Salzburg coach Jaissle: “When you’re in a final, of course you want to win it”
With a win at AC Milan, RB Salzburg would move into the Champions League round of 16 for the second time. Matthias Jaissle’s team can draw hope from the first leg.
Matthias Jaissle saw a lackluster performance from his team at the weekend.
IMAGO/photo booth
The starting position is for RB Salzburg before the last Champions League group game at the AC Milan (Wednesday, 9 p.m.) certainly not an unusual one. In previous seasons, promotion to the round of 16 was at stake for the Austrians on the sixth day of the game, but they only managed to do so last year. Salzburg then qualified with one 1-0 home win over FC Sevilla For the first time in the club’s history for the round of 16, the tough trip to San Siro is imminent this year.
CL Group Stage – Matchday 6
Matthias Jaissle’s team doesn’t have to do any big arithmetic games. If they win in Milan, Salzburg would reach the knockout round of the premier class behind Chelsea as group runners-up, a draw would be enough to qualify for the second round of the Europa League. This is possible even in the event of a defeat, should Dimano Zagreb not win in the parallel game at Chelsea.
Salzburg are preparing Milan for big problems in the first leg
“The fact that we have to win plays a secondary role in our approach. We always want to play courageously forwards, regardless of the starting position,” explained Jaissle before the meeting with the Italian champions. On the first day of the game, Salzburg showed that Stefano Pioli’s team could probably hurt themselves 1:1 draw in the city of Mozart under Evidence. Before the reunion, Jaissle took on the role of the underdog, at least verbally: “The pressure is on Milan, they are the big favorite.”
But it shouldn’t have escaped the attention of the Germans either that Milan had major problems with their team’s aggressive pressing at the beginning of September and – with the exception of the last ten minutes – could hardly set any accents. Midfielder Maurits Kjaergaard, at 1:0 home win over TSV Hartberg at the weekend with the kicker score of 2.5 as the player of the game, but agrees with his coach: “We know (…) that it will be extremely difficult to defeat the Italian champions in his home stadium.”
Jaissle praises players for ‘huge performance’
Even before the last group game, Jaissle was full of praise for his players: “Our young team worked out a final in the San Siro in this hammer group. Before the first game, not many people would have believed us capable of that. That alone is a huge achievement.” Nevertheless, the intention for Wednesday is clear: “Of course, if you’re in a final, you want to win it too.”
Against the “Rossoneri”, who suffered a 2-1 defeat at Torino in Serie A on Sunday, Jaissle will be without Nicolas Capaldo (knee), Fernando (hamstring) and Samson Tijani (tibia and fibula). In addition, the last in-form Junior Adamu and Oumar Solet threaten to fail with thigh problems. Whether the two will get on the plane on Tuesday was still open on Monday afternoon. On the other hand, it is already clear that Salzburg can count on record support in Milan: around 4,000 fans, more than ever before in the club’s history, make the journey to the Italian fashion metropolis.
Also read: Bottle-throwing victim Konrad: “I wouldn’t completely rule it out”