Red Bull Salzburg’s Europa League campaign is finely poised as they welcome Standard Liège to their Wals stadium for the second leg of their last-32 clash tomorrow night.
For a long period in the first match last week in Liège, it looked as if the Red Bulls would continue where they’d left off in their 100 per cent winning group phase, as they went two goals up in the first half, thanks to a brace from record goalscorer Marc Janko (pictured, above). But then the home side found their own shooting boots, coming back to win 3–2, with the last goals, agonisingly, coming in the last 10 minutes.
If this was an unfortunate turn of events, the Red Bulls’ consolation is that they have two precious away goals from the game, meaning that a 1–0 victory tomorrow over their visitors – not renowned European travellers, with no win in the last five ties – will be enough to take them through to the last 16 on the ‘away goals’ rule.
Home advantage will be just that, according to coach Huub Stevens, thanks to the Salzburg crowd, expected to be at capacity at the Red Bull Arena tomorrow.
'Our fans have supported us from the first minute until the last' – Huub Stevens
“It has been world-class from our fans at the stadium,” says Stevens. “They have supported us from the first minute until the last – and we need that again as we play Liege.”
The winner of the tie faces the prospect of a last-16 encounter with AS Roma or Panathinaikos. In circumstances eerily similar to Salzburg’s, Roma let slip at 2–1 away lead to lose 3–2 with two goals in the last six minutes in Greece, but, like the Austrians, Roma’s cloud has the silver lining of those two away goals to take home to Rome.
Should Salzburg and Roma progress, the Red Bulls will have their second visit this season to the Italian capital in the diary, having already beaten Lazio home and away in the group stages. But if success comes against Standard tomorrow, the Austrians’ priorities will initially be closer to home – Sunday sees a crucial visit to title rivals Rapid Vienna in the Bundesliga…
Keep up with all the developments at the FC Red Bull Salzburg section of redbulls.com
Red Bull Salzburg v Standard Liège
February 25, 2010 – 21:05 CET
Red Bull Arena, Wals
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