Hope remains of the knockout stages

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FC Red Bull Salzburg

·28 January 2026

Hope remains of the knockout stages

Decisive trip to Aston Villa

We will find out under the lights at Villa Park this Thursday at 21:00 CET whether our Red Bulls' European journey in 2025/26 ends after the UEFA Europa League league phase, or whether they manage to reach the knockout stage play-off.

We don't have a particularly great position to take into the game, especially as the situation is not entirely in our own hands. As well as beating a strong Aston Villa side, we also need help from several other teams in their matches. We've listed all the scenarios for advancing HERE.

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The side coached by Unai Emery, who has won the UEFA Europa League trophy four times in recent years, are in top form – which could actually work to our advantage, as Aston Villa, currently in second place, have already secured their place in the Europa League round of 16 and could therefore rotate more heavily against us. Villa also have a lot to play for in the Premier League, after all, currently sitting in third place just four points behind league leaders Arsenal.

Snap them up now!

In Europe, The Villans have only suffered one defeat this season – a 1-2 loss against Go Ahead Eagles, the same team against whom we took our first victory! Who knows, maybe we can pull off a major upset against the star-studded English team with an estimated market value of over half a billion euros, propelling us into the top 24 and into the knockout stage. Want to learn more about our opponents and hosts on Thursday? Click here for the opposition analysis:

read now!

Injury news

Not available for the match are Takumu Kawamura (knee), John Mellberg (thigh) and Valentin Sulzbacher (calf).
Yorbe Vertessen (ill) is a doubt.

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The win against Basel was incredibly important for us. Now we at least have a theoretical chance of achieving something with a victory against the second-placed team in the Europa League and the third-placed team in the Premier League. We also know that we need help from other teams, and nine points might not be enough.

Thomas Letsch

It's a huge match to finish the league phase with. Aston Villa have already secured qualification, but they will do everything they can to stay at the top. For us, it's all about putting in our best performance and doing everything we possibly can.

Joane Gadou

TV, live stream & more

Our fans who can't make it to Birmingham can watch the match live on Canal+. As usual, we also have our free matchday radio and live ticker right here in the match center.

Win great prizes at the My RBS Prediction Game!

Our Europa League matches are also part of the My RBS Prediction Game – and taking part is completely free! So, if you haven't already, sign up using the button below and enter your predictions for the upcoming matchday.

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