Cultures collide as Leipzig sees off St. Pauli's challenge to stay 4th in Bundesliga

BERLIN (AP) — Xavi Simons and Benjamin Šeško scored and Leipzig held on to defend fourth place in the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win over promoted St. Pauli on Sunday.

Xavi and Šeško’s first-half goals were enough for Leipzig to stay in the last spot for Champions League qualification, one point clear of Stuttgart with 13 rounds remaining.

Leipzig needed to hold on from the 69th minute, when captain Willi Orbán was sent off for a foul on Elias Saad in front of goal, but goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi was alert to deny Johannes Eggestein and Hauke Wahl with good St. Pauli chances late on.

Xavi set up Seško with a perfectly weighted forward pass for the opener. The Slovenia forward did well to elude defender David Nemeth before shooting inside the far post in the 16th minute, then he returned the favor for Xavi to score in the 35th.

The game itself produced a contrast between teams of vastly different backgrounds.

Cultures collide as Leipzig sees off St. Pauli's challenge to stay 4th in Bundesliga | iNFOnews.ca — Leipzig’s Ridle Baku, left, and St. Pauli’s Siebe Van der Heyden fight for the ball during a Bundesliga soccer match in Leipzig, Germany, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)

Leipzig was founded by energy drink manufacturer Red Bull to promote its product in 2009, when Hamburg-based St. Pauli was already known for its anti-establishment stance and the pirate skull-and-crossbones emblem popularized by supporters who identified as punks.

Earlier, bottom two Holstein Kiel and Bochum delivered a hard-fought 2-2 draw. Four players had to go off injured.

Myron Boadu scored two goals in as many minutes after Steven Skrzybski’s early penalty for promoted Kiel, before David Zec headed in a free kick from American defender John Tolkin to equalize.

It was Tolkin’s first assist in his third appearance since joining from the New York Red Bulls – another team belonging to the energy drink company’s global network.