Defeat despite strong performance against Salzburg

Austria were beaten 1-3 by Red Bull Salzburg in a thrilling top match in the ADMIRAL Bundesliga. Salzburg took an early lead through goals from Vertessen and Nene, before Maurice Malone equalised. The Violets had numerous chances to equalise before a controversial penalty - converted by Nene - decided the game in favour of the team from Mozartstadt.

Head coach Stephan Helm stuck to his guns and made no changes to his starting XI. Andreas Gruber and Hakim Guenouche returned to the squad after recovering from injuries, while Philipp Wiesinger was absent due to a yellow card suspension.

Red Bull Salzburg coach Thomas Letsch made two changes after the defeat against Sturm Graz. Alexander Schlager was in goal and Valentin Sulzbacher started in midfield in place of Nicolas Capaldo, who had suffered a broken toe in training.

Great first half with the home team narrowly behind

Austria had the first chance of the game in the Generali-Arena in fantastic footballing weather, but Maurice Malone did not get the ball under control well enough after a free-kick from Dominik Fitz (4th). Unfortunately, it was the visitors from Salzburg who took the lead, Yorbe Vertessen scoring after a pass from Aleksa Terzić to make it 0-1 (8'). The Bulls increased the lead to 0:2 just three minutes later when Dorgeles Nene scored a remarkable goal, again from an assist by Terzić (11').

But the Violets stayed in contention, a shot from Fitz after an assist from Nik Prelec went wide (16'), shortly afterwards Johannes Handl won the ball and initiated a promising counter-attack. Dominik Fitz passed the ball to Maurice Malone, who ice-coldly scored the 1-2 (17').

Tin Plavotić failed to clear Schlager after a Fitz corner and a shot from Fitz was blocked by Samson Baidoo (21', 27'). After the subsequent corner, Malone hit the crossbar with his head following an assist from Manfred Fischer and the equaliser would have been more than deserved (28').

Samuel Şahin-Radlinger saved Austria from conceding another goal with a top save against Moussa Yeo (32'). Manfred Fischer headed narrowly wide from Matteo Pérez Vinlöf's cross (42') as the Violets struggled to find the back of the net in the second half.

Controversial penalty decides the game

Austria came out of the half unchanged and with power, Manfred Fischer deflected a shot from Abubakr Barry into the goal, but was unfortunately just offside (47'). Pérez Vinlöf scored the next goal for the Violets in the 53rd minute, but again the referee team led by Christian-Petru Ciochirca saw the Austrian in front - a decision by millimetres.

Şahin-Radlinger remained the winner in a one-on-one duel against Vertessen, a goal by Samson Baidoo did not count as the ball had already crossed the outline (55‘, 56’). In the 63rd minute, Nene was brought down in the penalty area after minimal contact with Nik Prelec and Ciochirca awarded a penalty. Nene converted it himself, 1-3 for Red Bull Salzburg (64').

Manfred Fischer had a chance after a corner, but was denied by Schlager (73'). The captain then had to retire and Marvin Potzmann came on for him. Konstantin Aleksa also replaced Nik Prelec. Shortly before the end, Helm brought on Andreas Gruber and Hakim Guenouche in place of Malone and Pérez Vinlöf. Johannes Handl was injured after Adam Daghim was fouled and Lucas Galvão replaced the strong centre-back. A foul on Aleksa in the penalty area went unpunished (84'), a shot from Dragovic went over (90+8') and Austria were beaten 1-3 after a tough battle.

Austria Wien - Red Bull Salzburg 1-3 (1-2)

Austria: Şahin-Radlinger; Handl (88' Galvão), Dragović, Plavotić; Ranftl, Fischer (75' Potzmann), Pérez Vinlöf (82' Guenouche); Barry, Fitz; Prelec (75' Aleksa), Malone (82' Gruber)

Salzburg: Schlager; Morgalla, Gadou, S. Baidoo, Terzić; Sulzbacher (65' Diambou), Bidstrup; Nene (90+3' Trummer), Yeo (90+3' Caufriez); Daghim, Vertessen (82' Ratkov)

Goals: Malone (17'); Vertessen (8'), Nene (11', 64' penalty)

Yellow cards: Ranftl (42'), Handl (42'), Dragović (69'); Terzić (51'), Vertessen (59'), Schlager (90')

Generali-Arena, referee Christian-Petru Ciochirca, 13,245 spectators