Noah Okafor (2nd), Karim Adeyemi (18th), Luka Sucic (28th), Brenden Aaronson (54th) and Mohamed Camara (85th/both penalties) ensured a well-deserved victory for the visibly motivated hosts.
Wals-Siezenheim. After yellow-red for Marvin Martins (53rd), Salzburg played around 40 minutes outnumbered and had a few more great chances, which Austria goalie Patrick Pentz in particular thwarted. After the third defeat in a row, his team remains fourth, level on points with fifth-placed WAC and two points ahead of Austria Klagenfurt, bottom of the championship group.
Okafor opened the scoring
While Austria coach Manfred Schmid relied on the same eleven as in the narrow 2-1 home defeat against Salzburg a week earlier, Matthias Jaissle made three changes. He brought on Oumar Solet in central defense, while Aaronson, who was fit again, was involved in attack, as was Noah Okafor.
With this set of ones, the master played cat and mouse with the Viennese from the start, who showed courage with the 3-4-3 formation, but had nothing to counter the offensive power of the opponent and repeatedly offered wide spaces. Okafor opened the round after Mohamed Camara had tanked up to the penalty spot and provided the assist with his blocked shot. Adeyemi should have made it 2-0 a little later, but failed only to Pentz (9th).
Aaronson scored from the penalty spot
Nine minutes later the time had come, with his 17th goal of the season, the German, who is said to be in agreement with Borussia Dortmund, also benefited from Eric Martel’s unsuccessful rescue operation, who deflected the shot into his own goal into an untenable way for Pentz. Finally, before the half-hour mark Sucic was on the spot, who was able to thank Rasmus Kristensen for winning the ball. Then it was lightning fast again via Nicolas Seiwald. Shortly thereafter, Okafor failed to Pentz (31st).
The second half offered an unchanged picture in front of 15,496 spectators in the not fully occupied arena. Austria, who had only had three half-chances before the break, practically did not play offensively and now switched to a defensive back four. It didn’t help much. Soon after the restart, Martins was sent off for his save on Sucic. Referee Walter Altmann also imposed a penalty after studying the video, which Aaronson confidently converted.
Pentz then prevented worse things from happening against Seiwald (62′) and Junior Adamu (65′) and also deflected a shot from Benjamin Seskos to the crossbar (67′). In the finish it was Camara who made the final score again from the penalty spot. The action was preceded by a foul by Lucas Galvao on Adamu.
13. Triumph in the Red Bull era
With the ninth championship title in a row, Salzburg is currently one of the most successful football “serial offenders” in Europe. The 13th triumph in the Red Bull era may have become a kind of ritual, but for coach Matthias Jaissle it is the culmination of his debut season in the professional field. That and the first round of 16 in the Champions League not only confirmed the Germans, but also the club philosophy, thanks to which you will probably continue to dominate.
Buying young talents – sometimes for substantial sums – attuning to the Red Bull style of play at the Liefering cooperation club, causing a stir internationally despite their relative inexperience and then selling the players with large margins: Salzburg will not stray from its path to success in the future either. Sports director Christoph Freund confirmed this again and again. The flagpole has not yet been reached: Perhaps the path taken by mastermind Ralph Rangnick since 2012 will be “even more consistent”, explained Freund in the spring. “Our goal will continue to be to be the best U22, U23 in Europe.”
Jaissle’s youngest master trainer
Also in the current season, the “Bulls” showed up with consistently young teams, in the premier class for example at the group opener against FC Sevilla. 22.6 years was the average age for the rest of the season. The fact that Jaissle, who has been 34 since April 5, is still an inexperienced coach and goes down in the annals as the youngest master coach in the Bundesliga, fits wonderfully into the picture.
The successes – on May 1st another title could be added with a cup final victory against outsider Ried – prove Freund and Co. right. In the CL group they celebrated victories against Lille, Sevilla and Wolfsburg, only had to give way to Lille and thus managed to reach the round of 16, which is also historic for Austria. Karim Adeyemi and Co. can forgive Karim Adeyemi and Co. for the fact that the quite impressive 1: 1 home draw against the grandees of Bayern Munich was followed by a 1: 7 slap in the second leg.
Some transfer candidates
The 20-year-old Adeyemi, with 17 goals despite his jammed load in the spring, is the current leader in the BL top scorer list, is the hottest share in the Salzburg transfer carousel, which will be spinning happily again this summer. Borussia Dortmund is considered the best candidate for the services of the German team kicker, who literally “exploded” in the fall. Midfielders Nicolas Seiwald, Brenden Aaronson and Mohamed Camara as well as winger Ramus Kristensen are also considered transfer candidates.
What should make every average sports director extremely uneasy is considered good manners in Salzburg. There is no longer any fear of personnel upheaval. This has been proven again and again in recent years, and changes in coaches don’t seem to play a role in the team’s performance. The upcoming season is the most successful season in terms of UEFA prize money with almost 48 million euros, plus millions more for one or the other transfer. Thanks to the title, they are back in the CL group stage in 2022/23.
In any case, the series champion at national level does not seem to be slowing down. The competition, which in the past summer after summer harbored at least slight hopes in view of various squad changes in Salzburg, has long since come to terms with it. “We are satisfied with second place, the ‘best of the rest’,” said Sturm Graz coach Christian Ilzer recently.
Source: Nachrichten
