FC Salzburg suffered one of the bitterest rebuffs in its club history on Tuesday evening.
In the 0-5 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen (match report>>>) on match day five of the Champions League, the “Bulls” were lucky not to lose even more. They performed so poorly in the BayArena.
The misfortune began early on. After 15 minutes, Salzburg were already 2-0 down after they had a scandalous penalty whistled against them and also conceded a goal from a direct free kick. Karim Konate’s probably very bad injury did the rest.
“We knew that we had to survive the first 15 minutes. And we didn’t do that. The game was lost after 15 minutes,” said “Bullen” coach Pep Lijnders at the press conference after the game.
Leverkusen scandal penalty? “We would have lost like that too”
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As soon as referee Mykola Balakin pointed to the penalty spot after five minutes, Lijnders knew “it would be difficult”.
Balakin decided on this penalty after Samson Baidoo received a shot from Patrick Schick on his knee and the ball bounced from there onto his outstretched arm – technically not a penalty, which is why Balakin was brought to the sideline by the VAR to reconsider his whistle .
To the dismay of Salzburg, however, the Ukrainian stuck to his decision.
“Everything I say about the penalty is too much,” explains Lijnders, only to then say something about it: “I don’t understand why he goes to the sideline, looks at it and then gives it. I can’t do it grasp!”
Important postscript from the Dutchman: “But that wasn’t the reason why we lost. We would have lost like that.”
Baidoo: “Were not really focused”
The real reason was that they didn’t stick to their own match plan. “The match plan was that we wanted to be brave. Of course the beginning was unfortunate, but nevertheless we weren’t brave enough, weren’t really focused and played shit. Then it will be difficult against an opponent like that,” Samson Baidoo sums it up.
Leverkusen, who didn’t actually get off to an ideal start to the season and had to fight with a lot of injuries, played dizzyingly with Salzburg in almost every action and, especially in the first half, had chances every minute.
“When this team becomes confident, it’s really hard to catch them. When they really start playing, when you can’t get into the duels anymore, they’re impossible to defend,” Lijnders’ analysis. In the end, they simply played into the hands of the “Werkself”.
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Salzburg scores against Leverkusen: bet, five!
Experimenting with the system again
This was probably also due to the 4-1-4-1 system with which the Dutchman sent his team onto the field after he recently achieved an unexpected success at Feyenoord Rotterdam.
Lucas Gourna-Douath, who gave the solo six, was involved in one-on-one duels far too often due to the system chosen and usually lost them. This made Salzburg’s lines relatively easy to bridge.
When the sides changed, Lijnders switched to a 4-2-3-1 with two sixes, which were then called Stefan Bajcetic and Mamady Diambou, and at least at times a slight improvement could be seen – which probably also had something to do with the fact that Leverkusen had one Shifted down gear.
“The second half was a bit better. Not that it was good, but we changed a bit tactically,” said Mads Bidstrup.
Lijnders: “Have to say it’s not enough”
In the end, the Leverkusen team were simply too big for Salzburg at their current low point. “It’s just a different level. The moment they gain confidence and we lose it, it’s over – in the situation we’re in,” says Lijnders.
His bitter conclusion is: “We have to say that it is not enough.”
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