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At the end of the day it was like a year ago: “We were good, but not good enough.” However, following Atletico Madrid’s bitter 2-0 defeat on Wednesday night, the mood of Salzburg’s American coach Jesse Marsch was much more cloudy than the previous year, when he was also beaten 0-2 in the final of the knockout stages of the Champions League, and finally as third in the group. He had to settle for the Europa League. While the pride in what they accomplished and the joy of having challenged a great team overshadowed the disappointment, the latter was dominant on Wednesday after a beautiful and graceful game at the empty Bullen Arena. “It’s a disappointment, it sure hurts, but I’m also proud that we played so well,” Marsch frankly admitted.
Once again, there was not much left to play among the best 16 clubs on the continent: against the leaders of the Spanish championship, the champions of the national series were clearly superior, much more aggressive and scathing, and were able to make the notorious concrete defense of coach Diego Simeone more often than expected. tear open. But like a year ago against Liverpool, the longed-for first goal was only inches missing on several occasions, for example on a shot from the bar by Mergim Berisha (2nd). In total there were three or four first-class chances: Dominik Szoboszlai missed alone in front of goalkeeper Jan Oblak (50th), Enock Mwepu also hit the aluminum in the 77th minute, plus a number of other scoring opportunities that were missed or not. they were played consistently. That was also Marsch’s keyword in his summary of the match: “It has a lot to do with the consistency required in both penalty areas. We did not do it badly, but we must also recognize that we are rivals with a lot of quality and two of the best. “. We had the goalkeepers of the world in our group ”, said the American.
By contrast, the star set of the 2014 and 2016 Champions League finalists took advantage of the few cold opportunities that presented themselves, or took advantage of small mistakes made by Salzburg. Thus, at 0: 1 by Mario Hermoso (39th), who headed three defenders and relentlessly revealed the defensive work in standards (all was preceded by an unnecessary foul by Zlatko Junuzovic on Joao Félix in midfield). ; and before the final decision by Yannick Carrasco (86th), Andre Ramalho’s offside trap went wrong.
“There are not enough points”
But, to be fair, it must be said that the opportunity for the round of 16 was not granted on the last day of the match. With a better three-point start at home against Lok Moscow it would have been possible, with a bit of luck also one or another point in the duels against Bayern or the unfortunate 2: 3 in Madrid. Then the bad pressure to win in the last game would have disappeared. Or as Marsch put it: “We played outstandingly in this group, we represented our football, but we didn’t get enough points.”
But in the what-if game, the staffing situation shouldn’t be neglected either: it’s no wonder that the current storm of young talent in Salzburg, consisting of 18-22-year-olds, (still) fails in certain situations. . One can at least speculate on how the Red Bull team would have fared this year with the sold-out attack Erling Haaland, Takumi Minamino and Hee-chan Hwang. And since Szoboszlai, the next pearl of Salzburg, is about to go on sale, it will also be permissible to ask if a round of 16 of the Champions League with a team that launches every year is too big a goal. anyway, even if you don’t try the current one every year. The defending champion gathers.
But it is also a fact that a promotion with a defense that allows 17 goals against in 6 games (6 of them with a head) is an impossible mission. Only Ferencvaros Budapest had to get the ball out of the net with the same frequency as all the premier class starters. The improvement in defensive behavior, especially since the great shortcoming of the preseason, was given by the American coach as a focus direction. Squaring the circle again was unsuccessful this year: unconditional pressure, irrepressible offensive spirit, denser ranks of defenders and ever-uncompromising standards – every football team has to compromise somewhere.
Therefore, Salzburg will remain third in the Europa League in February. Big tones like a year ago when von Marsch declared winning the title as the goal, this time there was no more: “Needless to say that this time,” he said somewhat embarrassed. “The Europa League is also a great tournament. Hopefully we can learn from the group stage, play better than then and pass.” At that moment the end came in the round of 32 against Frankfurt; Who will be the next European Cup opponent will find out this time without being seen in Salzburg on Monday.
