Last-minute defeat in first friendly of year

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FC Red Bull Salzburg

·13 January 2024

Last-minute defeat in first friendly of year

2-3 defeat to SV Elversberg

We were beaten 2-3 by German second division side SV Elversberg in our opening friendly match of 2024. The goals from our Red Bulls were scored by Luka Sucic (32') from the penalty spot and Roko Simic (68), with the decisive final goal of the game coming in the 90th minute.

MATCH SUMMARY

We made a determined start against the side currently ninth in the German Second Bundesliga and created a host of early chances. Fernando had as many as four chances himself to give us the lead before the break, but was desperately unlucky, with all of them going close (and the post being hit). A foul on the agile Brazilian did give us the chance to take the lead from the penalty spot, with Luka Sucic converting tidily as we went in front at the break. After the break, Gerhard Struber brought on seven new players, with new signing Timo Horn and Adam Daghim making their debuts. Our new-look side conceded an equaliser against the run of play in the 59th minute with Maurice Neubauer popping up alone in front of Horn to convert. We took the lead again just ten minutes later as Roko Simic stole the ball off the Elversberg defence and converted for 2-1. The German side managed to strike once again – from a Wadim Faghir header – before Elversberg's Dominik Martinovic pounced on an individual error in our defence in the 90th minute to win it 3-2 for his side.

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LINE-UP & SUBSTITUTIONS

Schlager (46' Horn); Dedic (46' Ulmer), Solet (46' Okoh), Pavlovic (46' Baidoo), Guindo; Morgalla (63' Agyekum), Gourna-Douath (46' Kameri), Diambou, Sucic, Fernando (46' Daghim), Ratkov (46' Simic)

VIEWS

There are a lot of things we can learn from the match today, there was a bit of everything in it. A lot happened just as we planned in the first half. We had lots of chances, and we definitely could have made more of them. Some things weren't at the level we wanted in the second-half. It was the odd mistake or two that saw us lose in the end.

Gerhard Struber

TO NOTE

Not available today were Sekou Koita, Karim Konate, Dorgeles Nene (all at AFCON), Mads Bidstrup, Raphael Hofer (both fallen ill at training camp), Amankwah Forson (ill and in Salzburg), Oscar Gloukh (travelling to Marbella after illness) as well as Nicolas Capaldo (recovering after knee injury).
In Lawrence Agyekum and Adam Daghim, two FC Liefering youngsters made an appearance.
Tomorrow (Sunday) there will be a day off training before two more sessions are scheduled on Monday.
Our next friendly match is on Friday at 16:00 at the Marbella Football Center. Norwegian champions FK Bodö Glimt, who are in the UEFA Europa Conference League knockout stages, are our opponents.