Games against the series champions and cup winners were recently a very clear and very bitter affair for the Lower Austrians in St. Pölten’s Bundesliga time. From 2: 8 to 0: 7 to 1: 5 everything was there. In the 16 duels since the SKN rose in 2016 to its relegation in spring 2021, the Lower Austrians were never able to win, two draws were the meager result.
St. Pölten had to concede a total of 61 goals. A statistic that the current SKN trainer Stephan Helm knows for sure, but which he pushes aside before the round of 16 duel on Wednesday in the NV Arena and only thinks about the current task. “For me, Salzburg is the best team that the Austrian Bundesliga has ever seen. You recently defeated the French champions in the Champions League. For us, this will be the most difficult task that we currently have to solve in domestic football, ”says Helm realistically.
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Salzburg want to spare some regular players
A small hope for the outsider from St. Pölten is the announcement by Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle that he wants to give some regular players a break against the SKN. “The next days and weeks will be very intense, so we will trust a couple of guys who recently received fewer minutes of action,” said the German.
ÖFB Cup, round of 16
St. Pölten – Salzburg, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Amstetten – Rapid Vienna, Thursday, 6 p.m., live on ORF1
“A knockout game like this always carries a risk. The underdog, in the St. Pölten case, wants to present us with great challenges. That is why we cannot afford to make mistakes. Because it is a knockout game, it can be over very quickly, but we are in good spirits and we are going into the game with broad chests, ”said Jaissle. Salzburg are eight-time cup winners (2012, from 2014 to 2017 and from 2019 to 2021). The 0: 1 after extra time in the 2018 final against Sturm was the only defeat in the most recent 50 Cup games.
Amstetten motivated against ailing Rapid-Elf
While the chances for St. Pölten are extremely slim, the other second division club from Lower Austria is already hoping for a surprise. Amstetten, who was last strong in the championship, meets Rapid in front of a sold out house in the Ertl-Glas-Stadion. In front of 2,800 fans, the team of coach Jochen Fallmann wants to plunge the Hütteldorfer even deeper into the crisis.
In the Bundesliga, Rapid is only tenth after the 1-1 draw on Sunday in Hartberg. Coach Dietmar Kühbauer then seemed perplexed and battered. “Amstetten won’t give us anything for free. We have always had a hard time there in the past. But I am convinced that we will deliver a good game on Thursday. ”Seven years ago, Rapid only prevailed in Amstetten in extra time, and in 2015 they could only fix promotion on penalties. These statistics and recently three wins in a row in the second division feed the hope for a sensation from Amstetten.
