Red Bull Salzburg are expecting Wolfsberger AC in the Schlager league
Soccer champions Red Bull Salzburg welcome the WAC on Sunday afternoon (2.30 p.m.) in the 20th round of the Bundesliga. It’s a duel between first and second, so “Bulls” trainer Matthias Jaissle rightly speaks of a “top game”.
After a strong performance in the Champions League against Bayern Munich (1-1) during the week, his squad will also improve in the league. However, after the place in the master group has been fixed, the WAC does not want to hide under any circumstances.
Salzburg unbeaten in 19 league home games
Salzburg has been unbeaten in the championship at home for more than a year. The last defeat so far was on December 20, 2020, against the Lavanttaler (2:3). Since then, the series champion has had an almost flawless home record of 17 wins and two draws. This season, the first duel in Wolfsberg also went 2-0 to the “Bulls”.
Jaissle scattered roses in advance of the opponent. “They have a really good team, a good coach, we have to be careful. They’ve shown in the league how consistent they are. That’s impressive, so they’re rightly second and in the cup semi-finals.” , explained the German, who and his team will meet his compatriot Robin Dutt again just ten days after the Bundesliga duel in the ÖFB Cup semi-finals (March 2nd).
Okafor and Wöber fall against the WAC
In the meantime, the Salzburg hospital has grown again. Striker Noah Okafor, who had to be replaced early against Bayern due to a muscle injury, is missing against WAC. “We’re glad it doesn’t look too bad. He’ll be out for the next few days, maybe even a few weeks,” said Jaissle. Jerome Onguene, who came back from the Africa Cup with malaria, is also not an issue in the near future. On top of that, defender Maximilian Wöber is missing after the fifth yellow card.
Zlatko Junuzovic, on the other hand, has been back in team training for a week. “He still needs one or the other training session to be able to help the team,” said Jaissle, who was optimistic that Benjamin Sesko (thigh) will soon be available again. Nevertheless, Salzburg are clearly the favorites to play against the Carinthians, and Jaissle will increase the 14-point lead over their direct competitor. “Nothing has been achieved yet, there is a division of points.”
WAC in top form
Wolfsberg will show in Salzburg that it is rightly number two in Austria. In the last ten rounds, the Dutt team recorded eight wins and a draw with just one loss. Most recently, there was a 2-1 home win against SV Ried at the start of spring. The “Wolves” also want to write on Sunday, which they have done in each of the last three guest appearances in Wals-Siezenheim (one win, two draws).
“First place against two is always an interesting game by nature. We’ll try to stick to our strategy,” Dutt said, expecting the small series away from home to continue. “We also want to play our game against Salzburg.” WAC goalgetter Tai Baribo should do the trick again, the nine-time goal scorer has been successful in the past three league games.