Salzburg sack former Liverpool assistant Lijnders

Former Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders has been sacked from his role as RB Salzburg head coach.

Lijnders, who worked under both Brendan Rodgers and Jurgen Klopp throughout a successful nine-year stint on Liverpool’s backroom staff, joined Salzburg in May.

However, his second spell as a number one – following a brief stint with Dutch side NEC in 2018 – proved underwhelming, with Salzburg currently fifth in the Austrian Bundesliga.

They signed off for the winter break by beating Austria Klagenfurt 3-0 on Saturday, but that was just their second victory in their last eight games across all competitions.

Perhaps surprisingly, the decision comes just weeks before Lijnders’ former boss Klopp takes over as Red Bull’s head of global soccer – a position that will give him oversight of Salzburg’s strategy.

In a joint statement, Salzburg chief executive Stephan Reiter and managing director of sport Rouven Schroder said: “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 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 January, 3, 2025 with our new coach in place.”

OFFICIAL: FC Red Bull Salzburg and Pepijn Lijnders are parting ways, the 41-year-old Dutchman was released from his duties today. Thank you for your commitment and all the best for the future, Pep!

— FC Red Bull Salzburg EN (@FCRBS_en) December 16, 2024

In the Champions League, Salzburg have taken just three points from six matches, beating Feyenoord 3-1 in November but suffering convincing defeats against Sparta Prague (0-3), Brest (0-4), Dinamo Zagreb (0-2), Bayer Leverkusen (0-5) and Paris Saint-Germain (0-3).

They face Spanish giants Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in their final two league-phase games in January.

While they are not yet mathematically eliminated from contention for a play-off place, the Opta supercomputer gives them less than a 0.1% chance of securing a top-24 finish.