After the hard-fought home win over French champions OSC Lille, leaders Red Bull Salzburg are very optimistic.
Karim Adeyemi tied a brace against Lille.
GEPA images
Leader of the table after two Champions League rounds, young star Karim Adeyemi, who impressively overcame his “Seville trauma”, plus the 14th victory in the 15th competitive game of this season in which they are still without defeat: For Salzburg the football sky was full of violins on Wednesday. The “cops” stand up against the French champions Lille earned 2: 1, the current promotion in the knockout phase would actually be only logical. Trainer Matthias Jaissle put on the brakes.
“We haven’t won a title, currently we can’t buy anything. Basically nothing has changed for us, we’re doing quite well by staying on the ground,” emphasized the successful coach and Adeyemi agreed with him. “It’s unbelievable, something beautiful, but in principle we haven’t won anything,” said the double goal scorer. At only 19 years of age he was the second youngest kicker in an already very young starting eleven (average 20.7 years) against France’s surprise champion, who is currently only gaining momentum nationally. Currently, inexperience combined with carelessness is certainly a clear strength, as Adeyemi noted. “In any case, that’s the way it is. We’re all extremely positive,” he said on record.
“Bomb game”
In Seville, Adeyemi was still missing fortune on the first attempt from the point, this time the 19-year-old ice cold presents himself. Even the fact that Lille goalie Ivo Grbic was on the first penalty (35th) with his hand (“The heart stopped short”) could not change the fact that he hit Grbic with a shot on the second (53rd) Middle duped. “We knew from the start that something was going to happen here – and we showed it,” said Adeyemi happily after being named “Player of the Game” in Seville, and admitted: “I practiced penalties in training.”
Jaissle confirmed that Adeyemi was also designated as the first penalty taker. “He was rewarded today,” said the delighted coach of the DFB team player, who also set a record for Arjen Robben with the fourth penalty (three times in Seville) in a CL season. The assist for the second penalty went to defender Maximilian Wöber, whose free kick Yilmaz Burak touched with his hand. “It was a bomb game for us. We were more dominant, better team in the first half, this time we were freezing up front,” said the central defender on “Sky”.
Wöber, who had recently been absent with a muscle injury, got fit in time and ensured with a strong performance alongside Jerome Onguene and in conjunction with the entire team that the Lille offensive did not make a stab. Even the only LOSC hit by a Yilmaz free kick was actually due to Salzburg goalie Philipp Köhn (“I chalk it up to myself”). Jaissle couldn’t help but praise his team for a committed and tactically oriented performance. “The defensive work was really good,” said the 33-year-old.
“Especially in the early stages, Lille showed the quality of the team,” said Jaissle. It was all the nicer to see how his troops “fought their way into the game”. His counterpart at Lille, Jocelyn Gourvennec, paid tribute to the “cops”: “The pressing of Salzburg was extremely strong, we fell into their trap. And in the last third we didn’t play out our actions enough. It’s frustrating, not have more points, but four games remain. “
“Tailwind”
Jaissle’s jubilation after the final whistle was so intense not only because he had a fantastic first season in the professional field with a point average of 2.87. After the victories over Genk (2019/20) and Lok Moscow (2020/21), Salzburg were able to prevail for the first time in the premier class against a team from one of the top five leagues (Germany, England, Spain, Italy, France). “It will surely give this young group a tailwind,” said Jaissle with conviction.
In three weeks’ time, you could go even further in this regard. On October 20th, VfL Wolfsburg will make a guest appearance in Wals-Siezenheim 1: 1 content and are tied with the Spaniards (2 each) behind Salzburg (4), Lille (1) is last. Jaissle sprayed confidence: “We all want to march on.”