Gulacsi comeback and Werner's back: Leipzig rotates

The warehouse charm of the Wiesbaden stadium promises anything but the great soccer world. But for Peter Gulacsi it should be an unforgettable evening. The 33-year-old makes his comeback in goal for RB Leipzig on Wednesday (8:45 p.m./ARD and Sky) after an injury layoff of almost a year. The opponent SV Wehen Wiesbaden is of second-class format, but that should not matter to the ex-captain.

"It is important that Pete gets the game," stressed coach Marco Rose. Because should Janis Blaswich fail once, Gulacsi would not face a cold start without playing time. However, this also means that the Hungarian national goalkeeper's chances of earning a regular spot are currently close to zero. Rose has simply no reason to put the stable holding Blaswich back on the bench.

"We have great confidence in Pete and his quality, but we also know about the downtime," said Rose. Gulacsi had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on October 5, 2022 against Celtic Glasgow during a free kick without outside influence. Previously, Timo Werner had brought the veteran with a bad back pass in trouble.

There is a clear exchange, the players know where they stand, said Rose to the goalkeeper discussion. "Pete makes his comeback after eleven, twelve months. That's an important moment. Everything behind is competition. But I'm not going to change goalkeepers in a three-day rhythm. At the moment, we are very well positioned."

It's not just in goal that Rose will rotate. So Werner has after his goal in Mönchengladbach actually the chance of a Startelfeinsatz. It would be the first since mid-August. But the 27-year-old pinched the back, so he could not train. Rose stressed, however, that he expected Werner to be able to travel with him to Wiesbaden. In addition, Lukas Klostermann, Christopher Lenz and Christoph Baumgartner could play from the start.

Titleholder Leipzig goes of course as a favorite in the duel with Wiesbaden, which is in the 2nd league for four games without victory. The coach nevertheless dutifully warned. "If we think we can do it with half an ass, then we will have problems," Rose said. "We must not lose our nerves if it's still 0-0 after 30 minutes or if someone slips through."

And Wiesbaden? Is looking forward to the endurance test against Leipzig in front of 12,100 spectators. "We are already a little happy to get a little distance from the 2nd Bundesliga after the three defeats recently," said coach Markus Kauczinski. "We have no reason to hide. The burden of bringing it is on Leipzig for now. We will try to find our spaces and take advantage of this small chance that may be there."