St. Pauli 1-1 RB Leipzig: Kaars´ stoppage-time penalty snatches a point for struggling hosts

Martijn Kaars’ stoppage-time penalty helped struggling St. Pauli snatch a 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig at Millerntor-Stadion on Tuesday.

Ole Werner’s side were on track for all three points after Yan Diomande’s second-half strike, but Kaars levelled up from 12 yards after being taken out by David Raum in the box.

Only the base of the right post denied Leipzig from taking an eighth-minute lead, with Xaver Schlager’s attempt from the edge of the box seeing Nikola Vasilj almost caught out.

But from there, Leipzig were second best and should have gone behind when Ricky-Jade Jones was sent through, but he could only fire wide with just Peter Gulacsi to beat.

However, Leipzig had a huge chance to go a goal up in first-half stoppage time, but Romulo dragged his shot past the left post after being played in by Christoph Baumgartner.

The visitors did get themselves ahead in the 66th minute when Raum’s corner was cleared only as far as Diomande on the edge of the box, who saw his right-footed strike deflect off Eric Smith and in.

St. Pauli, though, hung on and were given the chance to level the game late in the day when Raum’s untimely slip saw him clatter into Kaars, with the substitute dusting himself down before dispatching from 12 yards out to seal a share of the spoils.

A late penalty sees us held to a draw at the Millerntor-Stadion

FT | 1-1 | #FCSPRBL pic.twitter.com/GCoSFJWGkr

— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) January 27, 2026

And that proved to be good news for Hoffenheim, who built up a three-point gap between themselves and fourth-placed Leipzig following their 2-0 win away to Werder Bremen.

Alexander Prass’ stunning effort in the 44th minute put Hoffenheim in front before they were reduced to 10 men seven minutes after the break.

Wouter Burger was dismissed for a high challenge on Cameron Puertas following a lengthy VAR review, but it mattered little as Grischa Promel clinched the victory with another fine finish into the top corner two minutes later.

Data Debrief: Leipzig’s away day struggles continue at St. Pauli

Ahead of kick-off, 12 places separated St. Pauli and Leipzig in the Bundesliga, but many Die Roten Bullen fans would not have been confident ahead of a visit to Millerntor-Stadion.

Indeed, Leipzig have now failed to win any of their four away competitive matches against St. Pauli (D2 L2), and they were perhaps fortunate not to lose this encounter.

St. Pauli won the expected goals (xG) battle having registered a total of 1.45 from their seven shots to Leipzig’s 1.09 from their 10 attempts, with Jones guilty of missing a glorious opportunity during the first half.

And while Leipzig moved up to fourth, they have now lost 13 points from winning positions in the Bundesliga this season. Only Koln (16) and Wolfsburg (18) have lost more.