RБ Salzburg and Pafos played out a 3:3 draw in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round on Wednesday evening. The Austrian side had led twice, but H. Tabakovic's second-half hat-trick rescued a point for the Cypriot visitors who had beaten them 1:0 just a week ago.
Lele opened the scoring in the fifteenth minute before Biel doubled the lead with a goal in the thirty-seventh. N. Veratschnig picked up a yellow card in the thirty-sixth, and Bruno followed with a booking in the forty-eighth. Salzburg looked set for victory when S. Kitano came on for a substitution just before the break.
Tabakovic changed everything. He found the net in the fifty-fourth, then converted a penalty in the fifty-eighth before adding a third in the seventieth. Guga came on for Salzburg in the sixty-first, but the hosts could not respond. Three substitutions in the eighty-second—V. Dragomir, Y. Vertessen and N. Veratschnig—suggested desperation rather than control.
M. Mammadov scored in the eighty-fourth to complete the comeback. Pafos saw it out despite an eighty-sixth-minute substitution for D. Redzic. Tabakovic was then substituted in the seventy-fifth, having done enough to justify staying on longer.
The result adds another layer to a fixture that has already produced drama. Pafos won 1:0 in Salzburg on the sixth of August, while the hosts had beaten Hartberg 1:0 and drawn 1:1 with Wolfsberger in their previous three matches. Salzburg's recent form included a 7:1 victory over Oberwart and a 5:0 win against Energie Cottbus.
Both sides remain in the hunt for European football, though neither can yet call their progress secured. The draw means the tie remains open, and the visitors will take some confidence from coming from behind to salvage a point away from home.