In the first half, you wouldn't have thought that Stuttgart had just lost two of its most valuable players. Leipzig on the other hand seemed to have still been stung from last week's loss to Xabi Alonso and Leverkusen. Going into the changing room at half-time, relegation-tipped Stuttgart suddenly became a Bundesliga dark horse. Starting the season with 5-0 and 4-0 wins partnered with an excellent first-half performance meant the underdogs went in 1-0 up thanks to their star striker Serhou Guirassy. That's until Leipzig did what good teams do and went up a gear. A blistering second half from Marco Rose's men resulted in 5 goals coming in 25 minutes with Loïs Openda and Dani Olmo continuing their goalscoring starts to the season.
Below is a breakdown of each player's performance.
RB Leipzig
Janis Blaswich (5.5/10)
With the news that Péter Gulácsi is back in training this week, Bkaswich might think his days are numbered in the Leipzig goal. A quiet performance tonight although should have done better for Stuttgart's goal.
Benjamin Henrichs (8.5/10) MOTM
A man-of-the-match performance for Benjamin Henrichs. Solid defensively but it was in the other half of the pitch he excelled. A clever through ball gave Openda a massive chance in the first half and in the second it was his relentless pressing that forced Nübel into a mistake for the equaliser. Henrichs was impressive driving down the touchline as well as inverting into the midfield as is the current trend in football.
Very impressive from the fullback.
Mohamed Simakan (7.5/10)
The consistent last line of defence. No matter how well the Stuttgart player did it felt like they would always run into the brick wall like Simakan. His calmness on the ball and passing range even started a couple of attacks that resulted in goals.
Although he did get turned inside out for the Stuttgart goal.
Willi Orbán (6/10)
Quiet and calm from Orbán. No thrills no disasters a fine centre half performance. Although with Castello Lukeba on the bench and surely set to start in the coming weeks He might need to improve to keep that starting position.
David Raum (7.5/10)
A bit defensively frail at times in the first half often struggling to deal with the physicality and pressing from Stuttgart even giving away the ball for the opening goal. Although Raum's technical expertise was on show with a couple of dangerous crosses including a sensational whipped ball for Openda's goal.
Kevin Kampl (7/10)
A metronomic performance from Kampl. Not only did he keep Die Roten Bullen ticking in midfield he was also quick to cut out Stuttgart's counter-attacks before they could start. A midfielder every team needs.
Xaver Schlager (6/10)
Not the most impressive performance from the Austrian. A first half which mostly boiled down to a volley which he blazed over the crossbar and a second half in which he wasn't really involved except his yellow card for dissent.
Xavi Simons (8/10)
If Henrichs didn't do it for you then I would listen to arguments for Xavi Simons being tonight's man of the match. A slow first half in which Atakan Karazor did a great job of keeping the Dutchman silent but in the second half he sprung into life. A player who glides instead of running and has a skill for putting it on a plate for his teammates. 2 Assists and a first Leipzig goal for Simons underlined an impressive second half.
Dani Olmo (7.5/10)
A great start to the season for the Spaniard continued tonight. A player who constantly wanted to play forward and create chances and that was on show tonight. In the first half, a shot whistled past the post and a superb Atakan Karazor was all that stopped Olmo from a certain goal. Who needs Dominik Szoboszlai when Olmo is in this kind of form?
Loïs Openda (7/10)
A big chance spurned in the first half but that didn't seem to bother Openda one bit. You can tell defenders hate playing against the lightning-quick striker and he proved he has more to his game than running into the channel. A great header from a Raum cross
Yussuf Poulsen (5.5/10)
Not much to say about Poulsen's performance. The worst of the Leipzig starters.
Emil Forsberg ( for Loïs Openda 79') (N/A)
Timo Werner ( for Xavi Simons 80') (N/A)
Benjamin Šeško ( for Yussuf Poulsen 80') (N/A)
Lukas Klostermann ( for Mohamed Simakan 85') (N/A)
Christoph Baumgartner ( for Dani Olmo 85') (N/A)
Alexander Nübel (4/10)
In the first half, Nübel had a calm aura that seemed to radiate on the rest of the Stuttgart team. He made a strong save 1 on 1 with Openda and at the start of the second half made a sensational save from a close range Orbán header. Then just minutes later disaster struck. Attempting the clear the ball he ricocheted the ball off Henrichs and into the goal. Soon after a routine collection was missed leaving Openda a tap-in although Nübel was spared his blushes by VAR. His confidence never recovered after that but it will need to if Stuttgart wants to remain a Bundesliga team.
Pascal Stenzel (5.5/10)
A good first half in which a couple of full-blooded tackles seemed to rile the Leipzig players and motivate his teammates. The second half passed him by as did the Leipzig attackers.
Waldemar Anton (5/10)
Stuttgart will be hoping a Mavropanos replacement will be on the agenda this close to the end of the window. Especially after this performance. Nothing of note except repeatedly losing track of Openda in both the first and second half. Improvement needed.
Dan-Axel Zagadou (6./10)
Zagadou is an all-or-nothing defender. In the first half, it was all. Winning his headers clearing the ball from danger and really dominating Poulsen. Second half it was nothing. Arguably he gave Nübel a poor ball from the equaliser and did nothing to stop the second-half RB onslaught.
Hiroki Ito (5.5/10)
The Stuttgart manager has said that the transformation in Ito has been miraculous since he moved from Japanese football. He played well in the first half even joining in attacks at times but in the second he fell out of the game and lost track of his runner several times in addition to not being able to deal with the intensity on display from Leipzig.
Lilian Egloff (5/10)
A game that completely passed him by. In fact if not for a great performance from his midfield partner his poor show which have been even more obvious.
Atakan Karazor (7/10)
Karazor did not deserve to be on the losing side. While he isn't the best passer or finisher, in fact, he failed to score a single goal in the Bundesliga last season, His tackling and reading of the game was second to none. A Wataru Endō-esque performance.
Chris Führich (5.5/10)
Führich looked dangerous and exciting it was just unfortunate he was up against the pair of Benjamin Henrichs and Simakan who played so well that Führich barely got a kick.
Jeong Woo-yeong (5/10)
Poor decision-making from the South-Korean cost Stuttgart a couple of surefire goalscoring opportunities and he was ineffective in the otherwise impressive Stuttgart press.
Silas (6/10)
It's good to see Silas back on the pitch after the injury troubles he's had in previous seasons. He looked dangerous in spells to and this was a solid enough performance to build on.
Serhou Guirassy (7/10)
Former Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie has said that a good goalscorer is someone who doesn't care how many chances he misses. This is something Guirassy has in abundance. A couple of bad misses in the first half would have had other strikers downbeat but not him. Seizing upon a Leipzig mistake Guirassy bore down on goal and had the confidence to chop the ball away from Simakan and put his side in the lead. Goals are guaranteed with this guy and a very exciting permanent signing for Stuttgart.
Borna Sosa ( for Silas 58') (N/A)
Genki Haraguchi ( for Lilian Egloff 70') (N/A)
Roberto Massimo ( for Pascal Stenzel 70') (N/A)
Jamie Leweling ( for Jeong Woo-yeong 90') (N/A)
Maximilian Mittelstädt ( for Chris Führich 90') (N/A)
