2024-11-26 22:36:00
After a very weak 90 minutes, FC Red Bull Salzburg clearly lost 0-5 away to the German champions Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday. The team of coach Pepijn Lijnders, who “cannot accept this standard,” was paraded. Karim Konate also suffered a serious knee injury in the first half without any outside influence.
Austria’s runner-up Red Bull Salzburg took a serious beating in the Champions League on Tuesday. In the 5-0 defeat against German title holders Leverkusen, the Bulls lacked intensity, quality and passion throughout the entire season. This is not the way to win national, let alone international, games.
Alexander Schlager prevents even greater bankruptcy
Only goalkeeper Alexander Schlager showed against the weakened Germans that he has the class to be able to play in the premier class of football. Without the saves and reactions of the ÖFB team goalie, the defeat would have been much greater. “We were far away in all respects. The manner, especially in the first half, was brutal. You can’t survive like that. It was simply naive. They punished us immediately. We have to say thank you in the end “It only ended 5-0,” Schlager had to sum up.
Lijnders: “I don’t accept that”
While Leverkusen is well on its way to the knockout phase after the well-deserved victory, Salzburg needs three miracles against the top European teams Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in order to progress. However, the team is not capable of this in its current condition. The focus must now be entirely on the Bundesliga. Coach Pepijn Lijnders’ team is also struggling with problems at national level. “I accept losing, but I don’t accept this standard. Second balls, counter-pressing, pressing, standards – none of that was there. I made that clear to the team in the locker room. We lost so many easy balls,” said coach Pepijn Lijnders.
Leverkusen dominated from the start
In Leverkusen it was clear from the first minute who would win the game that day. Led by the outstanding youngster Florian Wirtz, the reigning German champions had good opportunities in the first few minutes, but the opening goal was still highly controversial. After a shot by Patrik Schick, the ball bounced from Samson Baidoo’s thigh to his hand – penalty. To the astonishment of the Salzburg players and many experts, the Ukrainian referee Mykola Balakin stuck to his decision even after studying the video. Wirtz gratefully accepted the gift and scored dryly to make it 1-0 (8th).
Major mistakes from Salzburg
Just a few moments after the opening goal, Leverkusen should have followed up after a major Baidoo misfire, but Schlager prevented anything worse from happening. In the eleventh minute, the 28-year-old was also powerless. The Spanish international Alejandro Grimaldo curled a free kick from around 18 meters right over the wall – 2-0.
And the “horror initial phase” reached its climax after a quarter of an hour: Bulls striker Karim Konaté most likely tore a cruciate ligament in his knee without any outside influence and had to be substituted.
Substitutions don’t help either
Because Leverkusen took things a little easier after that and Schlager was able to shine a few times, the score was only 3-0 after half an hour. Wirtz went around the Bulls defense like slalom poles and easily pushed in for an early decision.
With a triple substitution, Lijnders wanted to make the game a little more open in the second half. This plan partially worked, but Salzburg had their goalkeeper to thank for limiting the damage. Schlager braced himself with all parts of his body against further goals. But he couldn’t prevent the 0:4 and 0:5. As was so often the case that evening, all Salzburg field players were out of the picture during two Leverkusen moves. Schick (61st) and Aleix Garcia (72nd) took advantage of this.
The match can be read in the live ticker
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