Rapid won the home game against WSG Tirol on Sunday (from 5 p.m. in the LIVE Ticker >>>) the starting place for the champion group of the Admiral Bundesliga in sight.
With a home win over the Watteners, the Hütteldorfers could no longer be pushed out of the top six a round before the division, but in the event of a defeat, the pressure before the derby in a week’s time at Austria would be great. Therefore, coach Zoran Barisic wants to get everything wrapped up before the duel with the archrival.
This should succeed against the current favorite opponent – Rapid has all won the last seven league duels with the WSG. Nevertheless, Barisic warned: “You have to classify each match on its own. As far as the course of the game is concerned, there have always been games that were very close and where small things made the difference.”
Barisic: “Opponents are often underestimated by the public”
Barisic has great respect for the Tyroleans. “The opponent is underestimated by the general public. They’ve been doing a great job for a long time, have improved a lot, are brave and diligent in the game against the ball. They come through the team structure, but still have one or the other who protrudes.”
The Rapid coach is aware of the danger of falling out of the top six. “The tension is there, it’s supposed to be there and it’s definitely not artificial,” said Barisic and called on his professionals to do their duty. “As a Rapid player you have to be able to handle pressure.”
Fourth in the table has a four-point lead over seventh-placed Austria Klagenfurt, and with the right results in the parallel games, one point could also be enough for Green-White for a place in the championship group. However, Barisic does not want to get involved in arithmetic games.
“I want us to win, perform well, build on the Salzburg match and put everything we can on the pitch, regardless of how things are on the other pitches.”
Gartler’s failure extends injury list
In addition to the long-term injuries, the Viennese will also have to do without the suspended Jonas Auer and Aleksa Pejic on Sunday, and substitute goalie Paul Gartler suffered a meniscus injury on Thursday, was operated on on Friday and will be out for weeks. Thorsten Schick and Oliver Strunz are available again for this.
The sixth-placed WSG can possibly rely on Thomas Sabitzer again. The striker travels to Vienna despite a broken cheekbone, a use with a face mask is conceivable.
Coach Thomas Silberberger is looking forward to a “cool match. We have nothing to lose. We can only win everything. Accordingly, we should be courageous and enjoy the game. There are far worse situations for a footballer than two days before the end of the regular season To be able to fix participation in the master group – for both teams.”
Silberberger: “It’s not about our lives”
You can appear without pressure, stressed Silberberger. “It’s not about our lives, it’s just about reaching the championship group. We should go into the match with great excitement.
Anyone who fears Rapid will be overwhelmed by the crowd. We all know that Rapid is the clear favourite. But we can be brave. If we act like we did in the second half of the season, then we can demand Rapid,” said the 49-year-old, adding: “If we’re not intense in Hütteldorf, we’ll be slaughtered. If we’re intense, maybe we can put up an even fight.”
The negative series against Rapid does not interest the coach very much. “Statistics don’t play football. It’s disastrous, of course, but we have negative statistics against many Austrian clubs. We’re not the big FC Tirol in their heyday. These statistics don’t matter at all.”
This is how things currently stand in the ADMIRAL Bundesliga:
