Christmas is a time to enjoy time with the family, eating too much, and taking a look back at the best bits of the past year. Let's get the film rolling!
Let's be honest, how long did you manage to keep your New Year's resolutions for? We hope we don't embarrass you too much to point out that our boys kept theirs for months! Until the end of April, Matthias Jaissle's boys racked up win after win in Austria until our ninth league title in a row was in the bag on 24 April 2022. Austria Vienna were there for our coronation, proving to be no more than friendly sparring partners as we raced to a 5-0 win. A few days later, Sturm Graz secured their runners-up spot with a win against Nici Seiwald & Co - otherwise we dropped just four points in the spring.
The UNIQA ÖFB Cup also came to Salzburg. While it took penalty shootout drama at WAC to see us secure our spot in the final, the big match against SV Ried gave us the opportunity to take our fourth double in a row in great style. Luka Sucic, Max Wöber and Benji Sesko scored in a 3-0 win!
Our afternoon to remember at the Wörthersee Stadium was not quite the highlight of the year, however. We would have to favour the electric atmosphere and relentless performance from our boys in their historic UEFA Champions League last 16 first leg against FC Bayern Munich at a sold-out Red Bull Arena. Only at the very end could Coman equalise Junior Adamu's opener. A few weeks later, our team felt the full force of in-form Champions League giants but can be proud of their performance.
Next success ahead
The new season brought the same old great story! Around the halfway stage of the current ADMIRAL Bundesliga season, our Red Bulls are sitting proudly on the top of the table. The incredible 3-0 opening day win against Austria Vienna and 6-0 thrashing of newly promoted Austria Lustenau have helped us to a nice six-point cushion over Sturm Graz as we prepare for the final stages of the regular season.
On the subject of Sturm Graz - after three clear away wins in the competition, we are to face our closest league rivals in the quarter-finals of the UNIQA ÖFB Cup. The meeting with Christian Ilzer's men marks our start of 2023 ...
… a year in which we want to seize the chance to shine on the UEFA Europa League stage. How did that come about again? Thanks to Noah dancing his way to a goal against AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League opener, Junior serving up a textbook assist at Stamford Bridge, Philipp haunting his compatriot Drmic and Nici showing his class from the edge of the area in Croatia!
All these great moments helped to keep us in Europe and set up a huge clash against AS Roma, featuring Jose Mourinho and World Cup Winner Paulo Dybala in the play-off round. We have a good early chance to try to make 2023 just as successful as 2022!
