RED BULL SALZBURG comfortably held Borussia Dortmund to a goalless draw in their last-16 second leg clash to dump Peter Stoger’s men out of the Europa League 2-1 on aggregate.
The Austrian side, unbeaten since August, secured a shock 2-1 lead in Germany last week through Valon Berisha’s double, but goalkeepers Alexander Walke and Roman Burki were equally tested in this return stalemate despite Dortmund’s need for at least two goals – a tally they never came close to achieving.
Stoger’s gameplan made it easy for the hosts, Dortmund’s attempts to play the game entirely in Salzburg’s half opening up space for the energetic Hwang Hee-chan to run free.
Burki twice denied the 22-year-old forward and then produced a wonderful stop to thwart Xaver Schlager as the visitors somehow reached the break level on the night and still in with a chance of progression.
Their improvement after the restart was minimal, though, Dortmund managing to keep Salzburg at bay but doing little to muster the requisite attacking response.
Dortmund’s season is far from over as they remain well placed to seal Champions League qualification, but this shock exit for one of the tournament favourites will come as a blow to Stoger’s hopes of staying in the dugout beyond the end of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Sporting Club Portugal, Marseille, RB Leipzig, and CSKA Moscow also went through this evening.
