Two veterans in green and purple will lead their teams onto the field today (5 p.m.). Because captains Dejan Ljubicic (injured) and Alex Grünwald (suspended) are missing, Max Hofmann and Markus Suttner are the focus of the derby. The two defenders have spent around half their lives at their club.
Hofmann came to Hütteldorf as a nine-year-old “Maxi”, and at the age of 27 the Viennese had the best season of his life. “Max always works on himself and grows better and better into the role of defense chief – we see him very positively in the entire coaching team,” praised assistant trainer Nastl. Although Hofmann plays hard, he was only excluded once in 134 Bundesliga games: in his starting eleven debut in 2013 against Sturm (4-2) after just one minute.
Markus Suttner came to the Austria Academy in 2001 and celebrated the championship title together with coach Peter Stöger in 2013. From 2015, the left defender went to Ingolstadt, Brighton and Düsseldorf. At 33, the 20-time team player returned under Stöger.
As it should be in lockdown, the two captains were asked separately by the KURIER about their very personal derby experiences.
COURIER: Which is the earliest derby you can remember?
Max Hofmann: My mother and sister have always been Rapid fans, that’s why I noticed that early on, it must have been around 1998.
