Gala at Cinel debut

Salzburg against Austria Klagenfurt from 5pm LIVE

Salzburg can still win after all ...

(Bild: GEPA)

Red Bull Salzburg made a successful first appearance under interim coach Onur Cinel! With a 4:2 (4:1) win against Austria Klagenfurt on Sunday, the reigning champions regained the lead in the table from Sturm Graz. The title rivals are now tied on 35 points each in the championship group, with Salzburg ahead on the basis of the head-to-head meetings. Next Sunday, the last direct comparison of the season will take place in Wals-Siezenheim.

Luka Sucic (5.) opened the scoring for Salzburg in front of 9555 spectators, Andy Irving (31.) scored from a foul penalty to equalize just a few minutes later. Oskar Gloukh (34) and Karim Konate (35, 44) put Salzburg on course for victory by the break. Konate took over the lead in the goalscoring charts with his 12th and 13th goals of the season. Max Besuschkow (52) reduced the deficit in the second half for Carinthian Austria, who dropped back to 6th place behind Hartberg.

In the English week, the team will now return to action in Klagenfurt on Wednesday with a different home ground. Salzburg managed the hoped-for reaction under Cinel. The former assistant coach, who took over from Gerhard Struber on Monday, was forced to make five changes to the squad that went down to defeat in Linz - Mads Bidstrup (shoulder) and Amar Dedic (calf) were absent with injuries. Andreas Ulmer, who had been suffering from calf problems recently, made his first appearance in over two months. For the Klagenfurters, Irving was once again involved from the start due to Christopher Cvetko's suspension.

Sucic scored for the first time in the league since May 2022
Cinel had demanded "energy" from the kick-off. Salzburg did not spend long feeling things out, opting instead for an attacking approach. Konate appeared in front of Phillip Menzel for the first time after 70 seconds, but was offside. Shortly afterwards, Cinel was allowed to make his first save: Konate launched the attack, Roko Simic found Sucic, who scored for the first time in the league since May 2022. Simic shot over from an acute angle, but then uncertainty crept back into Salzburg's play.

(Bild: GEPA)

After a quarter of an hour, Alexander Schlager had to intervene for the first time with a shot from Till Schumacher. Ten minutes later, Rico Benatelli fell after a free-kick in the penalty area. The VAR sent referee Julian Weinberger to the umbrella, who ruled that Konate had kicked the midfielder's calf. Irving converted the penalty safely. Ulmer had already been forced off the field again before that, the 38-year-old's calf tweaking again.

Konate scores a brace
Salzburg did not let the setback show. Konate seemed motivated to make up for his mistake. The Ivory Coast striker left Kosmas Gkezos standing and crossed to the middle, where Gloukh humorlessly thumped the ball into the net. Klagenfurt made it 1:3 practically from the restart: An intercepted long ball was turned into a Salzburg counter-attack, Simic missed in the middle, but Gloukh laid it on for Konate.

Pacult watched the double strike almost motionless on the Carinthian bench. His expression did not change when his team conceded their fourth goal shortly before the break. After a corner kick, Konate deflected Strahinja Pavlovic's header into the Austria goal with his hip.

(Bild: GEPA)

Offensively, Salzburg's defensive performance was still in need of improvement. The second Klagenfurt goal could also have been avoided, as Besuschkow was able to score unchallenged at the far corner after a corner kick. Konate remained Salzburg's most conspicuous player. Menzel stopped the 20-year-old's next goal twice. Klagenfurt continued to try and inject some excitement into the game. However, Salzburg were much closer to a fifth goal with further opportunities from Sucic and Diambou.

The result:
Red Bull Salzburg - Austria Klagenfurt 4:2 (4:1)
Wals-Siezenheim, Red Bull Arena, 9555 spectators, SR Weinberger

Goals: 1:0 (5.) Sucic, 1:1 (31.) Irving (foul penalty), 2:1 (34.) Gloukh, 3:1 (35.) Konate, 4:1 (44.) Konate, 4:2 (52.) Besuschkow

Yellow cards: Pavlovic, Simic, Diambou or Jaritz, Arweiler, Mahrer

Salzburg: Schlager - Daniliuc, Solet, Pavlovic, Ulmer (31. Guindo) - Diambou - Sucic, Gloukh (83. Koita), Forson (69. Gourna-Douath) - Simic (69. Ratkov), Konate (83. Nene)
Klagenfurt: Menzel - Gkezos (73. Wernitznig), Mahrer, Wimmer - Benatelli (53. Robatsch) - Bonnah (46. Schwarz), Besuschkow (64. Arweiler), Irving, Schumacher - Karweina, Jaritz (73. Soto)

Quotes:

Onur Cinel (Salzburg coach): "We're very happy. We implemented a lot of what we set out to do during the week. There were a lot of good things. The win was also important for our self-confidence in the current situation. The team played really well going forward, created a lot of scoring chances, but didn't score enough goals. After winning the ball, we lost it too often and gave Klagenfurt opportunities. There's still plenty of room for improvement. We didn't play our counter-attacking chances well enough in the second half. It wasn't one player's individual performance that stood out today, but the whole collective. I was tense, but I really enjoyed the game."

Karim Konate (Salzburg double goalscorer): "These three points were extremely important for us. But there are still many things we need to do better. I'm not completely satisfied either, I should have scored more goals and made more assists. But the team showed great determination and the win gives us a lot of confidence. I'm delighted to be top of the goalscoring charts."

Peter Pacult (Klagenfurt coach): "Salzburg's win is justified due to the many opportunities they had in the second half. Menzel kept us in the game and Mahrer also defended well. We were well in the game in the first half apart from the first five minutes. It's the fourth game where we've conceded 1-0 so early on. We then deservedly equalized with the penalty. What really annoys me is the defensive behavior before the 1:2. Then my team is thinking about the goal we conceded and quickly concedes the 1:3. We then had our chances again, but promptly concede the 1:4. We came out well after the break and had a little hope with the second goal. In the end, I can't buy anything with our performance. Unfortunately, we didn't play at the level where we could have been even more aggressive. We won't make it easy for Salzburg on Wednesday, I hope that one or two players will be fit. The squad only had 17 men today.