Draw after dramatic start sees us through

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FC Red Bull Salzburg

·30 de julho de 2025

Draw after dramatic start sees us through

1-1 at home to SK Brann

Job done! The 4-1 win in the first leg set us up to progress to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League with a 1-1 draw against SK Brann, and into a tie against Club Brugge at home next week.

After a ferocious start to our first home match of the season saw two goals come in the opening six minutes, the game ebbed away as we secured relatively serene progression.

Vídeos OneFootball

Match summary

The visitors started unchanged from the first leg - both in their line-up and their bold approach. This time, it took less than three minutes before we were behind after a Kornvig long-range strike from nowhere (3'). Unlike the previous week, our Red Bulls were able to respond immediately, as Kjaergaard smashed a free-kick into the far corner from just outside the box to equalise promptly (6').

After the emotional rollercoaster of the opening period, things calmed down a little - with less entertainment for the fans a result we could live with. We thought we had taken a 2-1 lead when Onisiwo turned in (36'), although our striker had unfortunately strayed a few centimetres offside. Sota Kitano also tried two shots from outside the box, but both were too poorly struck.

The second half never really get going in the pouring rain. The visitors were inevitably the more active team, but they were unable to create any danger. The 12,000 fans saw little in the way of efforts on target but plenty of yellow cards. There were 11 of them, with six going the visitors as lots of niggly fouls disrupted the flow of the game on both sides.

In the final few minutes, Brann went looking for goals again to save some face, but the result was never in danger - as it remained a 1-1 draw.

Not only have we now reached the third qualifying round of the Champions League, but we are also already guaranteed a place in the league phase of the UEFA Europa League. Next up are Club Brugge, with the first leg at home next Wednesday, 6 August 2025 at 19:00. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Thursday).

Views

The primary aim in a qualifying round like this is to progress - we've done that. We have to acknowledge that we played a mixed first half and a poor second half today, and we still have a lot of room for improvement overall. On the one hand, we're putting a tick in the box, but on the other, we have to take a close look at why we didn't get to grips with things today and why we made so many mistakes. It ended up being a game that didn't feel fantastic. Matches like this happen - we're through to the next round, and that's the most important thing.

Thomas Letsch

We are satisfied as we won 5-2 over the two games. It just wasn't good enough today - but we've made it through. Personally, the two goals against Bergen were good, especially after ten months off injured. We're not satisfied with the game today, we have to be 100 per cent against Brugge - but we know that.

Maurits Kjaergaard

Going through was extremely important. We didn't lose either game and have progressed to the next round - that's the most important thing, at the end of the day. We should have imposed our game on them better, we didn't do that as well today as we did there in the second half, but we battled hard. We weren't good on the ball, and we lost it too quickly - but those are all things we're working on and we'll get them sorted out quickly because we have plenty of individual quality.

Frans Krätzig

Line-up

Subsitutions

Diambou for Kjaergaard (63'), Baidoo for Nene (63'), Daghim for Vertessen (63'), Ratkov for Onisiwo (72'), Alajbegovic for Kitano (85')

Yellow cards

Vertessen (47' foul), Nene (59' foul). Bidstrup (67' foul), Rasmussen (82' foul), Baidoo (85' foul)

Injury news

Not available for the match were Takumu Kawamura (knee), Karim Konate (knee), Valentin Sulzbacher (thigh), Moussa Yeo (knee) and Christian Zawieschitzky (calf). John Mellberg will miss around three months due to a knee injury. Oscar Gloukh may complete a transfer soon.