League is well within their reach this season. But if they get a sliver of opportunity to take home the title, expect the Red Bulls to go all out.

Mainz bringing back their star striker

Mainz’s 2019/20 season ended in a whimper when they lost three of their last four – putting themselves at the 13^th spot at the table.

But considering what the team has gone through all season, the fact that they are in still in the top-flight for the 12^th consecutive season is already quite an achievement.

Die Nullfunfer’s campaign took a big hit when their top striker Jean-Philippe Mateta missed a big chunk of their campaign due to a knee injury.

Mainz 05 finished at the 13th spot in the Bundesliga table last season — Robin Quaison controls the ball against Union Berlin

Robin Quaison did his part by leading the team in scoring with 13 goals, but it basically wasn’t enough to make significant noise.

Now that the Frenchman is back, the outlook for Mainz has looked a bit brighter ahead of this season.

In fact, Mateta showed out during the first round of the DFB Pokal, where he scored a hat trick to lead Mainz to a comprehensive 5-1 victory.

History

RB Leipzig have been utterly dominant against Mainz 05 over these past few years.

All in all, they’ve faced each other in eight Bundesliga fixtures, and the Red Bulls have won in five, lost only once along with two draws.

Last season, Die Roten Bullen compiled an aggregate tally of 13-0 against Die Nullfunfer. The first game when 8-0, then the second went 5-0.

Timo Werner starred in both of those games by punching in back-to-back hat tricks. However, he has already taken his talents to Stamford Bridge.

Betting Tip

	RB Leipzig vs FSV Mainz 05	Over 3.25 @ 1.75
	September 20, 21:30 (GMT+8)

For this upcoming fixture, the home team is the hot favourites to win.

The updated betting odds have RB Leipzig priced at 1.38, while Mainz 05 are at 6.60 and chances for a draw are pegged at 5.20 in the 1×2 market.

RB Leipzig can definitely provide the goals for this match even without Timo Werner, so I recommend placing your bets on either Over 3.25 @ 1.74 or Total Goal 2-3 @ 2.13. If you’re feeling lucky, why not try Total Goal 4-6 @ 2.22 too?

On paper, Julian Nagelsmann’s side have much better quality and depth from all positions, and they are poised to annihilate Mainz 05 once more.