Before kick-off at the MGG Arena, south of Salzburg, a banner went up among the fans in violet and white. In block white capitals, it read: “For you only success and money count, you characterless bull-swines!” As the smoke rising from the flares behind the home goal made the stands look like a cauldron, a deafening chorus of anti-Red Bull chants echoed around the ground. Austria Salzburg fans’ pre-match tifo showed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the city’s most famous son, decked out in violet and white, bringing his instrument crashing down on the head of a bloated red bull. Underneath it, supporters displayed another banner, which read: “In Salzburg, we play first violin.”
Austria Salzburg fans’ animosity towards Red Bull can be traced back 18 years to the company’s takeover at the Stadion Wals-Siezenheim, now known as the Red Bull Arena, after which disillusioned supporters broke away and set up a phoenix club, which on Tuesday met Red Bull Salzburg for the first time. The origins of the feud made it hard not to view this as a clash between corporate power and fan power, cash and community, and two fundamentally different visions of the game.
