Lightning strike takes us to victory at LASK

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FC Red Bull Salzburg

·9 March 2024

Lightning strike takes us to victory at LASK

Fernando nets winner after just 28 seconds

We didn't just take our third league win in a row in Linz, but also claimed pole position for the championship group this season. Our boys took a big 1-0 win at LASK on the 22nd ADMIRAL Bundesliga matchday. The win in Austria's steel city extended our record away run - we are now unbeaten in 26 matches on our travels.

Match summary

The game began with a bang - LASK had not even got going when our boys began galloping towards the Linz goal. Oscar Gloukh turned in the centre circle and played a perfect pass out to Amar Dedic. Our captain's ball into the box landed perfectly at the feet of Fernando, who tucked us into the lead after just 28 seconds of play. Conceding so early was clearly a blow to Thomas Sageder's side, and it could have got worse for them with a Kjaergaard free-kick finding Aleksa Terzic in space just minutes later, only for the full-back to head over (11').

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We defended our own target with steely determination. The defensive resoluteness of the solid Strahinja Pavlovic and Oumar Solet helped to shut LASK out, as did Alex Schlager: Our goalkeeper was quick to react to a break from his former club and turned the ball away from his goal line when Lenny Pintor was about to pounce (23'). The Black and Whites were not able to level but did increasingly get into threatening positions in this stage of the encounter.

Our men upped the tempo in response to the Linz side's endeavours and got a good chance via a Pavlovic header that missed the target (34'). Fernando's pace continued to bother the LASK backline before the break as we put them under pressure. The Brazilian had a big chance to make it 2-0 just before the break after Gloukh supplied him, only for LASK goalkeeper Tobias Lawal to hold his nerve (45+4') – before the Israeli also had another chance to strike just before half-time.

There was a lively start to the second half that saw chances at both ends, even if none of them would go in. Terzic hit a fierce effort (49') before Usor tested Schlager's reflexes (51'). As the chances mounted, the excitement increased on the stands and on the pitch. Lawal had to deny a Fernando drive before Lucas Gourna-Douath sent the ball over the target (65').

There was little respite as LASK threw everything into trying to equalise. Our boys just kept on blocking everything in their path, however. One of our few misplaced passes allowed LASK substitute Elias Havel to have an effort in front of Schlager's target, but it went off-target (77').

The closer we got to the 90-minute mark, the clearer it was that we would return to Salzburg with three more points. Our boys' defence held firm for the final phases as we saw out the important win.

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We all saw that we got a very early lead and then were proactive in making the play in the opening 30 minutes. We controlled a lot of the phases of play, with lots of gengepressing and a lot of intensive moments. We should have used our breaks more effectively and scored more goals. It was a deserved win, which should have been more convincing, but being top going into the championship group is the first step in the marathon.

Gerhard Struber

They didn't make things easy for us. We had lots of moments in which we should have sealed things earlier, but on the whole we are very happy to take the three points. It is a pleasant situation to be on top of the table, but we know that it counts for nothing until the next ten matches are over.

Alexander Schlager

Line-up

Substitutions

Simic for Fernando (69'), Forson for Gloukh (69'), Daniliuc for Dedic (73'), Guindo for Terzic (86'), Diambou für Bidstrup (86.)

Yellow cards

None

Injury news

Not available for the match were Samson Baidoo (ankle), Nicolas Capaldo (knee), Leandro Morgalla (recovering), Luka Sucic (knee) and Andreas Ulmer (calf). Karim Konate was out suspended.