The reward is the Champions League play-off and a duel with Glasgow Rangers or Dynamo Kiev. “It will be a real final,” said Lijnders. A week ago, Salzburg looked like the 2-0 winners until shortly before the end, but conceded a goal in the 90th minute from a free kick by Michel Vlap.
“We did very well in the first leg. But we know that it’s only half time and we still have a difficult second match ahead of us,” Lijnders stressed before departure. Salzburg gained plenty of self-confidence and the lead in the domestic Bundesliga with a convincing 5-1 win against Blau-Weiß Linz at the weekend. The team has won all four competitive matches this season.
The opponents also got off to a good start in the national championship. On Saturday, Twente beat Lijnder’s former club NEC Nijmegen, where he was coach in 2018, 2-1 in the first round of the Eredivisie. “I saw my boys’ absolute will to win and I thought we played really good football at times. Especially when we got into their half, we played good football and created a lot of chances,” said Twente coach Joseph Oosting afterwards, satisfied.
