Red Bull Salzburg remains flawless in the Bundesliga. On Sunday, coach Gerhard Struber’s team defeated Vienna Austria 2-0 (0-0) at home in the third round and were the only team not to drop a point. Match winners of the dominant but inefficient bulls were Forson (55th) and Konate (98th). With Solet and Morgalla, the Salzburg hospital was further increased.
Austria conceded their second defeat of the young season, are bottom of the table and could not regain their self-confidence for the second leg against Legia Warsaw on Thursday. In the third qualifying round of the Conference League, you defended a 2-1 win from the first leg at home.
Salzburg victory after friend farewell
In Salzburg, which sports director Christoph Freund said goodbye to Bayern Munich before kick-off, there was only one change compared to the 3-0 win over WSG Tirol. Morgalla made his starting eleven in the right-back position for the injured Terzic, while Dedic moved to the other side. Austria changed four times compared to the Legia appearance – Meisl, Handl, Fischer and Polster were in the starting XI.
Salzburg set the pace from the start, an aggressive Austria tried to keep up. Of course, there wasn’t much playfulness with the violets, which were waiting for the rare switching moments. In the tenth minute, the ball was already wriggling in the Salzburg goal, but before that Gruber was offside.
Otherwise, they were mostly concerned with defensive activities, not least goalkeeper Früchtl distinguished himself several times – about twice against Simic (6th, 9th). The guests were also lucky in the 13th minute when Galvão’s foul on the hurried Konate was red carded because the action had happened after an offside.
Blocked shots, imperfect chances to finish, fruit and bad luck allowed the Bulls to go into the break 0-0. Dedic’ batter cracker after a solo action (37′) and two heads Konates (45’+2) and Baidoos (45’+3) who went over the goal weren’t lucky either. Central defender Baidoo had replaced the apparently injured Solet after 16 minutes.
Salzburg misses opportunities
Salzburg also dominated at the beginning of the second half, but then it worked in the 55th minute: After winning the ball from Bidstrup, Forson used the Dane’s assist to score his first goal for Salzburg safely into the far corner. A little later, the home side lost another injured player in Morgalla (63′), their dominance did not change.
The alleged preliminary decision after Galvão passed Konate in the penalty area did not materialize because referee Christian-Petru Ciochirca only presented a slight pluck in the pictures (71st). And because Simic also headed over the goal from close range (81st) and Nene was denied the apparently safe 2-0 after an unnecessary offside position (91st), it was theoretically exciting until the end.
Austria, who remained harmless offensively, could not turn the game around. Late in the nine-minute stoppage time Konate was only denied his third goal of the season due to a narrow offside, but after a renewed attempt it was still time. Here, too, the VAR had to decide after the offside whistle.
