The Royal Blues had already become a stumbling block for defending champions Red Bull Salzburg this season. This Saturday, the league leaders were guests at the Hofmann Personal Stadium for the first time and wanted to make up for the 0-1 home defeat on September 23rd. But the Bulls could be prepared for something. The Donaupark was on fire – everyone, driven by our incredible coach Gerald Scheiblehner in the coaching zone, wanted to demand everything from the Bulls.
But at first everything turned out differently! The game wasn’t even half a minute old and our keeper Nici Schmid had to reach behind him. After a back pass we weren’t awake, Ratkov intervened and the rebound ended up in the goal. But our boys were by no means shocked – driven by the sold-out Hofmann Personal Stadium, they immediately looked for the way forward. And in the tenth minute the game was level again. After a free kick from Krainz, captain Strauss headed it across and Maranda, who had moved up, also pushed the ball over the line to make it 1-1.
The game was completely balanced as the game progressed, although the champions, as expected, were able to claim more possession of the ball, but hardly had any significant finishing opportunities. Our back team was too dense and too well organized.
Both coaches, with a lot of effort in their respective coaching zones, saw a very good opportunity for the guests in the 36th minute. After a cross from the left, Fernando headed over the goal from close range. The Bulls looked for the gap, were able to gain momentum again towards the end of the first half and had another good opportunity in the 42nd minute. This time it was a corner – Ratkov dangerously in position – over the goal. Sucic rounded off the first half with a shot from a good 20 meters, which also narrowly missed the target. With the score 1:1 we went into the dressing rooms.
At the beginning of the second half it was probably the best phase for our team. Suddenly the Royal Blues appeared dangerous in the Salzburg penalty area several times – Gerhard Struber’s team was warned – parallels were drawn to the first meeting of the season.
But the Bulls fought back and also had good opportunities. Sucic was denied by aluminum in the 53rd minute. As the game continued, the Bulls returned to their usual 75% ball possession performance. Linz was constantly “under pressure”, but Gerald Scheiblehner’s team defended everything with incredible passion. The Blues had some luck in the 64th minute when Gloukh narrowly missed out.
Our coach then reacted with a triple substitution in the last 20 minutes. Joaoa Luiz, among others, celebrated an enthusiastic comeback with an incredible amount of passion.
Despite all their attacking efforts and power play situations, Salzburg simply didn’t come dangerously into the box too often and when they did, there was always a Linzer in the middle. At the end there was still some excitement when substitute Dobras had to leave the field with a straight red card – five were already overtime and Koita laid the ball out again – but the free kick that was due got stuck in the wall and in the end the Linzers celebrated one won more than a point against RB Salzburg.