No fans, no mood, no points: when the ghost games in the Bundesliga came back, RB Leipzig suffered the next setback in the fight for international places.

In front of empty stands in the Red Bull Arena, the runner-up, supervised by assistant coach Achim Beierlorzer, lost 3-1 to Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the 13th matchday.

Enormous fluctuations in performance remain Leipzig's major shortcoming in the current season.

Four days after the club record victory in the European Cup, RB missed the chance to overtake direct competitor Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and are only eighth.

Bayer improved to third place with their seventh win of the season and is on course for the Champions League.

Young national players Florian Wirtz, Moussa Diaby and Jeremie Frimpong scored for Leverkusen.

Andre Silva made the connection for Leipzig in the meantime.

Dominik Szoboszlai hit the post with a hand penalty.

Because of the rapidly increasing corona numbers, the Saxon state government had, among other things, imposed a ban on spectators for professional sport.

The measure applies at least until December 12th.

"We are brutally lacking the emotionality of the fans," said RB Managing Director Oliver Mintzlaff before the kick-off at DAZN: "Of course, it is a major disadvantage in terms of sport and economy."

RB is also acutely affected by the pandemic in the team.

Coach Jesse Marsch was again represented on the sidelines by Beierlorzer because of a positive test.

Willi Orban, Yussuf Poulsen, Hugo Novoa and Mohamed Simakan are also affected by the players.

Even captain and goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi was still missing after his findings last Tuesday.

The fact that Leipzig is capable of reacting defiantly despite the adverse circumstances was proven by the team during the week in the outstanding Champions League victory at Club Bruges (5-0).

Leipzig wanted to improve against Bayer.

RB started again committed and struggled to switch quickly after winning the ball.

In the last third, Leipzig acted too imprecisely, also because Leverkusen interfered early and defended attentively.

A first shock had no consequences: Diaby's hit was denied due to an offside position.

After a balanced phase, Leverkusen got stronger and stronger.

The Werkself found space and were always dangerous, especially with the fast outside.

The strong Wirtz and Diaby rewarded Leverkusen's joy in playing.

Leipzig only had a bigger chance through Josko Gvardiol.

After the break, Bayer withdrew even further and waited for a counterattack.

Leipzig mostly stuck to the penalty area, mandatory actions were in short supply.

One of the few options was used by Silva to connect with her head.

Frimpong promptly thwarted the hoped-for upturn with his first Bundesliga goal.

Leverkusen remained the more dangerous team.

Diaby hit the post.

Szoboszlai could have made it exciting again.