Red Bull Salzburg today won their eagerly anticipated match with champions Rapid Vienna 1-0, securing their third win a row in the process. Their sixth Red Bull Arena victory of the season sees them overtaking their Viennese rivals in the league table!
The hosts took charge in front of 24,000 fans in Salzburg by dominating all but the opening ten minutes. They had several chances, enough to secure them a comfortable win, but not until the 58th minute would they take the lead thanks to Zickler’s third goal of the season. The Bulls’ decent performance in their seventh match in just 23 days earned them the adoration of their fans abd left their title campaign firmly on track.
Red Bull Salzburg were today forced to play without the injured duo of Leitgeb and Sekagya, with Aufhauser reverting to central defence to cover the gap. Boussaidi also started. The line-up: Ochs; Bodnar, Aufhauser, Opdam, Gercaliu; Kovac; Boussaidi, Janocko, Jezek; Zickler, Janko.
The match that has been awaited with baited breath across the whole of Austria kicks off with a tumultuous opening phase of play:
6 minutes: Superb chance for Rapid Vienna. Maierhofer goes through on the right and cuts the ball back towards Hoffer. An alert Opdam sneaks in front of the Rapid forward to defuse a dangerous situation!
12 minutes: The Red Bulls almost grab the lead! Janko leaps to connect to a corner but his header is palmed away by a leaping Hedl reflex save. With the ball bouncing loose ominously close to the Rapid goal line Drazan steps in to clear!
20 minutes are up with Rapid having enjoyed the upper hand in the opening few minutes but subsequently losing it to the hosts, who lead by an impressive 7-1 on the shot count. Rapid’s counter attacks remain a threat to Salzburg.
23 minutes: Zickler plays through to Opdam, who takes the ball with him to the edge of the penalty area before cracking a shot on goal that Hedl turns away with a magnificent save!
The Bulls are now applying constant pressure on the Rapid defence, troubling them with searing crosses from both touchlines.
30 minutes: The Viennese attack again via a long-range Boskovic effort that is turned behind for a corner by Timo Ochs.
32 minutes: Janocko shoots from 20 yards with a free kick but Hedl is untroubled.
33 minutes: Rapid launch a pacy counter attack. Hofmann feeds Boskovic in a shooting position but his shot smashes the outside netting.
35 minutes: The Bulls have a great chance! Bodnar centres from the right to Zickler who hits the ball with the outside of his boot and sees it going inches wide of the left post!
39 minutes: Bondar’s cross from the right is sent over by a diving Janko header.
43 minutes: Salzburg go close to taking the lead yet again. Bodnar’s cross is deflected into the path of Zickler who leaps and knocks it onto the post with his thigh!
That was the last moment to note in a goalless first period. The Bulls have dominated throughout with 55 per cent possession and six clear cut chances to Rapid’s two!
Referee Messner blows his whistle to start a very important 45 minutes of football with the match capable of being won by either team.
After a relatively quiet start to the second period, Rapid have a great chance on the break in the 55th minutes, but Ochs reacts brilliantly to get to a Hoffer cross quicker than Boskovic.
Salzburg then put the ball into the net to take a 1-0 lead! Gercaliu lofts a ball ahead of the onrushing Bodnar who then crosses from the right flank towards Zickler, who heads into the net! The Bulls’ deserved lead comes in the 58th minute!
Alexander Zickler could not have chosen to register his first goal of the season at a better time!
65 minutes: The Bulls make their first substitution with Tchoyi coming on for Janocko.
68 minutes: A decent chance for Rapid falls to Hofmann who beats off Tchoyi to fire a shot from the edge of the area! Ochs saves comfortably to continue his brilliant day so far!
72 minuets: Boskovic then puts Ochs in real trouble for the first time with a smashed shot from the left edge of the penalty area. The Salzburg keeper gets a hand to it and Aufhauser rushes to prevent the ball spilling into the net.
75 minutes: Salzburg make another change with Nelisse replacing Janko up front. The Bulls now have the match firmly under control.
82 minutes: The Red Bulls make their final substitution with Mahop replacing Jezek.
85 minutes: A superb move from Salzburg is launched through Mahop and Zickler to Nelisse, who fails to cap the move off with the goal it deserved by hitting his shot wide of the far post.
Jelavic bursts through by the left touchline but shoots well wide (86).
With a few minutes remaining Rapid Vienna launch everything at the hosts and Salzburg can only threaten their opponents on the break. Salzburg keep their cool superbly though and Rapid are unable to break into the penalty area.
Just three minutes of extra time remain before the referee signals full time! The Red Bulls have deservedly defeated the Austrian champions to record their sixth home win of the season!
Co Adriaanse: “I really respect my team. We gave everything on Thursday but still suffered a huge disappointment and we were nonetheless able to give everything today and take a brilliant win. It was an evenly-poised match with some superb football that sent lots of fans home very happy. We wanted this win and we were due it too.”
Alex Zickler: “Of course I’ts hard when you don’t score for such a long time as a striker. You want to be getting goals every now and again of course and one finally came today. That it was such an important goal in a match like this makes it even sweeter.”
Renè Aufhauser: “You saw that despite our disappointment on Thursday we gave our all for the full 90 minutes today.”
