It is a rare success: Vienna’s Austria wins against Red Bull Salzburg for the first time since May 2018. In Mozart’s city, it was the first victory in more than eleven years.
League leaders Red Bull Salzburg got off to a false start in the Bundesliga spring season. The Bulls were defeated 2-0 (0-2) at home by Austria Vienna on Friday. Goals from Barry (21′) and Eggestein (24′) gave the favorites their first away win in Salzburg in more than eleven years and temporarily moved them up to third place in the table. Pursuers LASK could catch up with Salzburg on points with a home win against WSG Tirol on Saturday.
Both teams started with the expected line-ups in front of 7,459 spectators. Diambou replaced the suspended Diabate for Salzburg. New signing Redzic was still missing from the squad because he had to serve the last game of a suspension from his former club Dunajska Streda. For Austria, midfielder Lee Kang-hee was preferred to Radonjic on the right side of the three-man defense.
Double strike before the break
The Viennese did not allow Salzburg to dominate the first 20 minutes as they usually do. The Bulls had more than 70 percent possession, but no compelling chances. Instead, Barry scored with a spectacular shot into the top corner after a one-two with Fischer. It was Salzburg’s first home goal conceded against Austria since April 2023. But it got even worse, with the Violets once again proving their strength from set pieces: after a corner turned into a goal by Sanel Saljic, the Bulls’ defense was focused on the tall Plavotic. The ball went to Eggestein, who pushed it over the line from close range.
Edmund Baidoo missed a chance to pull one back after a pass from Trummer to Stangl (27′). He succeeded five minutes later, but the goal was disallowed after intervention by the video assistant referee (VAR). Baidoo was narrowly offside when he headed in Schuster’s corner. A shot from Kitano went wide (38′), and one from the formidable Barry at the other end went just over the bar (42′).
Long dry spell ends
Salzburg coach Letsch brought on Kjaergaard and Yeo at half-time, followed shortly afterwards by Bischoff, but Austria goalkeeper Samuel Sahin-Radlinger thwarted Baidoo’s only big chance (52′). The Bulls kept trying, but once again revealed their problems against an increasingly deep-lying opponent after the break. In his 50th Bundesliga game as Austria coach, Stephan Helm helped U-17 vice world champion Markovic make his professional debut in the 81st minute.
Austria has not lost a league opener since 2019. Salzburg, on the other hand, suffered its third home defeat of the Bundesliga season and missed out on equaling Rapid’s league record. The Hütteldorf team remains the sole record holder with 24 unbeaten games against one opponent (Wacker Innsbruck/1993-1999). Austria’s winless streak against Salzburg ended after 24 competitive games, 23 of them in the league.
The Viennese had last beaten the former serial champions in the 2018 league finale (4-0). Their last away win at the Red Bull Arena to date was a 3-2 victory on September 21, 2014. Eighteen attempts since then had been unsuccessful.
