Xavi Simons celebrates scoring the winner against Borussia Dortmund (Photo by Jan Woitas/picture ... [+] alliance via Getty Images) dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images RB Leipzig has beaten Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in front of 47,800 fans at the Red Bull Arena thanks to goals by Xavi Simons (16’) and Loïs Openda (47’). Top clubs on paper, both Leipzig and Dortmund have struggled this season at times, and this was a crucial fixture in the race for the Champions League spots. Leipzig’s win was just its third in the last ten games. However, it keeps the Red Bulls in the Champions League race. They are now three points behind third-placed Mainz and even on points with fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, who has one game in hand. “We won an important game,” Leipzig head coach Marco Rose said after the game. “But nothing more or less. Hopefully, it can push us ahead of a difficult game against Gladbach. We took a bite at reaching our target, but we aren’t there yet.” Reaching the Champions League is paramount for Leipzig. The club has made significant investments in the infrastructure this season and wants to keep top players like Xavi Simons, Benjamin Sesko, and Loïs Openda long-term. All three would probably be gone if the club fails to reach the top four. The victory against Dortmund doesn’t mean Leipzig is quite there yet. But at least the Black and Yellows have been eliminated from Champions League contention. It is perfect timing, too. Red Bull head of global soccer Jürgen Klopp will be in Leipzig on Sunday to discuss next season’s squad with sporting director Marcel Schäfer. Those discussions would have been more difficult had Leipzig lost the game. MORE FOR YOU Google Confirms Play Store App Deletion—What You Do Now ‘Reacher’ Dethroned In Amazon Prime Video’s Top 10 List By A New Show FBI Warning—Gmail, Outlook And VPN Users Need To Act Now Loïs Openda (l.) and Xavi (r.) celebrate the second Leipzig goal against Borussia Dortmund. (Photo ... [+] by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images) Getty Images With the prospect of Champions League football still very much alive, the discussions between Klopp and Schäfer will certainly be much easier. Much of the talk will be about Xavi, Sesko, and Opeda. But new players such as Nadiem Amiri and Maxim De Cuyper have already been linked with a move to the Red Bulls. Dutch superstar Xavi will be at the forefront of those discussions. This weekend, the 21-year-old was heavily criticized in an article in Sport Bild. The playmaker responded with an excellent performance. “Keep criticizing Xavi,” Rose said. “If it means he plays like that, it seems to work. But as I said at the press conference, he is an excellent kid. Perhaps he can take this into the international break, score there, and take that momentum through the rest of the season.” What about Dortmund? It is a difficult moment for me because it was a game we shouldn’t have lost and couldn’t afford to lose either,” Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac said. “We did a lot of things right in the second half, but the ball just didn’t want to cross the line, and we ended up losing the game.” The result means Dortmund is stuck in 11th place with just 35 points, seven points out of a Champions League spot. In other words, the club will now have to plan a 2025/26 season in which they will not play in the Champions League. Some financial losses of missing out on Europe’s premier competition will be compensated by playing in next summer’s FIFA Club World Cup. Player sales will also be likely. Indeed, there has been a sense for a while that there would be a day of reckoning for the club. That day of reckoning is now much closer, if not perhaps already there. Check out my website. Editorial StandardsForbes Accolades