It was a historic day for a pair of former Philadelphia Union teammates who both made their European league debuts Sunday, although it was mixed results for Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie.
Aaronson, who had a goal and assist during a 6-0 friendly win against second-division side SK Vorwarts Steyr last weekend, came off the substitute’s bench for Red Bull Salzburg in a comfortable 2-0 win for Red Bull Salzburg over SC Rheindorf Altach in the Austrian Bundesliga, while McKenzie was in the starting XI for Racing Genk in a 3-2 loss to leaders Club Brugge in the Belgian First Division.
Jesse Marsch brought Aaronson on in the 62nd minute with Red Bull Salzburg almost immediately doubling their lead through Patson Daka.
Aaronson featured on the left wing and was active in his nearly 30-minute shift, taking a defender on and winning a corner in the 75th minute and then drawing a second yellow card to Stefan Haudum, which reduced Altach to 10 men for the final 10 minutes.
McKenzie was in Genk’s starting XI and played the full 90 minutes in the top of the table clash with Club Brugge.
Genk rallied from an early deficit to take a 2-1 lead on goals 10 minutes apart later in the first half, but conceded twice in the final 25 minutes to suffer a 3-2 defeat.
McKenzie completed 81 percent of his passes, made eight clearances, won one tackle and one duel and made one recovery.
