“That doesn’t change anything for us,” says Salzburg coach Gerhard Struber, unimpressed by the coaching cast at LASK. The 47-year-old is currently going through a small phase of weakness with his team. At the beginning of April they were eliminated against Sturm in the cup semi-finals, and the next setback followed on Sunday with the 1-1 draw against Rapid.
After a late 1-0 lead, the Struber team conceded the equalizer in stoppage time and have to worry about their eleventh championship title in a row seven rounds before the end of the season. “It will be tight until the end,” predicted midfielder Mads Bidstrup.
Salzburg against LASK under pressure
On Friday evening, champions Red Bull Salzburg will face LASK in the Bundesliga. After the exit from the ÖFB Cup against Sturm Graz and the last-minute draw against Rapid, Salzburg are under increasing pressure.
Setbacks dealt with
The guest appearance in Linz is a challenge for the series champions; they can no longer afford another slip-up in the title fight. “We want to move everything in one direction for ourselves in order to take three points,” Struber made clear.
GEPA/David Geieregger Gerhard Struber has to cope with failures
They “trained well during the week and talked a lot in order to work through our issues from the last two games in the best possible way.” Last but not least, the creativity and penetration in the forward game have been missing lately.
Injury concerns for “Bulls”
The fact that Fernando, a dangerous offensive weapon, was injured against Rapid and is out for the rest of the season doesn’t make the task any easier. Midfielder Maurits Kjaergaard is also missing from the Linzer Gugl injured, but at least captain and full-back Amar Dedic could return after his ankle injury.
“The injuries to Fernando and Kjaergaard are of course anything but positive, but we have other players who we have full trust in and with whom we want to get three points,” emphasized Struber.
GEPA/Christian Moser Maximilian Ritscher and Thomas Darazs are supposed to turn things around at LASK
Change of coach should provide a breath of fresh air
“The last duels with LASK were close and hard-fought. It will certainly be the same again on Friday,” suspected central defender Strahinja Pavlovic. In the league, LASK and Salzburg won once, both 1-0 away, and in the cup quarter-finals Salzburg prevailed 3-2 in Linz. In the championship group, the Ligacroesus has been unbeaten in 16 games, and there were seven wins against LASK in eight games in the second phase of the season.
Schedule and table
Bundesliga, 26th round
Starts at 7:30 p.m.:
LASK – Salzburg
Raiffeisen Arena, SR Harkam
Possible lineups:
SHOT: Lawal – Ziereis, Andrade, Talowjerow – Flecker, Horvath, Berisha, Bello – Usor, Ljubicic, Pintor
Salzburg: Schlager – Dedic, Pavlovic, Solet, Guindo – Bidstrup, Gourna-Douath, Sucic, Forson – Ratkov, Konate
In any case, Linz’s appearance can be eagerly awaited. On Wednesday, the athletes, who had slipped to fourth place, separated from Sageder after only around nine months in order to save their season goal of third place with “new impulses”.
“Stand up for each other, pull together”
Sageder’s former co-coach Ritscher is taking on this challenge as interim coach. “Things won’t change much, I want to continue on the path,” announced the 30-year-old. “But we can become even more compact, play with and against the ball and be more united. That can be a big lever.”
“Stand up for each other, pull together” must be the motto on Friday evening. “It will be a very intense game again, but we want to win this game. We are preparing the team well for this, despite the changes that are not easy for a team,” said Ritscher.
Captain Zulj is still missing
After eight league games with just one win (1-0 against Klagenfurt) and only three goals scored, things need to be turned around. It remains to be seen whether the dependence on Robert Zulj, who was often missing in the spring, will also be a factor this time.
The injured captain is still unavailable, and Rene Renner and Ibrahim Mustapha are also still injured. Defensive man Philipp Ziereis is ready to play again.
