Late goal seals first leg win

Late goal seals first leg win1-0 win over Mjällby in UEFA Europa League play-off

Our Red Bulls battled it out in a hard-fought away match against Mjällby AIF in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League play-off. In an intense encounter on the Baltic coast against the Swedish champions, the momentum shifted frequently with numerous scoring opportunities, until the game was decided in our favour with a slice of luck in stoppage time.

Match summary25' & 26' – strong start but no breakthrough

In the packed Strandvallen Arena, the opening phase saw few openings for for our lads, despite over 70 per cent possession. Then, within moments, Dominik Schmid had everyone on their feet twice: First, he received an excellent cross from Damir Redzic, and a minute later, he was on hand to fire a shot from the edge of the penalty area. However, Mjällby goalkeeper Wallinder made two excellent saves.

38', 42' & 45' – action at both ends

Shortly before half-time, Schmid was once again the centre of attention – this time defensively, with an incredible sprint to dash back and reach the ball after a dangerous long pass floated over our backline.

Shortly afterwards, our Red Bulls picked up the pace again: after a high ball, Redzic dazzled with a brilliant dribble, but his shot was saved by goalkeeper Wallinder's foot.

Almost on the stroke of half-time, the home side tried to take the lead once more, but their shot from a promising position was blocked by Kevin Boma.

49', 50' & 51' – Mjällby threaten by the minute

The second half started poorly for us as the Swedish champions created a series of clear-cut chances. First, Nielsen fired over the bar after a cross from the left, then Kjaer curled his shot wide unchallenged. Finally, after a quick counter-attack, Lindberg also broke free behind our defence, but his shot from a promising position went just wide.

61' & 65' – saved by the crossbar, then top chance for Tabakovic

After a corner, Mjällby's centre-back Pettersson, who had moved forward, headed the ball against the crossbar, and Iqbal put the rebound over. During this period of pressure from the hosts, our team showed the hoped-for signs of life: Eddy Baidoo delivered a sharp cross towards the penalty spot, where Haris Tabakovic just missed connecting with it.

78' & 80' – tense final phase and Baidoo header

Things got tense after an opponent's set piece when Miettinen headed into the side netting from close range. Shortly afterwards, our Red Bulls responded, but a promising header from Baidoo landed directly in the goalkeeper's arms. In the final minutes, our lads launched a furious onslaught...

90'+1 – late winner amid stoppage-time drama

We were already well into stoppage time when a low cross finally secured our first-leg victory: Mjällby defender Pettersson inadvertently pushed the ball over his own goal line in front of the onrushing Sota Kitano, giving us the winning goal.

With this late 1-0 away win, our lads have given themselves a great position to take into the second leg, but of course, nothing is decided yet in the battle for the UEFA Europa League group stage. It will all be settled next Thursday 27 August in Salzburg. We need your full support in the stands – if you haven't secured your seat yet, you can do so online in our ticket shop!

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ViewsOf course, we're happy to take the win, but – and this is the good thing – there's a critical attitude in the dressing room. For about 25 or 30 minutes, we played exceptionally well and created some fantastic scoring opportunities. Then there were two or three moments that turned our dominance into a 50/50 game. Nevertheless, it's not the first game we've got a winner late in the game, which speaks volumes for the team. At the same time, that can't be our standard. We want more, and to achieve our big aims this year, we need to deliver more.

Danny Röhl

We're obviously delighted to have scored the goal in the very last second, but we're not particularly satisfied with our performance. Today's game wasn't up to our standard – we need to improve. I think it's good that we now have a week to prepare. That will help us in the second leg!

Nikolas Veratschnig

Match summary

Line-ups & substitutionsMjällby AIF: Wallinder – Miettinen, Iqbal, Pettersson – Nielsen, Gustavsson ©, Gustafson (84. Enggard), Lindberg (70. Granath) – Kjaer (90. Tidstrand), Bergström, Samuelsen (70. Hoffmann)FC Red Bull Salzburg: Zawieschitzky – Veratschnig ©, Boma, Zabransky, Schmid – Barry, Mazurek (60. Kjaergaard) – Redzic (74. Camara), Vertessen (60. Konate), Baidoo (81. Tohumcu) – Tabakovic (74. Kitano)

Goal: Pettersson (90+1'/o.g.)Attendance: 3,079Referee: Mykola Balakin (UKR)Yellow card: Samuelsen (59./Foul) - none

Injury news

• Enrique Aguilar (forearm), Soumaila Diabate (thigh), Gaoussou Diakite (thigh) and Johannes Moser (adductors) were unavailable for this match. Frans Krätzig is sidelined for some time with a thigh injury.