The “Bulls” secured a completely unexpected victory in Rotterdam on Wednesday. However, this did not come from nowhere.
Only the boldest red and white football optimists anticipated this:
FC Salzburg, which had been in perhaps its worst sporting crisis since the arrival of Red Bull, defeated the Dutch top team Feyenoord Rotterdam (match report >>>) on Wednesday and, with that, wrote their name in the Champions League group stage at last.
With these three points, not only has the minimal chance of reaching the knockout phase been kept alive, but a significant amount of confidence has also returned to the Mozart city.
“The coach said before the match: ‘Everyone thinks this will be an easy game for Feyenoord.’ We showed that this is not the case. We are back,” said Nicolas Capaldo.
The Argentine had to step in as a right-back on Wednesday due to Amar Dedic’s injury. The Bosnian deputy captain was one of a total of eight absentees that the Mozart city team had to endure.
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The injury situation was so dire that half-fit players like Lucas Gourna-Douath had to be deployed.
“I was injured and I’m still injured. My ankle is in bad shape, but I absolutely wanted to play for the team,” the Frenchman stated after the match, in which he also received a kick on the injured ankle, resulting in his opponent Chris-Kevin Nadje receiving a red card.
Perhaps the pre-match circumstances, in which virtually everything was against them, brought the young “Bulls” together at the right moment. For the record: They have often been accused lately of being eleven individual fighters on the pitch and not a team.
“It was a tough game for us, mentally as well. Today, you could see that a team spirit was present on the pitch,” said Samson Baidoo. He took a breath: “It hasn’t been an easy time. Such a game lifts a weight off your shoulders when you really perform well as a team in such a stadium against such an opponent.”
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VIDEO: Highlights from the match Feyenoord vs FC Salzburg:
The greatest burden, of course, fell on Pep Lijnders. Even though the Dutchman was explicitly cleared by the Salzburg club management, it was evident how much the constant setbacks weighed on him. The once optimistic figure became a despondent one, clutching at straws.
He hasn’t lost his sense of humor during this time. “I joked that I can only win in Holland,” he quipped, referring to the summer of CL qualifying when his team eliminated Twente Enschede.
He expressed pride in his players, saying, “and for me, it’s a relief.” The victory in the incredibly atmospheric De Kuip was also calming for him, as it was deserved.
“We did well. We defended smartly, aggressively, and in the right spaces. This brought the game onto our side,” Lijnders mentioned, pointing to the visibly more effective Salzburg pressing this time.
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Notably, the Mozart city players positioned their first pressing line lower than usual and consequently avoided running into counters as often. “We let them play a bit,” Baidoo noted.
And Lijnders elaborated: “For me, the most important thing was that we were patient without the ball and really pressed aggressively at the right moments to steal the ball.”
To achieve this, the Dutchman slightly deviated from his preferred system of 4-3-3. Against the ball, the “Bulls” positioned themselves more in a 4-1-4-1 formation, and in possession, it became a 4-2-4.
The idea was to use their two defensive midfielders, Mamady Diambou and Gourna-Douath, to draw out the opposing midfielders, Quinten Timber and In-beom Hwang, thus creating space for Oscar Gloukh and Bobby Clark on the flanks, as Lijnders briefly summarized.
A team with confidence and a team without confidence is not the same team.
The last time a match plan from the 41-year-old worked out this well was several weeks ago. That it happened again on Wednesday “was made possible by some really good individual performances from the guys.”
“I knew it was still there. It was important for it to come out because it gives a little more confidence for the future,” Lijnders expressed, who has at times been accused of overwhelming the young Salzburg team with his complex football ideas.
The confidence gained in Rotterdam can be a crucial factor in getting out of the crisis. Because, as Lijnders believes: “A team with confidence and a team without confidence is not the same team.”
Especially in the national competitions, the “Bulls” are now urgently required to deliver results in order not to lose sight of their goals. The aim of reaching the next round of the Champions League may already be out of reach, or is it?
Not if team chief Ralf Rangnick has his way, who, in his role as a “Canal+” expert, still believes in the Salzburg side’s progression, as they would thrive in the underdog role they are expected to assume in the remaining four games against Bayer Leverkusen, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid.
“He always finds a way to put pressure on us,” laughed Lijnders when asked about this. The Dutchman is particularly happy just to have secured some points: “We have three points in the bag; we can build on that. We are no longer at the bottom of the table.”
The humiliation of ending the group phase without a point is thus averted and has spared Lijnders a few sleepless nights:
“We always say we deserve to be in the Champions League, but when you have zero points after three games, it doesn’t feel that way. I am really happy that we have three points next to our name. Now I can sleep much better.”
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