Salzburg's victory in the Champions League is the first in eight games for the Red Bull team, which Jürgen Klopp will join

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — The Red Bull family of soccer clubs that will soon be here supervised by Jürgen Klopp finally achieved its first victory in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Before Salzburg's 3-1 win at Feyenoord, the Austrian team and Bundesliga club Leipzig, backed by the energy drink giant, had suffered a total of seven defeats in a row in the league phase of the elite competition.

While Leipzig initially faced most of its toughest opponents – including a 1-0 home defeat to Champions League leaders Liverpool – Salzburg had lost at home to Dinamo Zagreb and at Sparta Prague.

The first win at the eighth attempt came after Salzburg striker Karim Konaté scored two goals at Feyenoord. He missed a hat-trick chance by hitting the crossbar with a late penalty.

After four of the eight rounds, Salzburg is now in 30th place in the 36-team rankings, with Leipzig in 32nd place. Only the 24 best teams in January can advance to the knockout rounds.

For Klopp's long-time assistant at Liverpool, it was the first victory in the Champions League as head coach. Pep Lijnders.

Lijnders was at Klopp's side for most of Liverpool's celebrated nine years, including winning the Champions League title in 2019, and his old boss will be his new boss in January.

Klopp is joining the global network of Red Bull football clubs to lead overall strategy rather than exerting day-to-day influence over teams that include the New York Red Bulls.

The 57-year-old Klopp has faced backlash from fans at the clubs he coached in Germany – Mainz and then Borussia Dortmund – because he joined Leipzig, which was renamed the Red Bull Group in 2009. The team is seen by most German fans as part of a corporate culture that promises success.

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