It was Pachuca who had the first effort of note on 10 minutes, as Christian Zawieschitzky batted away captain Salomon Rondon’s effort from a narrow angle in the Salzburg goal.
The 18-year-old debutant also repelled Elias Montiel shortly before his side enjoyed a period of dominance in the middle of the half, albeit without testing Carlos Moreno.
Rondon again came close to an opener on the half-hour mark, but Zawieschitzky brilliantly tipped the Venezuelan’s header onto the crossbar.
Some of the Mexican supporters in the stadium were on their feet five minutes later, yet Agustin Palavecino’s volley rippled the wrong side of the netting.
Israeli international Oscar Gloukh had been testing the Pachuca defence, firing a shot over the bar on 40 minutes, shortly before shimmying past a defender on the edge of the box and curling a beautiful effort into the corner to give his side the lead at the break.
Zawieschitzky’s evening got even better six minutes after the restart when he thwarted Rondon one-on-one, but in truth, the striker made it far too easy for the Salzburg keeper.
Just 10 minutes after the restart, the game was delayed for an hour and a half due to inclement weather in the Cincinnati area, but almost immediately after the restart, Pachuca equalised in stunning fashion.
Bryan Gonzalez whipped a free kick from the right corner of the penalty area into the near bottom corner, with the hitherto excellent Zawieschitzky caught cold, perhaps expecting a cross.
With the rain still falling, the goal gave Jaime Lozano’s men fresh impetus, and substitute John Kennedy was giving the Austrians’ defence food for thought.
However, it was an alteration made by Thomas Letsch that flipped the script back in Salzburg’s favour with a quarter of an hour remaining. Captain Mads Bidstrup made ground and floated a ball from the right that Karim Onisiwo nodded down into the bottom corner.
The Mexican side pushed hard for a second equaliser, yet it would not come, as it was ultimately Salzburg who took advantage of Real Madrid dropping points earlier in the day.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Christian Zawieschitzky (Red Bull Salzburg)
See all the key match stats with Flashscore.
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