Takumi Minamino scored a brace Sunday, including his first goal since the opening match of the season in July, as he helped Austrian Bundesliga champion Red Bull Salzburg to a 3-1 win away at SKN St. Polten.
After St. Polten took a 1-0 lead on a Michael Huber goal six minutes into the game, Minamino, who was sidelined for six weeks with a right knee injury sustained in late August, equalized with a lucky shot that slipped out of the keeper's hands in the 35th minute.
In the final match before the international break, the two sides entered the break tied 1-1 at NV Arena, but Marc Rzatkowski scored on a header in the 54th to put the visitors ahead.
Minamino put the match beyond doubt in the 80th minute, rising to meet a cross from the right and finding the back of the net with a powerful header. The 22-year-old forward, capped twice for the Japan national team, was replaced one minute later.
Salzurg narrowed the gap to league leaders Sturm Graz to just one point.
Elsewhere, Masaya Okugawa scored the game-winning goal in Mattersburg's 3-1 win to Austria Vienna. Three minutes after he came off the bench in the 76th minute, Okugawa showed off his dribbling skills and slotted his first goal of the competition with a left-footed goal shot.
Okugawa, 21, joined Mattersburg on loan from Austrian second division side Liefering in June.