2023-05-20 21:20:57
In Wals-Siezenheim on Sunday (5 p.m.) the anticipated final for the Austrian football championship between Red Bull Salzburg and Sturm Graz will take place. With a win, the Salzburgers can no longer take their tenth triumph en suite. Already at 2.30 p.m. LASK is a guest at SK Rapid, who needs points in the fight for the European Cup places after six games without a win. Rapid’s direct competition meets in the duel Austria Klagenfurt – Austria Vienna.
meet u After the derby win against Rapid, Austria Wien is in good spirits – but today’s opponent Austria Klagenfurt knew how to take the Wiener Violetten last time out.
“We worked hard to be able to close the sack on Sunday,” said Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle in the run-up to the title duel against Sturm. For Salzburg it would be the 17th title overall, the national series would be continued with ten championships. “Winning ten titles in a row would be an outstanding story,” said sporting director Christoph Freund. Salzburg has been unbeaten in 40 home games in the league.
However, the season record speaks for the challenger, as Sturm has celebrated two wins and a draw, including the cup semi-finals. In all competitions, the Grazers have only lost one of the last five games against the permanent champion – that was the 0:2 in Graz in the most recent meeting on April 23rd. If the people of Graz prevail in Salzburg, they still have a chance of winning the cup and championship double. A loss on Sunday and the race would be decided with two laps before the end of the season. Because even if the Jaissle squad were to lose the six-point lead in the final two rounds, Salzburg would end up ahead because of the rounding off that took place after the regular season.
What is certain is that Salzburg will also have to compensate for a squad that has been thinned out due to numerous injuries in the decisive phase of the championship. After all, the recently suspended Strahinja Pavlovic and Nicolas Capaldo will return at the weekend. Sturm coach Christian Ilzer, on the other hand, has almost the entire team on board. “Albian Ajeti, Sandro Ingolitsch and Alexandar Borkovic are still missing injured. David Schnegg still had slight problems with his shoulder, we have to wait until Sunday to see if it’s possible to play,” said the Styrian, who reported a great game for “all Austria” spoke. “Unusual that there is still so much explosiveness three rounds before the end of the championship – and that’s mainly due to us and is proof of our strength and consistency, and not because Salzburg left so much behind this year.”
After the last three defeats in a row and six games without a win, Rapid has to get back on track in the home game against LASK on Sunday – otherwise there is a risk of a season extension or even missing out on international business. Three laps before the end, the Hütteldorfer are only in fifth place, which means they will play in the European Cup play-off and thus two more games.
If green and white slip down to sixth place in the master group, they could concentrate exclusively on national tasks in 2023/24. Nevertheless, coach Zoran Barisic tried to spread optimism. “We will try to follow our plan. We want to win, do a good job and entertain the fans positively and well,” announced the Viennese.
The defeat against Austria has been worked through, there is again a “positive energy” within the team. “We know that we’ve always shown very good performances at home recently. We’ll approach the game with a lot of courage and confidence,” said Barisic, emphasizing: “I’m assuming that the team got the turnaround.”
LASK trainer Dietmar Kühbauer has big plans at his old place of work. “At the end of the season it’s time to get everything we have in our tanks. We’re looking forward to a game in front of a great crowd on Sunday and want to take something away from Hütteldorf. We’ve proven many times this season that we can hold our own in games like this – we want to confirm that again this time,” explained the Burgenlander.
With the derby success in their luggage, Wiener Austria goes into the decisive rounds in high gear. The fourth place in the table conquered by Rapid – equivalent to the start in the qualification for the Conference League – should no longer be given up. In the third to last round, the favorites were warned against the hosts Austria Klagenfurt: The namesake won the most recent duel in Vienna 2-1.
“We have to take the self-confidence and energy from the derby win back to Klagenfurt,” Austria coach Michael Wimmer hoped to repeat last weekend’s performance. Sports director Manuel Ortlechner made a kind of appeal to the team: “The derby win is history again – no matter how nice it was, it doesn’t help us on Sunday, you have to prove yourself anew every weekend.”
The home defeat against Klagenfurt, conceded in the last minute with a penalty, should not be repeated. Haris Tabakovic and Dominik Fitz were out against the then sixth-placed Carinthians due to suspensions. The offensive duo recently conjured up the “Violet” to 3-1 against Rapid, Tabakovic scored all three goals. The Swiss, who has 17 goals this season, has also scored in each of Austria’s last five away games.
For Peter Pacult, the starting position is now different than four weeks ago. “Back then they were missing important people with Tabakovic and Fitz. Now they come with a broad chest,” said Klagenfurt’s coach. In this context, Pacult recalled the start of spring. When his eleven were 3-1 against Austria, Tabakovic came on in the 23rd minute for the injured Fitz and laid the foundation for his goal series in the new year with a brace.
Klagenfurt is sixth, but still has every chance of getting into the European Cup play-off in fifth place. Even fourth place would be possible with a home win against Austria. Rapid will also stop at Wörthersee on the last lap. Klagenfurt is in action in Salzburg between the games against the big Viennese clubs.
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