RB Leipzig are finally up and running in this season's Champions League. A single goal was enough at the Red Bull Arena on Tuesday night, Brajan Gruda striking with 15 minutes left to beat PSV Eindhoven 1-0 — but only after goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt had kept his side level with a first-half penalty save.
Both teams arrived still chasing a first win of the league phase. Leipzig had been beaten 4-1 at Como on matchday one, while PSV had drawn their opener, and for more than an hour in Leipzig it looked as though the wait might go on for both of them. In the end, as the official Bundesliga report puts it, this was a night settled by the two men at opposite ends of Leipzig's story: the keeper who refused to be beaten, and the young attacker who finally found a way through.
Vandevoordt Refuses to Be Beaten
Leipzig started quickly, Ridle Baku testing Matej Kovar early, but the game's first decisive moment came at the other end. A deep cross struck Baku's arm, VAR intervened, and PSV had a penalty inside 20 minutes. Ivan Perisic, the veteran of so many big European nights, went low down the middle — and Vandevoordt kept it out with his trailing legs.
It set the tone for the goalkeeper's evening. Antonio Nusa went close for the hosts and Ruben van Bommel threatened for PSV before the break, and after it Vandevoordt was busy again, getting in the way of efforts from Filip Kostic and Sergino Dest as the Dutch side pushed. Kovar was working just as hard at the other end, even denying Gruda from close range on the hour — which only made what followed harder for PSV to take.
Gruda Settles It at Last
The breakthrough finally arrived in the 75th minute. A Leipzig corner was cleared only to the edge of the area, Gruda beat his man, and his curled effort found the far corner with the help of a slight deflection. It was, as Flashscore noted in its report, the forward's first goal in European football — and he was substituted almost immediately, his job done.
PSV thought they had rescued a point late on when Armando Obispo headed in, only for the effort to be ruled out, and a flurry of late corners came to nothing. Leipzig, who came into the night on the back of a 6-0 domestic win over Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend, had their first three European points — and a first Champions League win since January 2025.
So What: Relief for Leipzig, Trouble for PSV
Three points change the arithmetic completely for Leipzig. Instead of travelling under pressure, they can now look at a daunting double-header with a platform behind them: Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga this weekend — Bayern, held 3-3 by Viking on the same dramatic night — and then a trip to face Real Madrid in Europe on 21 October. Win neither and this result still buys them breathing space in the league-phase table.
For PSV, the picture darkens. One point from two games, a missed penalty, a disallowed equaliser and a first blank of the season: the Dutch champions are already playing catch-up, and their margin for error in the remaining six league-phase games has shrunk sharply. Nights like this, where you match the home side chance for chance and leave with nothing, are the ones that end European campaigns early.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This win will be filed under Gruda's name, but it belongs just as much to Vandevoordt — without the penalty save there is no platform, no patience and probably no late winner. Leipzig were not fluent, and better teams than PSV will punish the chances they gave up, but a first win built on a goalkeeper's defiance and one moment of quality is exactly how European campaigns get started. The verdict: Leipzig are alive in this competition — just. Can they now take something from Bayern or Madrid to prove it was more than a scrape? Tell us in the comments.
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RB Leipzig are finally up and running in this season's Champions League. A single goal was enough at the Red Bull Arena on Tuesday night, Brajan Gruda striking with 15 minutes left to beat PSV Eindhoven 1-0 — but only after goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt had kept his side level with a first-half penalty save.
Both teams arrived still chasing a first win of the league phase. Leipzig had been beaten 4-1 at Como on matchday one, while PSV had drawn their opener, and for more than an hour in Leipzig it looked as though the wait might go on for both of them. In the end, as the official Bundesliga report puts it, this was a night settled by the two men at opposite ends of Leipzig's story: the keeper who refused to be beaten, and the young attacker who finally found a way through.
Vandevoordt Refuses to Be Beaten
Leipzig started quickly, Ridle Baku testing Matej Kovar early, but the game's first decisive moment came at the other end. A deep cross struck Baku's arm, VAR intervened, and PSV had a penalty inside 20 minutes. Ivan Perisic, the veteran of so many big European nights, went low down the middle — and Vandevoordt kept it out with his trailing legs.
It set the tone for the goalkeeper's evening. Antonio Nusa went close for the hosts and Ruben van Bommel threatened for PSV before the break, and after it Vandevoordt was busy again, getting in the way of efforts from Filip Kostic and Sergino Dest as the Dutch side pushed. Kovar was working just as hard at the other end, even denying Gruda from close range on the hour — which only made what followed harder for PSV to take.
Gruda Settles It at Last
The breakthrough finally arrived in the 75th minute. A Leipzig corner was cleared only to the edge of the area, Gruda beat his man, and his curled effort found the far corner with the help of a slight deflection. It was, as Flashscore noted in its report, the forward's first goal in European football — and he was substituted almost immediately, his job done.
PSV thought they had rescued a point late on when Armando Obispo headed in, only for the effort to be ruled out, and a flurry of late corners came to nothing. Leipzig, who came into the night on the back of a 6-0 domestic win over Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend, had their first three European points — and a first Champions League win since January 2025.
So What: Relief for Leipzig, Trouble for PSV
Three points change the arithmetic completely for Leipzig. Instead of travelling under pressure, they can now look at a daunting double-header with a platform behind them: Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga this weekend — Bayern, held 3-3 by Viking on the same dramatic night — and then a trip to face Real Madrid in Europe on 21 October. Win neither and this result still buys them breathing space in the league-phase table.
For PSV, the picture darkens. One point from two games, a missed penalty, a disallowed equaliser and a first blank of the season: the Dutch champions are already playing catch-up, and their margin for error in the remaining six league-phase games has shrunk sharply. Nights like this, where you match the home side chance for chance and leave with nothing, are the ones that end European campaigns early.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This win will be filed under Gruda's name, but it belongs just as much to Vandevoordt — without the penalty save there is no platform, no patience and probably no late winner. Leipzig were not fluent, and better teams than PSV will punish the chances they gave up, but a first win built on a goalkeeper's defiance and one moment of quality is exactly how European campaigns get started. The verdict: Leipzig are alive in this competition — just. Can they now take something from Bayern or Madrid to prove it was more than a scrape? Tell us in the comments.
