Hamburg’s emphatic 4-0 home success over Mainz before the international break inspired confidence that they could at least score their first away goal of the season. And they tried to attack from the very start, but their failure to create any meaningful chances in the first 10 minutes forced the play back into balance.
The hosts duly started to challenge themselves, and though Antonio Nusa’s first meaningful shot was straight at Daniel Heuer Fernandes, the Portuguese stopper had to show lightning reflexes to stop Christoph Baumgartner from sweeping in via Assan Ouédraogo’s cross.
The visitors were next to go close as Ransford-Yeboah Konigsdorffer nodded over from a corner, but things remained cagey.
That was until just moments before half time, when Nusa’s inswinger from the left perfectly found Baumgartner, who headed in at the far post to see his side first on the scoresheet for a sixth successive Bundesliga match.
Their lead didn’t last long after the restart though, as Albert Sambi Lokonga found himself in space in the area and found the far corner, albeit via a large deflection off Nicolas Seiwald.
But the away fans’ joy turned out to be short-lived, as Baumgartner played a delicate one-two with Romulo Cardoso that saw him burst into the area, and the Austrian made no mistake in slotting inside the near post.
Hamburg responded well to going behind again, and went close twice through Konigsdorffer before Jean-Luc Dompé struck the post with a whipped free-kick.
They continued to push, and even had Leipzig legend Yussuf Poulsen come on to try and equalise against his former employers, but it wasn’t to be, despite Hamburg showing some flashes of promise in the final moments.
Leipzig’s victory sees them retain their record of never having lost to a newly-promoted Bundesliga side with a 33rd win from just 38 such matches. Hamburg’s difficulties away from the Volksparkstadion remain, but Merlin Polzin won’t be too concerned with his side’s performance here.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Christoph Baumgartner (RB Leipzig)