Berlin (AFP) – RB Leipzig suffered a blow ahead of Sunday’s home Bundesliga game against Bayer Leverkusen with six more of their squad and staff having tested positive for Covid-19, including striker Yussuf Poulsen.

Leipzig need a home win against fourth-placed Leverkusen to break into the top six in Germany’s top flight.

However, head coach Jesse Marsch and goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi are already in quarantine after testing positive last week.

On Friday, the club confirmed Poulsen, Willi Orban, Hugo Novoa, Mohammed Simakin and two backroom staff also have Covid.

Like Marsch and Gulacsi, the six new cases are in domestic quarantine and sit out Sunday’s home game, which was already scheduled to be played behind closed doors due to high numbers of the virus in Saxony.

Poulsen’s case is of particular concern as the injured striker reportedly gave an emotional team-talk before Wednesday’s 5-0 win at Brugge in the Champions League.

Leipzig must hope there will not be more positive cases in the coming days.

“As usual, we are in close exchange with the health authorities and will continue to test closely on an ongoing basis,” the club said in a statement.