Jurgen Klopp Pupil & Former Liverpool Assistant Coach Pep Lijnders Sacked By Red Bull Salzburg

Lijnders took up the role of a head coach at Red Bull Salzburg following his departure from Liverpool at the end of last season

Liverpool s Andreas Kornmayer, Vitor Matos, Jürgen Klopp, Pepijn Lijnders, Jack Robinson celebrate after the Football League Cup Final match between Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC at Wembley Stadium / IMAGO / Propaganda Photo

Former Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders has been sacked by FC Red Bull Salzburg after just six months at the club. His assistant coach Vitor Matos is also leaving the club after several 'unsatisfactory performances'.

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During his time at the club, Lijnders guided Salzburg to this season's UEFA Champions League. However, after an impressive start to the campaign, the 41-year-old has struggled to churn positive results, losing heavily to Bayer Leverkusen and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

Salzburg are now 10 points off the top of the Austrian Bundesliga after 16 matches played so far.

In a joint statement, CEO Stephan Reiter and Managing Director of Sport, Rouven Shroder said: "We began recently to analyse, as planned, what has unfortunately not been a satisfactory season so far.

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"It was clear to see that in many of our matches we have been far short of our own requirements and aims. We have therefore become convinced that our team needs a new impulse under new management, even if we continued to hope for a turnaround until the end.

"We would like to thank Pep for his work. He put a lot of effort and passion into it and has provided important momentum for our further development.

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"We are now very intensively looking for a new coach and will communicate as soon as a decision is made. We clearly want to start training again on 3 January 2025 with our new coach in place."

Lijnders joined Liverpool in 2014 as U16s coach at the Academy, before becoming first-team development coach in 2015. He initially worked under Brendan Rodgers in that position and remained with the senior set-up following the appointment of Jurgen Klopp as manager in October 2015.

Pep Lijnders during the Carabao Cup semi-final 2nd leg match between Fulham and Liverpool / IMAGO / PRiME Media Images

After a spell in charge of NEC Nijmegen in his homeland, Lijnders returned to Liverpool as assistant manager ahead of the 2018/19 season where Liverpool finished second in the league table and won their sixth Champions League title.

Matos also arrived at Anfield from FC Porto in October 2019 in a role previously held by Lijnders, acting as an important link between the club's Academy and senior team.

Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Liverpool / IMAGO / PRiME Media Images

Both were key figures of Klopp's coaching staff during a period that saw the Reds lift seven major honours. Lijnders and Matos are among several members of the backroom team who left the club alongside Klopp last season.

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