Bundesliga
Christoph Baumgartner has staked his claim as one of the most important attacking options within the extensive arsenal available to head coach Ole Werner at RB Leipzig this season.
For all of their known qualities, Leipzig have been a team that have still surprised many in the opening phases of the 2025/26 season.
Currently sitting in second place - five points behind league-leaders Bayern Munich - Die Roten Bullen are on an unbeaten run of six games in the league, having tasted their sole defeat of the campaign to the aforementioned table-toppers in their season opener.
However, the pain from that 6-0 thrashing on Matchday 1 will no doubt have long since passed for Werner's men, given their sharp uptake in form since.
One man who can be credited in part to this change of fortune is none other than Baumgartner, who was the hero for Leipzig yet again on Matchday 7, as his brace against Hamburg secured his side a narrow win at the Red Bull Arena.
Watch: Baumgartner bags twice as Leipzig down HSV at home
In fact, Baumgartner's double catapulted him into joint-fourth position in this season's race for the Torjägerkanone. Additonally, the Austrian can also boast outright supremacy in the goalscoring charts at Leipzig, with four goals in seven appearances this term, of which six were starts.
Incidentally, the only game which Leipzig's No.14 wasn't in the starting XI was for that defeat in Munich, with Werner instead favouring the now-departed Xavi Simons.
Playing second fiddle to the Dutchman was nothing new for Baumgartner, who had to do so for large spells of the 2024/25 campaign.
However, with Xavi having since joined Premier League outfit Tottenham Hostpur, the Austrian has seized his opportunity to become the creative outlet at Leipzig with both hands.
The proof is in the numbers too. Baumgartner is already enjoying a more fruitful return this season than over the entire previous term.
In 2024/25, he made 31 Bundesliga appearances (of which 13 came as a substitute), and scored just twice - a figure he has already since managed to double after just seven games.
In addition to his goals, Baumgartner has also registered the most number of shots at the club this term (19) - the joint-sixth most league-wide.
It's not just his offensive output that's garnering him his growing reputation either; the Austrian also comes in at second-place for duels won (67) in the club's internal leaderboard, just two behind right-back Ridle Baku.
Impressive as they are, statistics don't paint the whole picture when it comes to Baumgartner's impact. Speaking in his Hamburg post-match press conference, Werner was full of praise for his No.14: "He is such an intelligent player, who always knows exactly what kind of space he should look to exploit.
"He understands the game to an incredible degree and is able to knit the play together brilliantly. He plays such an important role in this team."
Versatility is the name of the game with the Austrian, who, despite claiming back in the summer that he's "not a natural winger and also definitely not a lone striker" has been deployed as everything from a false-nine or left-winger, to a No.10 at the behest of his manager.
However, Werner seems to have favoured playing him as a left-sided No.8 in recent weeks, where he has struck up a great partnership with Austrian compatriot Nicolas Seiwald.
Despite being just 26 years of age too, Baumgartner is also one of the more experienced members of a Leipzig squad, which has an average age of 24.6 years.
Whilst age alone doesn't equate to experience, Baumgartner - alongside 20-year-old Antonio Nusa - is one of the few surviving high-profile attackers from last season's Leipzig team, after Benjamin Šeško, Loïs Openda, André Silva and even loyal servant Yussuf Poulsen joined Xavi in seeking summer moves away from the Red Bull Arena.
Now pulling the strings behind what seems to be an increasingly preferred front three of Nusa, Rômulo and Johan Bakayoko, Baumgartner's devotion, versatility and leadership have made him a cornerstone of Werner's new-look Leipzig side.
Not satisfied with his side's fantastic (and somewhat surprising) start to the season, Baumgartner has his eyes firmly fixed on maintaining this level, declaring: “We want to be back challenging at the top again, and to qualify for the Champions League. We’re working hard towards that every day, and I also aim to do my bit.”