Salzburg fulfills its duty and focuses on the final game in Milan
With a narrow 1-0 home win over TSV Hartberg, Salzburg’s B-Elf just about fulfilled their duty and recharged important motivation before the upcoming final game in the Champions League group phase against AC Milan.
Matthias Jaissle and his team struggled to win.
APA
When the Champions League anthem sounds in Milan on Wednesday, the difficult 1-0 win against Hartberg be long forgotten. On Saturday had to Salzburg still work out something with the work victory over the bottom of the Bundesliga, but when the final whistle sounded, the only thing officially left to think about was the “final” at AC Milan. “You could already clearly see today that the game is in the back of the players’ minds,” summarized head coach Matthias Jaissle.
Bundesliga – 14th matchday
The Bulls’ rotation self struggled against Hartberg in the first half despite complete dominance. “We wanted to be more focused and focused,” said Jaissle, who had sent seven new players onto the field compared to the recent 2-1 loss to Chelsea. The focus was on regeneration in the likely future of the CL game with Italy’s champions, who will decide on promotion, a move to the Europa League or elimination. “We can’t be satisfied with the performance and appearance today. That wasn’t the game that we planned and that we’re used to,” confirmed Maximilian Wöber, who played the full-back role this time – for at least half of the game.
Schmidt sees clear improvements in his team
Jaissle, who had completely reshuffled the midfield with Youba Diarra, Lawrence Agyekum, Benjamin Sesko and Dijon Kameri, also wanted positives to be mentioned. “The structure of our game was fine overall. There would have been enough space, but we didn’t use them enough. The last pass didn’t go the way we planned,” says the German, whose team after three home draws against Rapid, LASK and Sturm in front of his own audience and at least maintained the two-point lead over the first pursuer from Graz (on Sunday against Ried): “It was a work victory, a must-win. That is everything that matters today.”
The contrast between Saturday and Wednesday could not be greater. Jaissle looked forward to a “brutal game, a tough challenge”. “But we managed to play this final. And being in this group makes us proud,” he said of opponents Milan, Chelsea and Dinamo Zagreb. “That’s why we’re going to Milan with a big head. We can annoy this world-class team with our kind of football. But we need a cream day and Milan a not so good one.”
Hartberg would have needed such a dream day, especially in the second half the guests, who had recently lost against Rapid 1:5, even had certain opportunities. “We had a lot to make up for.
“In the last few games we fell apart after falling behind, that wasn’t the case today. On the contrary, we even managed to create half-chances. The team fought until the end. It’s a huge step forward for us, a clear one improvement,” explained Schmidt. Two home games against newly promoted Lustenau and Rapid remain before the winter break to score points. The gap to eleventh place will be at least two points after Sunday. “We have to get out of this shit alley as soon as possible,” said midfielder Jürgen Heil dryly.