Kingsley Coman’s late equaliser helped rescue Bayern Munich from suffering a shock Champions League Round of 16 first leg defeat at Red Bull Salzburg.
It came after Junior Adamu – who had only been introduced as an early substitute through an enforced injury – fired the Austrian side into a 21 st -minute lead.
Despite being overwhelming favourites to progress through to the quarter finals and being among the most highly-fancied sides to win this year’s competition, Bayern struggled to break through their stubborn opponents.
This was Red Bull Salzburg’s first ever Champions League knockout tie but Matthias Jaissle’s men rose to the occasion and were more than a match for their illustrious opponents.
Adamu’s early strike had Bayern on course to lose their first away match in the competition in 22 attempts but the German champions salvaged a draw late on.
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Red Bull Salzburg Striker Adamu had been brought on as a 12 th -minute substitute, replacing the injured Noah Okafor, but within nine minutes had netted the opening goal of the game.
A long ball forward had found in-form forward Karim Adeyemi who ran away before cutting inside and finding Adamu, whose first-time curling effort beat Bayern keeper Sven Ulreich.
It was a first half in which the home side were largely superior, with their expertly organised defence allowing their precise and quick-thinking forwards to hit Bayern on multiple counters.
The home side almost found a second straight away through Brenden Aaronson, who wriggled free in the box and hammered in a low shot which Ulreich saved expertly with his arm.
Bayern’s best chance of the opening half saw Serge Gnabry pick out Leroy Sane in the box but the former Manchester City forward flashed a shot inches wide of goal when the home stadium held its breath.
This was the first time Bayern Munich have been behind in the Champions League this season and they had their hearts in their mouths near the break when Adeyemi went down inside the penalty area under a Benjamin Pavard challenge, but the referee waved play on.
After the break, Bayern were greatly improved by enjoying near total control of possession while also playing a higher defensive line and snuffing out Salzburg’s counter attacks – with the Austrian side notably tiring.
Yet Bayern did not create any clear-cut goal scoring opportunities and indeed Salzburg almost doubled their lead ten minutes from time; Adeyemi’s initial shot was saved by Ulreich before Adamu’s effort was blocked on the line by Pavard.
Coman saved the day for Bayern with a powerful finish past Philipp Koehn as the game ticked into injury time to ensure that the spoils were shared on the night.
Bayern had typically blitzed their way through the group stages of the competition, winning all six matches and netting 22 times in the process.
That included two comprehensive three-goal victories over Barcelona – who were eliminated from the group with Benfica also qualifying – in a run that meant that Bayern had scored in 28 successive Champions League matches (stretching back to their scoreless draw at Liverpool in February 2019) before their trip to Salzburg.
Indeed, such has been Bayern’s exploits in European competition in recent years, they had won 25 of their previous 27 matches and were undefeated in their previous 21 away matches.
Bayern will now host Salzburg in the return leg in Munich on 8 March.
