Red Bull Salzburg has probably turned their ambition to reality as the dominant powerhouse in Austrian football today. They might have made a notable progress in Europa League, but in UEFA Champions League, they need to have something more than just efforts and financial support. They are still making attempts to play regularly in the European top flight final round. Their home ground, Red Bull Arena, with the capacity of 31,895 people along with its lively atmosphere for European fixtures has been their great asset for them go further in their campaign.
RB Salzburg’s noteworthy players in the Champions League history have not been exclusively rooted from the local talents but also international ones. The likes of Adi Hutter, Ralph Hassenhutl, Mladen Mladenovic, Hwang Hee-Chan, Takumi Minamino and Erling Haaland have played their part to improve Salzburg’s continental campaign in the competition in mid 1990s and late 2010s. It was Croatian boss Otto Baric who was in charge of the former era while Jesse March was at the helm of the team in the latter decade.
Top Achievements
The Austrian side has yet been able to progress further. Their campaign has been stuck at the group stages, by finishing third on the table on several occasions. In their debut in 1994/95 season under the name of Casino Salzburg, Otto Baric’s men only finished below Ajax and AC Milan, two eventual finalist with some distinguished results. In 2019/20 and 2020/21 season Jesse March guided them to finish in the same position as they were. Being seeded with the elite teams such as Liverpool, Napoli, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, they still managed to pick up vital points which could help them earn the third place and go down to Europa League, a luxury which Mladen Mladenovic and Co did not have back in 1990s.
Iconic Moments in the Champions League
Unlike in Europa League which RB Salzburg could advance to the latter stages with several
Iconic Moments
, their moments of glory in UEFA Champions League have yet been plenty. Several games are considerably deserved to be called their unforgettable moments so far.
The best one was probably in their first entry as Casino Salzburg in 1994/95 season when they were able to hold the eventual Champions Ajax Amsterdam in a draw in both fixtures. They had a goalless draw at home and shared spoils in a 1-1 draw on the road. Kocijan’s goal stunned the Dutch Champions before Jari Litmanen bagged an equaliser. Another iconic moment was another stalemate in 2019/20. This time Jesse March’s side managed to hold Napoli in a 1-1 draw. Hirving Lozano’s goal was the responded by the Norwegian sensation, Erling Haaland,
RB Salzburg’s horrific moment was in 2020/21 season when they were hapless against Bayern and lost 2-6 in Bavaria. The other one was being winless against AC Milan in 1994/95 in both fixtures which possibly cost their chance to progress to the next stage.
