Football champion Salzburg mourns Dietrich Mateschitz – in honor of the Red Bull founder, the first home game after his death against Chelsea should be a memorable evening (6.45 p.m., Sky, DAZN). A win would mean getting into the last 16 of the Champions League again, provided there is no winner between Dinamo Zagreb and AC Milan.
At the family’s request, there will be no minute of mourning before kick-off – instead, Mateschitz’s services to the club should be honored with applause in a “minute of gratitude”. In 2005 Mateschitz joined Austria Salzburg, the Bundesliga club at the time was on the verge of the financial final whistle. He sat out the protests about the change of color, the Austria fans migrated to a newly founded successor club.
Salzburg’s games took on the character of events in the Red Bull Arena, but big (and expensive) names by Austrian standards didn’t bring great success at first. Roger Schmidt, Huub Stevens, Co Adriaanse and Giovanni Trapattoni with his assistant Lothar Matthäus only gave international flair on the coaching bench, Salzburg failed to qualify for the Champions League eleven times.
Established as a springboard
But Salzburg turned from a money-burning machine to a cash cow when the current ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick gave the club a new direction in 2012. In its own youth center, which is regarded as a role model throughout Europe, Salzburg now trains its stars itself – and then sells them at high prices. Erling Haaland (Manchester City), Sadio Mane (Liverpool) and Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich), for example, approached top clubs in Salzburg.
But Salzburg also continued to develop, although Austria’s series champions got a big brother in Leipzig and top performers within the Bullen stable were regularly moved to the German Bundesliga team. Salzburg has earned enormous international respect in recent years – because you can keep up with the greats thanks to the unique style of play. “We’re the big outsiders,” said coach Matthias Jaissle ahead of today’s Champions League game, “but we want to annoy Chelsea.”
A “brutal challenge”
29,250 spectators will fill the sold-out Red Bull Arena, where Salzburg has been unbeaten since December 2020. “We’re hard to beat at home,” said Jaissle. With Chelsea, however, a “brutal challenge” is waiting.
Salzburg took a point from London in the 1-1 draw in the first duel – Noah Okafor’s goal spoiled the debut of “Blues” coach Graham Potter, who had succeeded Thomas Tuchel. Salzburg can also dream of reaching the round of 16 in the Champions League because of this goal. If they win, at least third place would be fixed, which would mean moving to the Europa League in spring.
Source: Nachrichten
