Salzburg moves bone dry into the Champions League
Austria’s serial champions Salzburg clearly prevailed in the play-off duel against the Danish title holder Bröndby and entered the group stage of the Champions League for the third time in a row.
Salzburg rejoices in entering the Champions League.
FC Red Bull Salzburg via Getty Images
Red Bull Salzburg passed the Brondby exam with flying colors and made it into the Champions League for the third time in a row. Austria’s series champion prevailed 2-1 (2-0) against the Danish champion on Wednesday. After early goals from Benjamin Sesko (4th) and Brenden Aaronson (10th), Bröndby only managed to get the goal back (62nd) through Andreas Maxsö. Salzburg had already won the play-off first leg 2-1.
After eleven unsuccessful winners, the Mozart city-dwellers survived the mills of the Champions League qualification for the second time after 2020 against Maccabi Tel Aviv. In 2019 they had qualified directly for the premier class as champions. The focus is now on Istanbul, where the draw for the group stage will take place on Thursday evening (6 p.m.).
The reception in the Copenhagen suburb had not been a warm one. The day before the game, Salzburg were accompanied by hate posters on their way to the stadium. During the night, firecrackers were set off in front of their team hotel. “That was to be expected, I still know the Brondby fans too well,” said coach Matthias Jaissle, who worked as an assistant at the traditional Danish club from 2017 to 2019 ServusTV. “It wasn’t an act that affects us in any way today.”
Salzburg with a furious start against Brondby
In fact, his young team was in no way impressed by the charged atmosphere in the almost full Brondby Stadium with 22,000 spectators. After a first warning shot from Brondby striker Simon Hedlund, Mohamed Camara served Sesko from half-field. The 18-year-old Slovenian took the ball with his chest and shot in – the two goals of his young career.
As in the first leg, the guests lead 1-0 in the fourth minute, but that’s not all: a bad pass from Mads Hermansen allows Salzburg to make it 2-0 in the first ten minutes. The Brondby goalkeeper played the ball into Sesko’s legs. The teenager kept calm, used Aaronson and this traffic as in the first leg. In Salzburg, the 20-year-old American was even involved in both Red Bull goals after being substituted on. This time, as expected, he was preferred to Nicolas Capaldo in the starting line-up.
Brondby had all six players back who were absent in the first leg due to corona infections. With Tobias Börkeeiet, Mathias Greve and ex-Salzburger Josip Radosevic, three of them were in the starting lineup. Denmark’s champions, who are only ninth in the league after six rounds without a win, shaped the game after Salzburg’s lightning start. Maximilian Wöber saved just before the line from a Greve header (13′).
On the other side, Karim Adeyemi missed the top chance to make it 3-0. The 19-year-old German, who has scored seven goals in seven competitive games of the season so far, failed to get the ball past Brondby captain Maxsö from close range after another Hermansen error (44′). When Nicolas Seiwald finished, Hermansen was on the spot (45+1).
Brondby gets close, but Salzburg stays cool
Salzburg didn’t let up even after a change of sides. Bröndby regained hope after a standard situation: Maxsö also headed in after a free-kick cross and a header from Kevin Tshiembe. Salzburg conceded at least one goal in the 22nd European Cup game in a row. A deflected shot by captain Andreas Ulmer, who was playing his 500th competitive game for the Bulls, went over the goal (63′).
Salzburg regained control of the game, Denmark’s Rasmus Kristensen shot just wide of the far post against his compatriots (89′). His team introduces the 13th competitive win in a row across the seasons, the eighth this season. Brondby, on the other hand, is still without a win after eight games this season. The Danes still have to wait for their second CL participation after 1998. For Salzburg it is the fourth overall – an Austrian record. The predecessor club SV Austria Salzburg had already been represented in 1994 in the premier class.