This is the Blues’ 284th outing in Europe, and just four were previously against clubs from Austria – both Viennese. Wiener Sport Club were beaten 2-1 on aggregate in the 1965/66 Inter Cities Fairs Cup, and the away goals rule saw off Austria Vienna after a 1-1 draw over two legs in the 1994/95 Cup Winners’ Cup. We have never met Salzburg competitively, but played a friendly there in July 2019. Christian Pulisic netted a brace in a 5-3 win the Blues dominated – despite the goals conceded.
While the Premier League was suspended at the weekend, in Austria, Matthias Jaissle’s youthful Salzburg side put three past lowly Ried despite a substantially changed line-up. The Alpine visitors’ confidence will be high and they are on a roll domestically. However, their three recent excursions in this competition were all defeats, including a 7-1 thrashing at Bayern, and they remain winless after six games against English clubs.
Jesse Marsch’s successor as Salzburg’s head coach, Matthias Jaissle, generally uses a 4-3-1-2 or a 4-diamond-2 formation, meaning they pack the centre of the field and rely on attacking full-backs for width. Last week, the AC Milan side still regularly broke the stranglehold with short, fast and progressive passing or a well-placed longer ball over midfield. Clever running between the lines from the Rossoneri, especially dribbling midfielder Ismael Bennacer and darting Rafael Leao, often dragged the hosts’ injury-depleted defence out of positional comfort zones.
For some time the Blues have struggled to punish teams who block their goal area with bodies, and this may be how Salzburg will set up this evening. They have conceded just three goals in seven games domestically but ran out of steam towards the end of each half at home to the Italians, the equaliser coming as no surprise.
Salzburg’s greatest asset, though, is the efficiency of their attack. The Austria Bundesliga leaders are also its top scorers, with an eye-popping 55 per cent of shots on target. The front two were rested at Ried on Saturday, but both replacements, including teenage Slovenian Benjamin Sesko, netted within 20 minutes. The usual strike pairing, leading goalscorers Noah Okafor and Fernando, initiate the Austrians’ pressing and try to cut out routes for passing from the back, with central midfielder Nicolas Seiwald playing high with the aim of hemming opponents in.
Injuries continue to disrupt Jaissle’s planning, however, with Strahinja Pavlovic potentially his only fit centre-back after Oumar Solet and Maxi Wober entered a packed treatment room. That could require Potter’s former on-loan left-back at Brighton, Bernardo, to move centrally.
