Salzburg too strong for Ventspils

There was no relief for Latvian side FK Ventspils as FC Salzburg scored four unanswered goals to complete a 7-0 aggregate victory at the Wals-Siezenheim Stadium.

Second-half strikes
René Aufhauser had scored a hat-trick in the first leg and proved to be Ventspils' undoing again when he effectively sealed the Austrian champions' progress with the opener on nine minutes. A crowd of 11,400 demanded more and duly got it after the interval as Milan Dudić, Saša Ilić and Christoph Leitgeb all added their names to the scoresheet in a comprehensive triumph. Salzburg's reward is a tie with FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

Zickler rested
It was a pleasing night's work for Salzburg coach Giovanni Trapattoni, who was able to rest players such as Alexander Zickler and still take a early advantage when Aufhauser pounced on Patrik Jezek's deflected effort to break the deadlock. The visitors regained their composure, yet three minutes after half-time Dudić touched in Ezequiel Carboni's long-range effort to make it 2-0. Leitgeb and Ibrahim Sekagya had further chances before Ilić struck on 78 minutes, applying the finish after fine work from Vladimír Janočko. Leitgeb clinically rounded off the win in injury time.