Ukrainians Metalist Kharkiv outclassed Red Bull Salzburg as they waltzed to a 4-0 win in Austria.
Ukrainians too good for Austria
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Ukrainians Metalist Kharkiv outclassed Red Bull Salzburg as they waltzed to a 4-0 win in Austria.
With the second leg of their last 32 Europa League clash coming in Ukraine next week, the tie already looks over.
Brazilian striker Taison opened the scoring after just 33 seconds and two further first-half strikes from Jonathan Cristaldo effectively sealed the match.
After two months without domestic football the hosts were understandably rusty but the ease with which they allowed Taison to skip through and put the visitors ahead was still shocking.
David Mendes da Silva was most at fault for giving the ball away to the lurking Taison, and the defender could only watch in horror as the Brazilian duly converted the simplest of openers.
Leonardo responded by hitting the bar from long-range for the home side in the fifth minute, but the hosts were largely dominant with Jose Sosa and Cristaldo both coming close to extending their advantage.
Cristaldo got on the scoresheet in the 38th minute when he was fed by Vinicius Fininho from the right side of the penalty area and struck home low past Walke from six yards.
And three minutes later Cristaldo once again proved lethal from close quarters as this time he was fed by Taison from the left and fired home from the same range to put his side out of sight.
Forced into peppering Aleksandr Goryainov's goal from long-range in a vain attempt to claw back into the match, Simon Cziommer fired over the bar for Salzburg early in the second half.
Walke prevented his side falling further behind when he punched away a header from Cristian Villagra on the hour, and shortly afterwards the home keeper was again called into action to save from Papa Gueye.
Sosa shot over the bar from 25 yards as Metalist continued to dominate while Salzburg struggled to respond, with Stefan Maierhofer repeatedly caught out by the visitors' tight offside trap.
Goryainov punched away Leonardo' last minute attempts to grab a consolation goal and moments later Metalist rounded off their stunning win when Bonfim Marlos scored their fourth from close range.
