Friendly win v Slovan Bratislava

FC Red Bull Salzburg

·28 January 2023

Friendly win v Slovan Bratislava

Okafor winner seals final winter friendly

We remain unbeaten after our fourth and final friendly match of the winter, beating Slovakian league leaders Slovan Bratislava 1-0.

MATCH SUMMARY

Amid the wintery temperatures, both teams needed a while to get into gear. The game did pick up as it went on, however, with our Red Bulls having a lot of good attacking moments. Noah Okafor was responsible for the two best opportunities for Jaissle's side in the opening 45 - with a well-taken free-kick (32') and shot from outside the penalty area (41') – he was denied though by Bratislava keeper Adrian Chovan.

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It was Okafor and Chovan again who were the focus of the action as we made it 1-0 after the change of ends (54'). The Slovakian goalkeeper turned the ball onto the crossbar from a shot by the Swiss striker, but it had crossed the line in the meantime. Some 11 minutes later, the Slovan goalkeeper shone again, as Junior Adamu was brought down for a penalty that Chovan saved - denying Sekou Koita (65').

Our boys continued to set the tone, and had an extra half-hour to try a few different things. Lukas Ibertsberger (91'), Fernando (104') and new signing Oscar Gloukh (113') came the closest to adding to the lead but were ultimately unable to, while the opponents rarely threatened at any stage. It therefore remained 1-0 to our Red Bulls after 120 minutes.

LINE-UP

Köhn (91' Stejskal); Dedic (73' Van der Brempt), Solet (46' Onguene), Pavlovic (91' Baidoo), Bernardo (46' Ulmer); Sucic (73' Capaldo), Gourna-Douath (91' Forson), Adamu (91' Gloukh), Kjaergaard (91' Ibertsberger); Koita (91' Fernando), Okafor (91' Konate)

OTHER THINGS TO NOTE

Today's clash with Slovan was contested over 120 minutes (2x45+30).
Fernando made his first appearance after a long injury break.
New signing Oscar Gloukh played for the Red Bulls for the first time.
Liefering youngster Lukas Ibertsberger also appeared for the first time.
The following players were not in the squad: Nicolas Seiwald, Benjamin Sesko (both ill), Dijon Kameri, Daouda Guindo (both knee problems) and Bryan Okoh, Justin Omoregie and Samson Tijani (in individual training).
The next training session is planned for Sunday morning, with the players taking the following day (Monday) off.

VIEWS

That was a good performance. There were a few things shown that we want to see in our competitive matches. From that point of view, we can be very positive. We still have a week before our first competitive match of the year in Graz. We'll do everything we can until then to prepare the boys as best as possible. I'm confident though that we'll have what it takes to beat a team as tough as Sturm Graz.

Matthias Jaissle

We can be pleased with the match today. We tried to do a lot at the end of an intensive pre-season. We can use the game well for our analysis in order to be ready for Sturm Graz.

Noah Okafor