Jay Rodriguez scored twice on his first Southampton appearance in 459 days this evening, but the Saints went down 5-4 to German side RB Leipzig in the first match of their pre-season tour of Austria.
Leipzig made much of the early running and took the lead midway through the first half as Nils Quaschner rounded Maarten Stekelenburg before tucking home.
© Getty Images
Southampton equalised instantly as new signing Juanmi rolled home after being found by Lloyd Isgrove. That was how it stayed at the break, before a glut of goals in the second 45.
Rodriguez was brought on as a half-time substitute and scored within 10 minutes of his return with a volleyed back-post finish.
VIDEO: @JayRodriguez9 scores minutes into his first game after injury in #SaintsFC's friendly with @DieRotenBullen. https://t.co/WqEaSFVhD8
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) July 8, 2015
As in the first half, the team to fall behind equalised straight away as Timo Mauer tapped home from close range to restore parity.
Leipzig took control from there, with Tim Sebastian, Zsolt Kalmar and Patrick Strauss finding the net to put the German side three goals to the good.
New signing Cedric Soares pulled one back for Southampton 10 minutes from time and then Rodriguez bagged his second in the 90th minute, but the Saints couldn't complete an unlikely comeback.
Pascal Lemesre
