Defeat again v Dinamo Zagreb

FC Red Bull Salzburg

·23 October 2024

Defeat again v Dinamo Zagreb

Painful 0-2 loss with ten men

On the third matchday of the league phase of the UEFA Champions League, we again went empty-handed. There was a real end-to-end battle initially in front of over 24,000 spectators at the Red Bull Arena before GNK Dinamo Zagreb took control in the first half. With Dinamo's opening goal (49' Kulenovic) being followed soon later by a red card for Alex Schlager - the momentum was all against us.

We tried to level with ten men in the final phases, only for Dinamo to get their second goal (84' Petkovic).

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Match summary

With the rain tearing down at the Red Bull Arena, we were immediately locked in a tough battle that our boys gladly took on. It was clear that the visitors were in no mood to make things easy for us, however. Karim Konate's header in the sixth minute gave us hope of putting on a bright attacking display, although the chances got few and far between as the game went on.

The Croatians tried to threaten with crosses into our penalty area – with a huge 21 of them in the first half! Bjelica's side had their best chance of the night so far in the 36th minute, with Sandro Kulenovic getting a shot away in the penalty area, and Kamil Piatkowski flying in to block and prevent us going behind. While the first half had been a tough but even encounter, with Dinamo slightly more threatening, the visitors found another gear in the second. The first body blow came in the 48th minute as we weren't able to clear an aerial ball and Sandro Kulenovic was able to calmly slot in for 1-0. We tried to battle back from falling behind, only for a further blow to befall us. In the 66th minute, a long ball to the Dinamo attack led to Alex Schlager charging out of the area and colliding with a team-mate. Our goalkeeper picked himself off the ground and dived to block a shot, but in his disorientation perhaps had not realised he was comfortably outside of the area. A red card logically followed.

We did not give up there, that much is for sure. Despite being a man down, we pressed forward and created the odd decent chance or two, only for the killer blow to follow in the final stages (84').

Our next appearance will follow on 27 October at 14:30 CEST with our Bundesliga trip to WAC. We therefore don't have long to rue on today's defeat ...

Views

You saw how much we tried, especially when we went down to ten men. The boys have to keep their heads held high, as we know there is still so much football to play in the competition. We will learn from it and come back stronger.

Pepijn Lijnders

We are going through a tough time at the moment. Things just aren't going our way, and we have to work hard for everything right now. We did that today though, we showed character and put a good performance on for the fans. We actually made a good start, but Zagreb are a strong team. They scored the first goal, and then it was difficult to get back into it.

Mads Bidstrup

Line-up

Substitution

Capaldo for Bidstrup, Bajcetic for Diambou, Nene for Daghim (all 58'), Blaswich for Gloukh (70'), Guindo for Terzic (82')

Red card

Schlager (66' denying goalscoring opportunity with handball outside area)

Yellow cards

Bidstrup (18' foul), Dedic (31' foul), Piatkowski (73' foul), Lijnders (82' dissent)

Injury news

Not available for the match were Gaoussou Diakite (hip), Fernando (thigh), Takumu Kawamura (knee), Petar Ratkov (thigh) and Moussa Yeo (ankle).