Patrick Schmidt: The Salzburg fright has a mission
Actually, defending champion RB Salzburg shouldn’t have much to worry about in the cup game in the southern part of the city today – if it weren’t for Patrick “Pipo” Schmidt. The Admira returnee has scored five times in six matches against the Bulls and expects to be able to live up to his role as Salzburg fright. His mission to shoot the Admira back up is even more important to him.
Mr. Schmidt, with five goals in six games against the Bulls you are the absolute Salzburg scare. Do you think they still remember that in Salzburg?
Yes, I’ve scored a few goals against Salzburg. But I don’t know if anyone in Salzburg remembers it. The team looks different every summer. I scored the most goals against Cican Stankovic, who is no longer there. Central defenders Pongracic and Caleta-Car are also gone. I know Maxi Wöber well from the youth national teams, otherwise from the games in which I scored Andi Ulmer is probably the only one left.
You scored two braces against Salzburg and have not scored as often against any other opponent. Why do you like Salzburg?
Good question, maybe because they are always very high. Their high pressing creates spaces behind the defense and I’m a striker who likes to go deep. That’s how I scored some of my goals. In addition, games against Salzburg are always something special, you have to push yourself to the limit as a team. Let’s see if I’m still a Salzburg specialist today.
It’s fair to say that despite your many goals against Salzburg, you only scored once.
Yes, once we lost 1:5, once 2:6, only in my last game it was enough for a 2:2. You just need an outstanding day against Salzburg, otherwise it’s brutally difficult to survive against them. Especially when something is at stake, like now in the cup, they are always there 100 percent and rarely let anything go to waste. You can see their quality in the Champions League, they are in a group with Milan and Chelsea and still haven’t lost a game. But we will do our best and try to deliver a surprise.
You returned to the relegated Admira in the summer after three years abroad. Was that your concern?
I feel extremely comfortable at Admira, it’s the club where I’ve spent most of my life. It really felt like coming home when I came back in the summer. I’ve always kept in touch with some players and when Admira was relegated, it hurt me from afar. But there are some players who are very attached to Admira. Together we have decided that we want to do our part to ensure that Admira manages to rise again.
At the moment it doesn’t look as if the direct resurgence will succeed. What’s the plan?
There is a three year plan. We’re not stressed about having to move up this year. We also know the statistic that no club has managed to get promoted directly for 26 years. The second division is really not an easy place. But next year or the year after that we want to be up there again.
Horn is a team up front that shouldn’t be out of reach for Admira. Do you still see chances?
We still have to consolidate, we certainly had three games that we lost unnecessarily. But if you want to move up, everything has to fit together. We’re six points down now, that’s not the world. And catching six points on Horn shouldn’t be as impossible as catching six points on Salzburg. The mood in the club is good and I’m sure that we’ll be able to get promoted within the next three years. Because every single player here wants to be champion.
Did you have enough of foreign countries after Esbjerg?
I also had good moments abroad, especially at Barnsley. But in the end things didn’t go that well at Esbjerg. I saw that as a sign, again. I just want to have more playing time again, perform well and start again. I don’t put any pressure on myself to have to go abroad again. I just want to enjoy football again.
At Barnsley Whenever you have legend status after keeping the club in the league in 2020 with your goals in the last two rounds?
After the Corona break, we really had an incredible run. We were actually relegated and have beaten two Premier League candidates in the last two games. In the penultimate round I scored the winning goal against Nottingham in the 94th minute, against Brentford in the last round I again provided the assist in injury time to win 2-1. Those were incredible emotions and feelings that I will remember forever. I haven’t been there since, but I’m still in touch with some of the staff. I do think the fans hold me in high esteem. It was nice, but I don’t regret it. I just want to play good football again at Admira.
Was your year in Esbjerg not so good?
I got along very well with Peter Hyballa, who brought me to Esbjerg, but there were problems in the team, there were groups and disruptive factors. Due to this unrest, one wheel could never interlock. Then a new coach came and no matter what I did in training, I wasn’t in the squad anymore. At some point I didn’t even enjoy going to training anymore. It wasn’t until a new coach came that I played again in the last couple of games. But my three goals were only short intermediate highs, all in all it was a year to forget. It’s only when I look back now that I remember a few nice moments and I just think it’s a shame because it didn’t have to be like that.
Back to the cup game against Salzburg. A bonus game, as it is called in modern footballer slang?
Absolutely. We played one of our best games of the season in the 3-0 win against Altach in the first round. Every game we’re still in in the cup is a bonus. It’s great that we’re even playing against Salzburg now, because they’re just a cool team. Expectations are not so high, we can only surprise. Our chances are just as low as they were to stay up with Barnsley, it’s only a few percentage points. But the beauty of football is that if we’re lucky, we can annoy them.