Red Bull Salzburg lived up to expectations by winning comfortably against Cashpoint SCR Altach today. The 3-0 win in front of 13,500 fans at the Red Bull Arena made Salzburg the table toppers after three matches of the Tipp3-Bundesliga, powered by T-Mobile.
A win for the Bulls never looked in doubt thanks to a dominant display as Robin Nelisse twice, along with the substituted-on Janocko, unlocked the well-drilled Altach defence.
The hard-fought and well deserved win adds to Salzburg’s sensational early season run of form.
Red Bull Salzburg made a few changes today as they played in front of their own fans for the second time in three days. Mahop was suspended and Janko injured. In came Bodnar at right-back as Boussaidi was relegated to the bench. The starting line-up: Ochs; Bodnar, Sekagya, Aufhauser, Gercaliu; Tchoyi, Kovac, Öbster; Leitgeb, Nelisse, Zickler.
Referee Krassnitzer kicks the game off under another summer downpour at the Red Bull Arena.
Altach twice threaten to take a shock early lead. Aufhauser heads just inches wide of his own post when attempting to diffuse a Mattle cross before Mimm’s header sears into the crossbar from the resulting corner! Danger for the Bulls in the third minute of the match…
7 minutes: Altach go on the attack again. Pfister crosses from the left to Mattle who pulls his shot well-wide when he could have easily found the back of the net.
8 minutes: Salzburg threaten the Altach goal for the first time from their first corner of the match. Öbster centres and Tchoyi’s goal-bound header is scrambled off the line by Ribeiro.
11 minutes: Red Bull Salzburg take the lead! A long ball flies to Bodnar, whose cross from the right is mishit by Zickler straight to Nelisse. The new striker tucks the ball straight under the bar, 1-0!
15 minutes: Mimm brings Öbster down in the area and Salzburg are awarded a penalty. Zickler steps up to the spot and guides the ball towards the bottom left but Mario Krassnitzer claws the ball out to keep the lead down to one goal.
20 minutes are up and Salzburg are clearly dominating, having anchored themselves in the Altach half. The Bulls look like they have more players on the pitch than their opponents, testified by the fact that they have enjoyed an incredible 73 per cent of the possession.
26 minutes: Altach threaten on the break but Mattle’s cross is wasted by Rajic.
28 minutes: Nelisse is fractionally wide from heading a second goal from an Öbster corner.
35 minutes: The Bulls make their first substitution. Zickler is forced from the field with a suspected muscle injury. Jezek replaces the German marksman with Kovac taking the captain’s armband.
37 minutes: A lovely Leitgeb free-kick drops to Nelisse right in front of goal but he isn’t able to apply the finish that the delivery deserves.
The Bulls continue to stream forward but find it increasingly difficult to break through an unexpectedly resolute Altach defence.
After two minutes of stoppage time the referee whistles for half-time. Salzburg go into their dressing room with a 1-0 lead.
The second half kicks off with neither team having changed personnel in the break.
47 minutes: Öbster heads down to Nelisse who cracks a shot straight away that sails just wide of the left post.
48 minutes: 2-0 to Red Bull Salzburg thanks to a genuinely classy move! Bodnar plays to Tchoyi who knocks the ball on to Leitgeb. The Austrian then streams past two Altach defenders before looping the ball over another into Nelisse who caps the move with a neat finish for his second goal of the evening!
The rain returns to the Red Bull Arena but it is not enough to dampen the Bulls’ sky-high early-season spirist…
50. Minute: Bodnar plays a deep cross into Jezek who unleashes a shot on goal straight away. Krassnitzer denies him with a stunning reflex save.
52 minutes: The next Salzburg chance comes via a Jezek move down the left and a teasing through ball that Nelisse is an inch away from connecting with.
Salzburg are once again producing some stunning football . . .
66 minutes: Second substitution for Salzburg as Vonlanthen replaces Tchoyi.
69 minutes: An Aufhauser long-range shot is comfortably saved by Krassnitzer in the Altach goal.
73 minutes: It would have been 3-0 had Ernst Öbster been able to cap a fantastic performance by guiding the ball past Krassnitzer after a solo run on goal.
77 minutes: Mimm is shown a second yellow card and Altach reduced to ten men for the final phase of the match.
78 minutes: Salzburg’s third substitution sees Öbster going off and Janocko coming on.
84 minutes: 3-0 to Red Bull Salzburg! Jezek flights the ball over from the left and Nelisse turns supplier to chest down to Janocko who slams the ball into the left corner of the net!
And that’s it at the Red Bull Arena. Red Bull Salzburg return to the top of the Tipp3 Bundesliga with a highly respectable 3-0 win over Altach. In two home league matches this season they are yet to concede and have breached their opponents’ net nine times.
Co Adriaanse: "We scored three goals and won but we failed to convert a lot of chances including the penalty. Nelisse scored two goals today and provided one assist – he can do even better though. You need to be patient against such a defensively-orientated team and we showed just that. I am pleased with the way my team is developing."
Robin Nelisse: "When you win and go to the top of the table you have to be happy. It was hard to start with as our opponents stuck a lot of men behind the ball. We always knew though that if we kept calm our chances would come. And that’s the way it turned out."
