Kracher in Salzburg at the start of the master group
The championship group starts with a real bang with the duel between leaders Red Bull Salzburg and the closest pursuer Sturm Graz. After the 7-1 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16, the Mozart city team has to show a reaction and find their way back to victory.
After the rebuff, victory should follow.
APA/Erwin Scheriau
In the 7-1 defeat by Bayern Munich in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, leaders Red Bull Salzburg experienced a pitch-black day and were brought back to earth with full force. After the rare drop-out of the Mozartstadt team, it is up to Matthias Jaissle and Co. to get over the encounter against the German record champions quickly and find their way back to success at the start of the master group. There it comes directly to a duel with the first pursuer Sturm Graz, who is currently nine points behind Salzburg and has always drawn the short straw in the previous two encounters.
Champions Group – Matchday 23
“It’s great that this banger continues straight away! We have to get back on track as soon as possible and tick off the Bayern game. We’re looking forward to a home game in front of hopefully many spectators and hope to have a great party,” said head coach Jaissle the encounter against Grazer. With 55 points from 22 rounds, the Mozart city-dwellers set a new Bundesliga record this season, surpassing their own record from the 2018/19 season. In addition, the “Bulls” have been unbeaten in their own stadium for 26 competitive games and have celebrated 23 victories.
Salzburg has to do without Camara
But the “Blackies” from the capital of Styria are coming to the top of the league with a series of seven undefeated games in a row and have always scored in the eleven away games so far. The two teams met at the start of the season, and then Salzburg won 3-1. “We know that it’s always very bad to play against Sturm. But we’re prepared for that and we’ll fight back. We’ve already beaten them twice this year. We want to do the same on Sunday,” said midfielder Nicolas Seiwald.
In addition to Sekou Koita, Bryan Okoh and Jerome Onguene, who have been absent for a long time, Salzburg are also without Mohamed Camara, who sustained a thigh injury in the game against Bayern. In addition, defender Albert Vallci is absent from the league hit due to a muscle injury sustained in training. There is a question mark over the use of young player Daouda Guindo. “In general, next week will be very exciting with these three games (note: Sturm, WAC, WAC), we could clear a few things before the international break. Of course we’re trying to get three wins from the three games and get a good starting position “, Seiwald looks combatively towards the coming encounters.