Brenden Aaronson played the second half for Red Bull Salzburg in their thumping win over Wolfsberger AC while Ulysses Llanez ended his season-long loan at St. Pölten in a forgettable loss.
RB Salzburg 4 – 0 Wolfsberger AC
Initially dropped to the bench in favor of his understudy Luka Sucic, Brenden Aaronson played the second half for Salzburg as they moved closer to making history.
With the USMNT starlet likely departing for a lucrative fee over the summer, Salzburg head coach Matthias Jaissle inserted Sucic, his likely replacement next season, into the starting eleven, however still gave Aaronson a half of action.
Karim Adeyemi, another likely summer departure, put Salzburg into the lead after two minutes when he headed in a cross from Sucic near the left post, then turned provider just past the half-hour, storming into the left side of the area, the squaring the ball to Chukwubuike Adamu for an easy strike.
Adeyemi then added a third in the 37th minute, doing all the hard work to create space amidst a pair of defenders on the left, before firing a blast inside the far post.
Three minutes later, the game was put further out of reach for the visitors when Eliel Peretz struck Adeyemi in the face in the area. Peretz was sent off, leaving Wolfsberger with ten men, however Rasmus Kristensen missed the subsequent spot kick, sending it far over the crossbar.
Aaronson entered after the half in place of attacker Mohamed Camara as a part of a tactical triple-switch by Jaissle, and put in a respectable performance, completing 14 of 15 passes, taking one shot, and beating the defense with his lone dribble attempt.
The visitors did hold down the fort for most of the second half despite their tactical disadvantage, but Salzburg added a fourth for good measure in the 84th minute, with Oumar Solet emphatically smashing a shot from six yards following a corner that wasn’t cleared from danger.
Salzburg have two games left before the summer break, and can put themselves in the history books if they win both, as they would equal FK Austria Wien’s 1985-86 record of 26 wins in the season, and would top their own record for most points in the current incarnation of the Bundesliga.
They close out the season with a visit to Rapid Wien on Sunday, and a home game against Klagenfurt six days later.
Notes
Ulysses Llanez played the first half at forward for SKN St. Pölten on Sunday in their 3-0 blow-out loss on the road to Austria Lustenau. The loss completes their season in the Austrian second level, with the team finishing eighth in the 16-team division. Llanez will return to German Bundesliga club Wolfsburg following the completion of his loan, and will likely be shipped out again over the summer.
