Crisis continues

Hartberg v Red Bull Salzburg, LIVE from 5pm

Red Bull Salzburg also failed to win at TSV Hartberg ...

(Bild: GEPA)

Red Bull Salzburg have missed a first step out of the crisis! The Red Bulls, who have been badly shaken for weeks, had to settle for a 1:1 (1:0) draw at TSV Hartberg in the Bundesliga on Saturday and are now without a win in five league games.

Salzburg took the lead through Nicolas Capaldo (44') but Youba Diarra (70') equalized. The next attempt at a first win since October 19 will be against Hartberg on Wednesday, this time at home.

Four days after the 5-0 defeat in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen, Salzburg coach Pep Lijnders made a major change to his starting eleven. With six new players, his team clearly dominated the game, but could not do much with the ball in the first half hour against the well-organized and defensively compact Hartberger. Manfred Schmid's team had the best chance to open the scoring: After a misplaced header from Nicolas Capaldo, Diarra ran at goalkeeper Alexander Schlager, who was able to intercept the attempted pass to Donis Avdijaj (11').

Salzburg took the lead, Diarra equalized
The runners-up were initially only really dangerous through Moussa Yeo (15). However, a disallowed goal from Yeo due to a previous foul (36') was something of a wake-up call. The attacks became more targeted and more frequent. A long-range shot from Mads Bidstrup missed the target (40'), and a little later the highly deserved lead was taken. Goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger was able to clear against Petar Ratkov, but Capaldo's follow-up shot ended up in the net (44'). In celebration, the Red Bulls commemorated their seriously injured colleague Karim Konate with a jersey.

Hartberg became more active going forward in the second half. Salzburg first had the chance to go ahead, but a Yeo shot was blocked (62'). The missed chances were to take their revenge in the 70th minute: Schlager cleared Marco Hoffmann in front of the penalty area, the ball fell to Diarra, who scored the equalizer with a perfect lob over Schlager and several defenders from a good 20 metres.

Salzburg were unable to add to their tally. For Pep Lijnders and his team, the long period of misery in foreign stadiums continued, and the runners-up have been without an away win in the Bundesliga for almost three and a half months (1-0 at LASK on August 17). For Hartberg, it was only the second draw against Salzburg in their 17th league duel with 15 defeats.

The result:
TSV Hartberg - Red Bull Salzburg 1:1 (0:1)
Hartberg, Profertil Arena, 2387 spectators, SR Kijas

Goals: 0:1 (44.) Capaldo, 1:1 (70.) Diarra

Yellow cards: Markus and Capaldo, Yeo

Hartberg: Sallinger - Heil, Wilfinger, Komposch, Karamatic, Pfeifer - Kainz (54. Demir), Markus, Diarra - Avdijaj (46. Mijic), Hoffmann (80. Fillaver)
Salzburg: Schlager - Dedic (26. Bajcetic), Piatkowski, Gadou, Guindo - Capaldo, Bidstrup (75. Gourna-Douath) - Yeo, Gloukh, Nene (88. Clark) - Ratkov (75. Daghim)