Behind after first leg v Club Brugge

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FC Red Bull Salzburg

·6 août 2025

Behind after first leg v Club Brugge

Disappointing 0-1 defeat to Belgians

In the clash of runners-up, our Red Bulls stepped up and created several good chances but were not able to create a breakthrough, with the Belgian opponents seizing advantage to take the lead and ride out a fierce final attacking foray from our boys.

Match summary

As Alex Schlager promised ahead of the tie, our boys started determinedly and on the front foot. Club Brugge, for their part, struggled to break through our Red Bulls' ranks.

Vidéos OneFootball

At the end of one of the many times we won the ball in the opening minutes, Sota Kitano had the first effort on goal. The Japanese attacker was teed up perfectly by Mads Bidstrup but had his shot accidentally blocked by Yorbe Vertessen, who had gone to ground a moment earlier (5').

The next notable chance fell to Maurits Kjaergaard as Vertessen charged through on the left, elegantly left his marker trailing and cut the ball to the Dane, who took aim from around the penalty spot - forcing Mignolet into a superb reflex save (11').

The boys from Brugge were unable to put their quick counter-attacking play in action by this stage, with Thomas Letsch's side having a good handle on the play. A Vanaken free-kick into our wall created a little danger (15').

With Bidstrup & Co seeing just 30% of possession in the opening 20 minutes, they stepped up to get more and more of the ball in the opposing half. Vertessen had a pair of chances on the half-hour mark, but a Black and Blue defender was in the way of his fierce shot on the turn before the ball rolled wide to the left of the target from a tame effort (29' and 32').

Dorgeles Nene then went down in the box and the referee took stock of the situation, only to feel there was nothing worth giving (34').

By the end of the first period, Club Brugge were back on the attack, with Schlager and Jacob Rasmussen denying the efforts of Vermant and Tzolis (42').

At the start of the second half, the 12,782 fans at the Red Bull Arena got to see an attack-minded Salzburg side again, with an opportunity coming after a nasty foul from Onyedika on Soumaila Diabate on the left - with Kjaergaard sending the resulting free-kick right across the pitch and out (53').

Blauw-Zwart took a creative break before the visitors pressed on again, testing Schlager via Reis - with our goalkeeper reaching out to complete a solid save before Frans Krätzig turned the ball behind (61').

Edmund Baidoo then made an impact at the other end with a cross for Kitano, who missed the target (68'). Our boys were well in the game now as both sides looked for a winner, with the freshly introduced Kerim Alajbegovic having a go at setting up a goal from a set piece. Joane Gadou wasn't able to reach it (70').

Things then went thick and fast, with Nicky Hayen's team mounting one of their famous breaks but Schlager denying Tzolis (72'). It looked like Brugge had sensed blood as they upped the pressure. Unfortunately they made that count - as a ball in from Meijer from the left was met by Vermant at the near post and bundled in for 1-0 (75').

There was still time to strike back! Diabate tried to do just that, taking aim from distance but being foiled by Mignolet. Nene's fierce shot seconds later was also saved by the Belgian stopper (77').

It was all one-way traffic by now, and the visiting goalkeeper really had to be at his sharpest! He pulled off a brilliant save to deny Petar Ratkov and then a Nene header sailed just wide (82'). Ratkov had another go with a header (87') but it simply would not go in.

We have our chance to battle back on Tuesday 12 August at the Jan-Breydel-Stadion, with the fixture starting at 19:30 CEST. We hope to be able to swing the tie around still. Before then we have our home opener this Saturday with our first home match of the season against GAK.

Views

It was exactly the game we expected – with two teams going eye to eye. Playing 'good' isn't enough to qualify for the Champions League. It's about getting that extra 15 percent in every phase, and we didn't manage that today. It could have gone the other way today, but we're responsible for that. It's 0-1 halfway through the tie, but we won't give up. We have to improve next week exactly where we were lacking today.

Thomas Letsch

We're disappointed, of course. I felt we were the better team. They had one great chance, and they made it count. We had plenty of opportunities too, but we just couldn't score. We need to be more efficient. We have to keep our heads up now and give our all in the return leg.

Yorbe Vertessen

Line-up

Substitutions

Baidoo for Vertessen (65'), Alajbegovic for Kjaergaard (65'), Ratkov for Kitano (76')

Yellow cards

Nene (63' foul)

Injury news

Not available for today's first leg in the third qualifying round were Takumu Kawamura (knee), Karim Konate (knee), John Mellberg (knee)), Valentin Sulzbacher (thigh), Moussa Yeo (knee) and Christian Zawieschitzky (calf). Karim Onisiwo was out due to a thigh injury sustained against Ried.