T-Mobile Bundesliga, Round 24. Red Bull Salzburg 4-0 SV Mattersburg (H/T: 2-0). Goals: Janko, Zickler, Kovac and Ilic
A spot of serious business commenced today as the T-Mobile Bundesliga resumed. With friendly matches, training camps and end-of-season forecasts now officially a thing of the past, the campaign to defend the title kicked off against SV Mattersburg.
The past week had been an emotional one as Red Bull Salzburg geared up for change: - Giovanni Trapattoni announced he would be leaving the champions at the end of the season. - Markus Steinhöfer is also to leave in the summer for Eintracht Frankfurt. - Vratislav Lokvenc departed to Basel for a loan spell.
The week finished superbly for the champions with a brilliant 4-0 win over SV Mattersburg in Round 24 of the T-Mobile Bundesliga. The perfect start to the spring shot the Bulls to the top of the table for the next 24 hours at least.
The Bulls are reveling in their biggest win of the season to date. Trapattoni’s side hit the net through Janko (11 mins), Zickler (33 mins), Kovac (Penalty, 59 mins) und Ilic (65 mins).
With inclement weather in the alpine evening air (cold and drizzle), around 11500 fans gained heart from a scintillating Salzburg display.
Red Bull Salzburg fielded the following starting line-up against their opponents from Burgenland: Ochs; Steinhöfer, Sekagya, Vargas, Pamic; Carboni, Kovac; Ilic, Jezek; Janko, Zickler.
After a tentative opening, the first goalmouth action comes after five minutes. Timo Ochs surges out of his goal to meet a Naumoski long ball but slips. The ball runs out of play to save the Salzburg keeper’s blushes.
11 minutes: 1-0 to Red Bull Salzburg! A beautifully-weighted Jezek cross is met by Marc Janko who, having danced past three Mattersburg defenders, hammers home with his head! The Salzburg striker rejoices at getting his first goal of the season and his first league strike since September 2006 after a miserable run of injuries!
The early goal that gives the Bulls the perfect start is their ninth of the season during the first 15 minutes.
15 minutes: Salzburg have another chance. Jezek once again hustles away on the left and his cross is only partially cleared by Pöllhuber. A shot-cum-cross from Ilic finds a goalbound Zickler but the German gets checked.
22 minutes: A Salzburg free-kick is played short by Jezek to Steinhöfer. The departing midfielder cracks an effort on goal that is deflected out of play.
23 minutes: The Salzburg goal is threatened for the first time as a Fuchs free-kick is punched clear by Timo Ochs.
With 25 minutes gone Red Bull Salzburg are comfortably in charge of the game, leading 5-1 on the shot count and enjoying 57 per cent possession so far.
30 minutes: Vargas earns the first yellow card of 2008 in the T-Mobile Bundesliga. The Chilean defender gets booked by Austria’s EURO 2008 referee Konrad Plautz for a foul.
33 minutes: 2-0 to Red Bull Salzburg! A brilliant one-two with Ilic allows Carboni to steam down the right flank and centre. Alex Zickler adeptly loses the Mattersburg defence to nod in his twelfth goal of the season!
Red Bull Salzburg continue to dominate as the first half draws to a close to secure a 2-0 lead at the break.
The start of the second half brings a test for Timo Ochs in the shape of a Mattersburg free-kick from Fuchs that is adequately dealt with.
Mattersburg have gone up a gear since the first half and enjoy their best spell of the match. Salzburg comfortably contain them however.
58 minutes: Janko weaves his way into the penalty area with the ball at his feet until he is upended by Pöllhuber: penalty to Salzburg! Niko Kovac seizes the initiative to step up to the spot and leads by example where many of the Bulls have failed this season, successfully converting to make it 3-0!
65 minutes: A fourth for Red Bull Salzburg! Sekagya sends a hefty lob to Ilic who chests down, turns and fires into the net! 4-0!
70 minutes: The Bulls make a substitution with Leitgeb replacing Ilic.
72 minutes: Leitgeb’s first taste of the action sees him shooting wide.
75 minutes: Salzburg swap Vargas for Knavs.
79 minutes: Giovanni Trapattoni makes a third change as Aufhauser is brought on for Carboni.
82 minutes: Jezek tries an ambitious long-range shot and his wonderful effort sails narrowly wide of the right post.
Konrad Plautz signals the end after three minutes of stoppage time. Red Bull Salzburg’s 4-0 win is their biggest of the season so far and provides a clear and impressive signal of their title-defending intentions.
Giovanni Trapattoni: “That was a good start to the new year. My players faced a very good team and were really strong, played really quick and showed themselves to be really determined.”
Marc Janko: “I was getting a full 90 minutes for the first time in ages and I can only build further on that from now on. We showed today that every inch of us wanted to win. I am dedicating my goal to our physio Walter Gfrerer who really helped me during my difficult period. These people are unfortunately often not fully appreciated.”
