False start in championship group race

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FC Red Bull Salzburg

·15 mars 2026

False start in championship group race

Ten men beaten by Rapid

We failed to score and failed to take points on Matchday 23 of the ADMIRAL Bundesliga. We weren't able to net in attack again while a red card and a deflection from the resulting free-kick saw us beaten 0-1 by SK Rapid.

Match summary

Our first championship group match got straight down to business. As early as the second minute, Alexander Schlager had to be alert to defuse an early attack by the visitors, while we almost immediately got the chance to celebrate. After a fantastic pass from Kerim Alajbegovic, Karim Konate's shot was just barely saved when the Viennese defender cleared the ball off the line (4').

Vidéos OneFootball

After this furious opening phase, the game became increasingly disjointed, with both teams cancelling each other out through aggressive pressing and numerous turnovers in midfield preventing any real flow to the game.

It wasn't until after about 25 minutes that the match picked up pace again, with Konate once more taking centre stage. Two dangerous attempts by the Ivorian in the heart of the opposition's penalty area caused some uncertainty in the Rapid defence, but our lads lacked the rub of the green in front of goal.

Soumaila Diabate also tried his luck in the 35th minute with a volley from 20 yards out, but his shot went just wide. Our Red Bulls were pressing for the lead but couldn't convert their dominance into goals.

Shortly before the half-time whistle, Rapid Vienna responded from a corner and loudly celebrated what they thought was the opening goal. However, Schöller's goal was disallowed due to a handball by the scorer in the build-up, a decision upheld by VAR. This moment visibly boosted the visitors, making the game more balanced for the time being.

After the change of ends, the visitors got off to a better start. In the 58th minute, the woodwork came to Weimann's rescue after a dangerous shot, and shortly afterwards, Schlager had to make a save against Wurmbrand (60'). Our lads struggled to find solutions in attack during this period and made life difficult for themselves with lapses in concentration when tracking back. Rapid's period of pressure culminated in a big blow in the 67th minute when Joane Gadou was forced to make a last-ditch tackle on Dahl - and was sent off.

The resulting free kick dealt another blow: Thorup's team pounced from the set piece, with the ball unfortunately deflecting in to give the visitors a 1-0 lead (69'). Down to ten men and with their backs against the wall, our team battled hard in the closing stages to avoid defeat, while Rapid waited for counter-attacking opportunities.

Just before the final whistle, hope was rekindled when a high ball into the center created danger in the Rapid penalty area. After a rebound from goalkeeper Hedl, Krätzig had a big chance for an equaliser at his feet in the 93rd minute, but, as in the first half, the necessary luck was lacking in front of goal.

We therefore suffered our first-ever defeat in an opening match of the championship group. Our next chance to do better comes next Friday away against SK Sturm.

Views on the game

The way it all came about – red card, deflected free kick, and then that big chance late on – that sums up our current situation, but I'm not satisfied with the lads' performance. We didn't show the dominance we wanted at all. We can only be dominant if we're really good at the basics. In recent weeks, there were other reasons why it didn't work out, but today we simply weren't good enough. Last week's performance was significantly better.

Daniel Beichler

We tried to play far too many short passes, and they were just waiting for every ball we played into the center – that's why it didn't work. We're a bit baffled - it's a difficult period for us. Of course, it's understandable that the fans are frustrated. They want to see results and goals when they come to the stadium – and we can't offer them that at the moment.

Jannik Schuster

Match data

Line-ups & substitutions

FC Red Bull Salzburg: Schlager – Drexler, Gadou, Schuster, Krätzig – Diabate (83. Terzic) – Bidstrup ©, Lukic (70. Trummer) – Alajbegovic (62. Bischoff) – Redzic (62. Vertessen), Konate (83. Onisiwo) SK Rapid: Hedl – Schöller (52. Ahoussou), Cvetkovic, Raux Yao – Bolla, Grgic (52. Dahl), Amane (90.+2 Börkeeiet), Horn – Wurmbrand (84. Gulliksen), Seidl – Weimann (84. Antiste)

Referee: Markus Hameter Goal: Seidl (69.) Yellow cards: Vertessen (76./Unsporting behaviour) bzw. Horn (19./Foul), Grgic (22./Foul), Cvetkovic (76./Unsporting behaviour), Amane (79./Foul) Red card: Gadou (67./Denying scoring opportunity)

Personelles

Nicht einsatzbereit für dieses Match waren Takumu Kawamura (Knie), Sota Kitano (Oberschenkel), Stefan Lainer (Oberschenkel), John Mellberg (Oberschenkel) und Justin Omoregie (Schulter).