Salzburg were knocked out of the
Champions League qualifiers by Luxemburg's Dudelange on Tuesday,
continuing an astonishing run of failures in the competition
since Red Bull took over the Austrian club.
Last season's double winners, who enjoy substantial
financial backing from the energy drinks company, beat visitors
Dudelange 4-3 in their second qualifying round, second leg tie
but were eliminated on away goals after losing 1-0 last week.
Red Bull took over the club in 2005 with ambitious plans of
making Salzburg Champions League regulars, only to see their
team fail five times in a row in the qualifiers.
The only time they have taken part in the group stage was as
the old Austria Salzburg in 1994/95.
Their latest failure is a huge setback for coach Roger
Schmidt and sporting director Ralf Rangnick, the former Schalke
04 coach, who took over in the close season.
Salzburg's troubles in Tuesday's match began when they lost
possession in midfield, allowing Thierry Steinmetz to break
clear and score in the 26th minute.
Jakob Jantscher and Martin Hinteregger put Salzburg 2-1
ahead at half-time, only for Aurelien Joachim to level with his
sixth goal in four matches in the qualifying tournament.
Steinmetz struck again to make it 3-2 but Dudelange then had
to endure a nerve-wracking finale after forward Sofian Benzouien
was sent off in the 74th minute.
Salzburg's Cristiano converted an 81st minute penalty and
fellow substitute Gonzalo Zarate scored a minute later to put
the hosts ahead on the night but the Austrians could not find
the fifth goal they needed in the final eight minutes.
LIBEREC THROUGH
A goal in the last minute of extra time away to Kazakhstan's
Shakhtyor IK gave Czech champions Slovan Liberec a 1-1 draw
which sent them through 2-1 on aggregate.
Norwegian side Molde, coached by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, went
through 4-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw at Latvian champions
Ventspils and in the third qualifying round will face Swiss
champions FC Basel, who last season eliminated his former club
Manchester United.
Two goals from Cameroon striker Jacques Zoua and one from
Chilean midfielder Marcelo Diaz, Switzerland's most expensive
close-season signing, gave Basel a 3-0 win over Estonia's Flora
Tallinn as they completed a 5-0 aggregate victory.
Debrecen, one of only two Hungarian sides to have played in
the group stage, beat Albanian champions Skenderbeu 3-0 to
qualify 3-1 on aggregate and Lithuanian champions Ekranas ended
the hopes of Ireland's Shamrock Rovers with a 2-1 win.
Two goals from Nemanja Tomic helped Partizan Belgrade to a
3-1 win over Malta's FC Valletta as they went through 7-2.
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