5 players with a history at Leipzig and Bayern | OneFootball

RB Leipzig vs. Bayern Munich: 5 players with a history at both clubs

The upcoming Matchday 32 clash between RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich will be another page in a short, but entertaining, history between the two clubs. Over the course over the past few years, the two sides have not just shared tough battles, but have also seen players and coaches move between the clubs.

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bundesliga.com takes a look at five notable names to have represented both clubs, either on the touchline or on the field.

Joshua Kimmich

After coming through the ranks at Stuttgart alongside current Bayern teammate Serge Gnabry and Leipzig’s record goalscorer Timo Werner, Kimmich joined Die Roten Bullen in 2013 at the age of 18.

At the time, Leipzig were in the third tier with ambitions of one day reaching the Bundesliga – just like Kimmich himself. He joined a squad managed by Alexander Zorniger, followed by Ralf Rangnick, and consisting of the long-serving Yussuf Poulsen and current Hertha Berlin midfielder Diego Demme, until Kimmich’s departure in 2015.

The Red Bulls achieved promotion to Bundesliga 2 in Kimmich's first season at the club, with his subsequent 27 Bundesliga 2 appearances catching the eye of Bayern, and a certain Pep Guardiola.

A fresh-faced Kimmich took his first steps in professional football with Leipzig in the third tier of German football. (imago sportfotodienst/imago sportfotodienst)

Since his arrival in Bavaria, the combative midfielder has grown into one of the continent’s finest players, and a Germany captain. His decade at Bayern has seen him make 437 appearances in all competitions, and pick up an astonishing 20 honours, including eight Bundesliga titles and a Champions League triumph in 2020.

Dayot Upamecano

The Frenchman joined Leipzig further along in their journey, jumping aboard the Red Bulls train in January of 2017, the club’s first season in the Bundesliga. Upamecano’s time in Saxony was historic, literally.

Under the guidance of coach Julian Nagelsmann, Upamecano and Leipzig reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2020, beating the likes of Tottenham and Atletico Madrid on their way to the first, and only, time the club has gone so deep into the competition.

They lost out to Paris Saint-Germain (3-0) before seeing their gifted centre-half depart for Bundesliga rivals Bayern in the summer of 2021. Since then, Upamecano has made just shy of 150 appearances for Bayern, winning two league titles and two German Supercups, as well as becoming an established member of the French national team.

Konrad Laimer

Just a few months after Upamecano, Austrian international Laimer arrived at the Red Bull Arena. He went on to make 130 Bundesliga appearances for the club, winning the DFB Cup twice, in 2021/22 and 2022/23 and becoming a fan favourite in the process.

After six years, Laimer decided it was time to switch Saxony for Bavaria and link up with Upamecano once more, and transferred to Bayern in the summer of 2023.

In his relatively short time at the club since then, Laimer’s versatility and reliability have endeared him to the Bayern faithful, in which time he has made 82 competitive appearances.

With the Bundesliga Meisterschale on the horizon, Laimer is all set to claim his first league title in Germany, and his first piece of silverware in Bayern red.

Marcel Sabitzer

A matter of days before Kimmich’s departure to Bayern, a young Marcel Sabitzer joined Leipzig from sister club RB Salzburg. Like his Austrian international teammate Laimer, Sabitzer spent six years at Leipzig, making over 200 appearances and captaining the side in his final season.

Having left in the summer of 2021, Sabitzer missed out on lifting the DFB Cup with Leipzig the following season, but compensated for it by winning consecutive Bundesliga titles with Bayern, as well as a German Supercup.

However, having struggled for regular playing time, Sabitzer departed for Manchester United on loan, before swapping red for black and yellow when he joined Klassiker rivals Borussia Dortmund on a permanent basis in 2023.

Zsolt Lőw

Lőw recently stepped into his first role as a head coach, aiming to turn around a Leipzig side that were faltering and help them get back into the Champions League places in the final weeks of the 2024/25 season.

Since taking on the challenge at the end of March, his record stands at two wins, one draw and two losses, with Leipzig currently sitting in fifth, just two points behind Freiburg.

Lőw was already familiar with the club upon his arrival, having been an assistant to both Ralf Rangnick and Ralph Hasenhüttl between 2015 and 2018, before landing at Bayern as Thomas Tuchel's assistant last season via stints at Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.

Alonsgide Tuchel, the pair snatched the Bundesliga title from Dortmund on the final day of the 2022/23 season.

On the coaching front, the aforementioned Nagelsmann has been in charge at both Bayern and Leipzig and was ably assisted at both by current Eintracht Frankfurt boss Dino Toppmöller. VfB Stuttgart tactician Sebastian Hoeneß, meanwhile, served youth coaching roles at both clubs.

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