Five wins have put us in the final. From nailbiting penalty shoot-outs to our biggest win of the season, the UNIQA ÖFB Cup 2021/22 had no end of drama for us. Ahead of our final on Sunday v SV Ried, we are taking a look back on our achievements in the competition to date.
1st round: Hard-fought 4-1 win at Hertha Wels
Our first competitive match of the 2021/22 season saw us face some battling regional league opposition in July, but thankfully there would be no giant killing. It was actually 1-1 at half-time against Hertha Wels before a Benjamin Sesko brace shortly after the restart saw us pull away. Left-back Bernardo had a good day too with a goal and an assist. We ultimately navigated the first round in style.
2nd round: Biggest win of season v Kalsdorf
The Aida Triumphmarsch is our goal music in Salzburg, and every fan would have had it ringing in their ear by the end of the evening. The goals flew in on 22 September against SC Copacabana Kalsdorf. Noah Okafor scored twice, while Nici Seiwald, Rasmus Kristensen, Nicolas Capaldo, Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Okoh and Maurits Kjaergaard all also got on the scoresheet. The injury to Kamil Piatkowski, who was ruled out for a while with an ankle injury, was the only dampener on the evening.
Last 16: Guindo stunner in 3-0 away win in St. Pölten
After dismissing two regional league sides, the third round of the ÖFB Cup saw us face a team from the ADMIRAL 2 Liga. The game at spusu SKN St. Pölten was a tough one for long periods, but it ended well for us. Daouda Guindo laid the foundation for our success with his first goal as a Red Bull - a goal that was stunning and somewhat curious. The Malian collected a long ball just by the outline and managed to somehow squeeze it over the goalkeeper and in for our opener. In the 73rd minute, Junior Adamu sealed things before Rasmus Kristensen added another in stoppage time.
Quarter-final: Fans return for 3-1 win v LASK
The repeat of last season's final brought a long-awaited comeback - from the fans! After a few games behind closed doors, we could finally play in front of our supporters - even if we were limited to 2,000 fans for now. They saw our boys make a poor start, as Linz led after 14 minutes. We were not going to give up though, and we turned it around to lead by half-time, with Nicolas Capaldo sealing it two minutes after the restart.
Semi-final: Penalty drama at WAC
.jpg.webp?imwidth=650)
It felt like we had barely come out of the dressing room by the time we were already behind. WAC were superb, and we weren't having our best day. Benji Sesko was our saviour from the bench. The Slovene equalised in the 77th minute, before getting a red card in stoppage time shortly before the end. After 120 gruelling minutes, it was time for a penalty shoot-out. Everyone scored apart from Christopher Wernitznig, whose spot kick was saved by Philipp Köhn.
Final: To be continued…
Can we secure the double this Sunday, 1 May at 17:00 v SV Guntamatic Ried for our fourth cup win in a row? We're all going to give our all to make it happen!
