SPECIALFEATURE
leagues. “For me, the goal is to play
at the very highest level and to play
in one of the top five leagues. That
will hopefully be my next step.
“But for now, I am focused
on winning trophies with
Red Bull Salzburg.”It’s not just Aaronson’s ability to run
at players and find a key pass that has
caught the eye. It’s also his willingness
to close down the opposition and his
understanding of when to press. This
has been pivotal to Salzburg’s continued
success as they look to once again
win the Austrian Bundesliga.
His creativity and work rate was also
on display in the Champions League as
he helped them progress out of a tough
group that contained Sevilla, Wolfsburg
and Lille. He then provided an assist as
Salzburg earned a1-1 home draw with
German giants Bayern Munich in the last
16, and was again a provider during the
hugely disappointing return leg at the
Allianz Arena as Bayern secured a
thumping 7-1 victory.
Despite that heavy defeat, Aaronson
was delighted with the club’s, and his
own, performances in the Champions
League. “We gained so much confidence
from the group stage as no matter who
we faced, we played our style and had
that mentality of fighting and giving it
everything. We have so many young
guys who are just fearless and want
to take it to teams. That’s a big part
of our success,” he explains.
“Even against Bayern, in the first leg
we had chances to go 2-0 up, which
would have been massive for the second
leg. When it’s open, we’re brave and have
confidence. We want to take the game
to every team. And while the second
leg was tough to take, and I don’t think
we deserved to go out like that, I’m
proud of the way we performed.
“For me personally, it was a dream
come true as I had dreamt of playing in
the Champions League my entire life.
It was an unbelievable first season in
the competition and hopefully there are
many more to come. I was really proud
of how I handled things and that’s the
level I want to play at.”
Aaronson also feels as though his
own game is still developing, with the
American putting in plenty of time on
the training pitch, spending his free time
watching other players that he admires
and setting himself new targets.
“I feel like my game is evolving.
Going fromJesse to Matthias, it’s two
different roles but I feel like I’ve been
able to adapt and learn in both positions.
This year the final ball I’ve been playing
has been really good and that’s down to
a lot of work in training. But I can always
get better,” he says.
“On the wall in my house that I look
at every single day, I have goals that I set.
I want ten goals and ten assists before
the end of the season. It’s doable and
I’ll continue to work towards that. When
you are looking at it every single day you
are always reminding yourself to keeppushing, as you can always do better.
“You can’t feel like you’ve already
made it, you have to stay hungry. My dad
has been a big part of my development
and I watch a lot of football videos,
toseehowIcanbettermyself.I’ma
football addict so I watch football all the
time. Even as a young kid I would wake
up at 7am to watch the Premier League.
I would love to watch Liverpool as I’m a
big supporter and have been my entire
life, so waking up and watching games
was basically my childhood.
“Now I watch lots of European
football. I was watching Manchester City
recently and saw how Phil Foden could
play on the left wing, as a striker and
a central midfielder. You have to be so
versatile now and that’s something I’ve
always been able to do. So I’m constantly
learning with every game I play.”
Aaronson’s excellent form at Salzburg
has also seen him force his way into the
US national team. Having scored in three
emphatic friendly victories at the end of
2020 and in 2021, he’s been an integral
part of the side that booked their place
at the 2022 World Cup. He scored in the
1-1 home draw with Canada and then
in the 4-1 away win over Honduras.
“The team that we have is reallyawesome and very close-knit. We’ve
done very well in qualifying but I think
we can still do better,” believes Aaronson.
“CONCACAF is an underrated region
to play in as conditions can be really
rough. It’s almost always very hot and
the pitches might not be the best. So
it’s about fighting, as you might not
be able to play your style.
“But the way we are going I think
we have a bright future and I’m really
excited to see how far we can go.
The pressure is on as we’re suchQatar-bound...
Aaronsoncelebrates
USA’s goal against
Jamaica in World
Cup qualifying“I don’t want to compare myself with anybody,
but I have been a Messi fan my whole life so
it’s a pretty cool nickname”