There were surreal scenes that played out immediately after the final whistle in the 1-1 draw in the round of 16 in the Champions League round of 16 between Salzburg and FC Bayern. On one side, the Salzburg footballers stood with their heads hanging, as if they had just suffered a 4-0 debacle. In addition, the FC Bayern players smiled as if after a relaxed training match. It was a laugh of relief.
Was the atmosphere so good because you know that promotion will still work out in the second leg in three weeks? Probably.
Will Salzburg be as cheeky in the second leg as well, will they put everything on one card – even at the risk of losing strength over the course of the 90 minutes after such an intense half-time as on Tuesday? Certainly.
In any case, a piece of Austrian football history was written on Wednesday, regardless of the further outcome of this duel. The strong Salzburg performance was one with announcement. It may not (yet) be enough to really defeat a club like Bayern in the end. But Salzburg definitely have the tools to hurt the top clubs in Europe.
“We’re going to Munich with a lot of confidence now. The equalizer in the 90th minute hurt for a moment. But pride outweighs the odds,” said Salzburg’s coach Matthias Jaissle after his team’s courageous performance. Bayern almost managed to inflict their first defeat against an Austrian club since 1967 (Rapid). It shouldn’t be enough because Kingsley Coman, who otherwise eclipsed Bayern’s top stars Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller, had something against it.
The dissatisfaction at Bayern was noticeable afterwards. “Salzburg didn’t completely counter us when we conceded. We still had a lot of staff and didn’t really go into a duel on the wing,” criticized coach Julian Nagelsmann. “We’re still missing a lot for the European top, but I won’t let the world go under, even if the media wants it.”
Only 25,000 fans in the second leg
For Nagelsmann the draw was deserved due to the improvement in the second half, for Jaissle the win would have been a fair reward for the top performance. Both lines of argument are understandable. In three weeks there will have to be a winner, every draw means an overtime. A small advantage for Salzburg: Only 25,000 instead of 70,000 fans are allowed into the Allianz Arena.
Source: Nachrichten
