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Blau-Weiß Linz v Salzburg, LIVE from 14:30

Blau-Weiß Linz celebrate after the win against Salzburg.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

On matchday 13 in the domestic Bundesliga, Blau-Weiß Linz celebrated a 2:0 win against Red Bull Salzburg. The Upper Austrians thus plunged the "Bulls" further into crisis. The brief exhilaration after the first Champions League victory has given way to a league hangover. 

The former serial soccer champions Red Bull Salzburg are now just a mere breeze in the domestic championship. Four days after the Bulls had hoped for a turnaround with their 3:1 win at Feyenoord Rotterdam, they lost 0:2 (0:0) at Blau-Weiß Linz in the 13th round of the Bundesliga on Saturday. They are now eleven points behind leaders Sturm Graz with two games in hand.

Old master Ronivaldo (46') with his eighth goal of the season and Alexander Briedl (58') ensured a thoroughly deserved home win for Linz. Although the mid-table side had significantly less of the play, they created several good chances in contrast to the offensively toothless visitors and celebrated their first win since September 21 after just one point from five games. The Bulls conceded their third defeat in the last eight league games, in which only nine out of a possible 24 points were scored. The former goal machine failed to score five times.

Schlager back in goal
Salzburg saw the return of Alexander Schlager from suspension in the CL and right-back Daouda Guindo was given a go in place of Aleksa Terzic. BW, this time with a defensive back four, also made two changes. Alexander Schmidt and Briedl, who had been struggling recently, came in.

Alexander Schlager

(Bild: GEPA)

The suspended coach Pep Lijnders saw little to surprise him from the stands. His team clearly dominated possession, but did not produce any dangerous finishes from the sometimes long chains of play. The BW defense acted in a compact, disciplined and venomous manner, and the Bulls had not had a serious shot on goal until the break.

However, mistakes in the build-up created opportunities for the lurking Linzers. Thomas Goiginger (16th, wide) and Ronivaldo (8th) in particular had good opportunities right from the start. The latter in particular should have scored from around eleven meters out.

Linz put in a concentrated performance.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

The Brazilian was to make up for that. Just 29 seconds after the restart and a sloppy defensive move by Nicolas Capaldo and Kamil Piatkowski, the 35-year-old ran in alone on Schlager and finished with a shot into the far corner.

Salzburg failed to show a clear reaction
Salzburg failed to produce a clear reaction. Nothing was happening up front, but there was space at the back. Simon Seidl hit the outside of the net (51') and Simon Pirkl shot over (54'), but a few minutes later Salzburg's goal rang again. A ball cleared by Samson Baidoo came to Briedl, who took heart from 25 meters and hit a low shot into the far corner.

Lijnders' replacement Vitor Matos responded with a quadruple substitution on the hour mark, with Mads Bidstrup, Stefan Bajcetic, Terzic and Moussa Yeo at least adding a little more impetus. However, there was nothing more than a dangerous header from Yeo over the goal (71').

At the other end, Goiginger almost scored the third goal (73'). Ronivaldo almost surprised Schlager with a long lob in the final stages, and the ÖFB team goalkeeper then saved a Goiginger header (84').