Red Bull Salzburg have parted company with head coach Pep Lijnders after just seven months in charge.
The former Liverpool assistant manager has paid the price for a poor run of results which left them fifth in the Austrian Bundesliga, 10 points behind leaders Sturm Graz. Salzburg, who finished second in the Bundesliga last season, have also suffered six successive defeats in the Champions League.
Lijnders’ assistant Vitor Matos, who was previously first-team development coach at Anfield, has also left the club. Their exits come just a fortnight before ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is due to take over as Red Bull’s global head of soccer.
Salzburg CEO Stephan Reiter and Rouven Schroder, their managing director of sport, said in a joint statement: “We began recently to analyse, as planned, what has unfortunately not been a satisfactory season so far.
“It was clear to see that in many of our matches we have been far short of our own requirements and aims.
“We have therefore become convinced that our team needs a new impulse under new management, even if we continued to hope for a turnaround until the end.
“We would like to thank Pep for his work. He put a lot of effort and passion into it and has provided important momentum for our further development.
“We are now very intensively looking for a new coach and will communicate as soon as a decision is made. We clearly want to start training again on 3 January 2025 with our new coach in place.”
(Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images)
