Kingsley Coman scored a 90th-minute equaliser to help Bayern Munich to a late 1-1 draw away to FC Salzburg in the first-leg of their Champions League round-of-16 clash on Wednesday.
Salzburg’s Chukwubuike Adamu came off the bench at the Red Bull Arena on 12 minutes to replace Noah Okafor, who was forced off through injury, and the striker made an instant impact, handing Salzburg the lead just nine minutes later when he ran onto the ball at the edge of the 18-yard box and curled home past Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich.
Salzburg were denied a penalty on the stroke of half-time after Benjamin Pavard made a reckless tackle on Karim Adeyemi, but the referee ruled that Pavard did not make contact with the attacker.
Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich lamented a lack of intensity from his side before the interval.
“We didn’t do quite enough in the first half, we weren’t focused enough, we didn’t win the second balls and that allowed Salzburg to have dangerous opportunities on the counter,” he said.
“We controlled the game better in the second half and applied more pressure and got the draw in the end which for me is a good result.”
Bayern pressed for a late equaliser and were rewarded when Coman took advantage from a Thomas Muller flick on from a deep cross to the back post, where the Frenchman struck past Salzburg goalkeeper Phillipp Kohn.
Wednesday’s tie was Salzburg’s first-ever match in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The return leg will take place at the Allianz Arena in Munich on March 8.
Bayern went into the tie as clear favourites after winning all six of their group-stage games, but arrived in Austria reeling from a shock 4-2 thrashing to Bochum in the Bundesliga.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side were kept at bay early on by a highly disciplined Salzburg under 33-year-old coach Matthias Jaissle in his debut season in charge.
The hosts struck the first blow with an explosive move on the break, starting with defender Oumar Solet dispossessing Bayern captain Muller deep in his half and pumping a diagonal ball forward to Nicolas Capaldo on the right wing.
The Argentine raced across the pitch and worked the ball towards Adamu, who fired into the far corner after being fed by Brenden Aaronson.
Bayern struggled to create clear chances in the second half too but came closest to levelling when Leroy Sane smashed a low drive at goal which was parried by Salzburg goalkeeper Philipp Kohn, who then leapt up to swipe the loose ball from Serge Gnabry’s feet.
Salzburg should have added a second goal to take with them to the second leg in Munich when, with 10 minutes remaining, Capaldo was denied by the feet of Sven Ulreich and Adamu then saw his shot cleared off the line by Benjamin Pavard.
The hosts then switched off at the crucial moment when Pavard hit a cross into the box and Muller glanced it towards the far post, where Coman was waiting to steer it in.
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