Stefan Bajcetic made his debut for Pepijn Lijnders‘ Salzburg on Wednesday evening, and regardless of dropping 3-0 to Sparta Prague the Liverpool loanee was a standout.
Bajcetic opted to affix former Liverpool coach Lijnders at Salzburg in the direction of the tip of the summer time switch window, having been made out there for mortgage.
Visa points delayed the Spaniard’s debut, however after sitting out a 3-2 defeat to Fast Vienna within the Austrian Bundesliga he was straight into the beginning lineup for the Champions League.
That got here at dwelling to Sparta Prague, with Lijnders naming a daring beginning lineup that included seven gamers aged 21 or beneath and a mean age of simply 22.
Bajcetic began alongside one other debutant in midfield, Bobby Clark, with the Englishman having made the everlasting transfer from Liverpool earlier in the summertime.
Sadly, it got here in a depressing defeat for Salzburg, who shipped two objectives within the first half and one quickly after the restart to stoop to a 3-0 loss.
Making his first begin at senior stage in a 12 months, Bajcetic operated as a deep-lying midfielder, with the teen considered one of few vivid spots for Lijnders.
Per FotMob, he had the second-most touches of any participant (95), making the third-most passes (68) with a completion price of 88 p.c.
No participant made extra passes into the ultimate third (12), whereas solely Sparta winger Veljko Birmancevic (17) contested extra duels than his 14, with Bajcetic successful seven of these.
Bajcetic additionally created the joint-most possibilities (two) and had one shot on aim in a recreation through which Salzburg dominated possession (71%) however have been undone by a medical Sparta facet.
His fellow midfielder Clark additionally produced a tidy show, finishing 45 of his 47 tried passes (96%) and successful 4 of his 5 duels (80%) in a extra superior function.
Maybe the largest optimistic for each gamers given the end result was that they have been in a position to clock greater than an hour on the pitch every – Bajcetic performed 83 minutes whereas Clark performed 66.
Lijnders shall be required to ease Bajcetic in on account of his longstanding health points whereas Clark faces the same state of affairs having not performed since April on account of a season-ending harm.
Subsequent up for Salzburg is a visit to WSG Tirol within the league, whereas their subsequent Champions League fixture is away to French facet Brest on October 1.
