Former Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders has been fired as head coach of RB Salzburg.
Lijnders, who worked in Liverpool's backroom staff during a successful nine-year spell under both Brendan Rodgers and Jurgen Klopp, joined Salzburg in May.
However, his second spell as number one – after a brief spell at Dutch side NEC in 2018 – proved disappointing, 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 only their second win in their last eight games in all competitions.
Perhaps surprisingly, the decision comes just weeks before Lijnders' former boss Klopp takes over as head of global football at Red Bull – a position that will see him oversee Salzburg's strategy.
In a joint statement, Salzburg CEO Stephan Reiter and sporting director Rouven Schroder said: “We have recently, as planned, started analyzing what has unfortunately not been a satisfactory season to date.
“It was clear to see that in many of our matches we fell far short of our own requirements and objectives.
“We are now looking very intensively for a new coach and will communicate as soon as a decision is made. We clearly want to start training again with our new coach on January 3, 2025.”
OFFICIAL: FC Red Bull Salzburg and Pepijn Lijnders are parting ways, the 41-year-old Dutchman was relieved of his position today. Thank you for your efforts and all the best for the future, Pep!
— FC Red Bull Salzburg NL (@FCRBS_en) December 16, 2024
In the Champions League, Salzburg took only three points from six games, beating Feyenoord 3-1 in November, but suffered 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 January in their final two matches of the league stage.
Although they are not yet mathematically excluded from contention for a play-off place, the Opta supercomputer gives them less than a 0.1% chance of a place in the top 24.
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