Round of 16 – Sturm and Salzburg challenged in the ÖFB Cup
Wednesday is the main match day in the round of 16 of the ÖFB Cup: With defending champions Red Bull Salzburg and Sturm Graz, the top two teams in the Bundesliga will also get into the action in the evening. The Grazer receive in the ORF-1 live game league competitor SV Ried (6 p.m.), Salzburg must go to the second division tenth SKN St. Pölten (7 p.m.). Hartberg has to do away with Blau Weiß Linz, the FAC asks Kapfenberger SV to dance.
In the first of two Bundesliga duels in the round of 16, the second Sturm Graz receives the ninth-placed Rieder. Sturm just finished a tough English week at the weekend, the 1-0 defeat against Real Sociedad in the Europa League was followed by a 4-1 defeat at champions Salzburg on Sunday. In addition, a few players such as captain Stefan Hierländer (knee surgery) or Alexander Prass (strain in the thigh) revealed complaints that gave Christian Ilzer a headache. Vincent Trummer suffers from back problems, and Alexandar Borkovic also has slight muscular problems.
“The past week has of course cost substance and we have to think in all directions whether we can change something strategically because of the possible failures,” said the coach. “We will prepare ourselves in such a way that we can overcome the hurdles Ried at home. Knockout games are always special, and we stay and want to awaken new potential and see where we can get something out of which players.”
The last time the two teams met in the league was on October 17th. The Graz team won 1-0 in front of their own audience thanks to a goal from Jakob Jantscher. “We will play just as aggressively against Sturm Graz. When and when we last played in the championship. But they won’t surprise us as they have almost perfected their style of play,” said Ried’s coach Christian Heinle. “The Graz team are of a very high quality. We were close in the championship and have a chance in the cup,” said midfielder Stefan Nutz.
Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle announces that he will provide a few fresh forces in St. Pölten. “The next few days and weeks will be very intense, so we will trust a few guys who have recently had fewer minutes of action,” said the German. He can probably afford it: The series champions won the last match so far in St. Pölten on November 18, 2020 with 8: 2, the last match so far on March 7 of this year in Salzburg ended with a 4: 1 victory.
Carinthian victories against Styrians
In the Styrian-Carinthian neighborhood derbies on Tuesday there was initially a Carinthian victory: Bundesliga side WAC had to go into overtime to be the first team in the quarter-finals after the 5-3 success; The duel between SC Weiz and Austria Klagenfurt, which the Carinthian Bundesliga team also won in the end (1: 4), also went into extra time.