Salzburg’s celebrations quickly took an unexpected turn
Red Bull Salzburg have been forced to release a statement apologising to Sevilla after a video emerged of one of their coaches calling the La Liga side ‘Spanish w***ers’.
The Austrian side secured their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with a victory over Sevilla on Wednesday night, reaching the knockout stages for the first time in their history.
Switzerland international Noah Okafor scored a second-half winner for Matthias Jaissle’s side, leading to understandable celebrations in the home dressing room.
After the game, Okafor live-streamed the celebrations on Instagram, with sport psychologist Ulf Hafelinger giving a moving speech.
However, the speech took an unexpected turn at one point when he 36-year-old coach was heard calling Sevilla ‘Spanish w***ers’.
„Spanische Wi***er* 😳
Exklusive Einblicke in die Salzburg-Kabine von Noah #Okafor nach dem Achtelfinaleinzug in der Champions League. #RBSSEV #UCL
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🎥 https://t.co/lF06ZWjXB6 pic.twitter.com/QfViWhfOEX— FUMS (@fums_magazin) December 8, 2021
Viewers on the live-stream were quick to notice what had been said, with the video immediately shared on social media.
People were critical of Hafelinger and Salzburg for the comments, insisting that they were disrespectful to their opponents.
This led the twelve-time Austrian champions to release a statement apologising for the outburst on Twitter.
Replying to one of the videos that showed Hafelinger’s speech, Salzburg wrote: “In the emotion of what was for us such an extraordinary success, words were uttered that should not have been.
“Today we played against a strong and fair opponent to whom we sincerely apologize for the choice of words.”
Ending their post in Spanish, Salzburg added: “Sorry.”
In der Emotion sind bei dem für uns so außergewöhnlichen Erfolg Worte gefallen, die nicht hätten sein dürfen. Wir haben heute gegen einen starken und fairen Gegner gespielt, bei dem wir uns für diese Wortwahl ehrlich entschuldigen möchten. ¡Perdone!
— FC Red Bull Salzburg (@RedBullSalzburg) December 8, 2021
The club shared another video of the dressing-room celebrations later in the night, but, as expected, did not include Hafelinger’s rant.
The result saw Salzburg finish second in Group G, with Sevilla forced to drop into the Europa League after finishing in third position.
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