Red Bull Salzburg 4 Lazio 1 (6-5 agg): Austrians produce remarkable turnaround to book semi-final spot

Ciro Immobile's goal had looked to have killed the tie, but Red Bull Salzburg produced a remarkable turnaround to advance.

Published : Apr 13, 2018 02:41 IST

Three goals in the space of four second-half minutes helped Red Bull Salzburg to an incredible 4-1 win over Lazio to book their place in the Europa League semi-finals.

Ciro Immobile's superb strike 10 minutes after the interval put the Italians 5-3 up on aggregate and looked to have all-but sealed a last-four berth.

But in a week of stunning European comebacks, Salzburg added their own to the collection with a scintillating reversal to turn the tie on its head.

Munas Dabbur gave them hope through a deflected effort before Amadou Haidara kicked off the four minutes of madness with wonderful long-range drive after 72 minutes.

With momentum squarely on their side, the hosts then pulled level on aggregate, with Hwang Hee-chan the latest Salzburg man to benefit from a deflection.

Stefan Lainer then had the final say with a back-post header to complete a remarkable turnaround and leave Italian hearts broken for the second time this week.

As expected, Salzburg started with a spring in their step and were nearly rewarded with the game's opening goal after five minutes.

Hwang latched on to Xaver Schlager's through ball but his first-time effort was too close to Thomas Strakosha, allowing the Albanian to safely parry away from danger.

The Italians weathered that early Salzburg storm and comfortably kept them at arm's length for most of the opening period, with only Duje Caleta-Car's header from a corner causing minor concern.

Their own attacking intent was limited, but Immobile could – and perhaps should – have put the tie to bed moments before the interval.

First, he failed to make a clean connection with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's looped through ball from close range and then could only shoot straight at Alexnader Walke after being wonderfully picked out by Luis Alberto's impudent back heel.

Immobile was denied again by Walke shortly after the break, but he finally got the better of the Salzburg stopper with a glorious finish after 55 minutes.

Alberto's incisive pass carved open the home defence, allowing Immobile an unimpeded run towards goal that culminated with a sensational whipped effort into the far top corner.

Any designs Lazio had of seeing the game out at a canter were extinguished 85 seconds later, though, as Dabbur weaved his way around a host of defenders on the edge of the penalty area and a left-footed shot was diverted past Strakosha by Stefan Radu.

Schlager then crashed a rasping long-ranger against the post as the rejuvenated hosts cranked up the pressure, while Hwang headed wide from a teasing cross.

Luis Alberto wasted a glorious opportunity to kill the game in the 72nd minute, shooting straight at Walke after a three-on-one counter.

The Spanish forward could never have anticipated how harshly his profligacy was to be punished.

First, Haidara's 30-yard drive into the bottom corner cut the deficit to just one before Hwang's deflected strike pulled the Austrian club level overall.

That goal meant the Salzburg were going through on away goals but Lainer made sure of it, heading in at the back post from a corner to book their last-four spot in the most dramatic of circumstances.

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