Game preview for Salzburg

Austria Wien travel to Red Bull Salzburg on Saturday (5 pm) to round off the fully packed Bundesliga week. The Violets are aware of the Bulls' role as favourites, but want to end the week successfully and get the maximum out of the game.

It's back-to-back matches, three days after the home game against Sturm Graz, Manfred Fischer & Co are challenged in Salzburg. Between lunch and the final training session, coach Stephan Helm looks out onto the pitch from the south stand and reminisces about Wednesday.

‘In the end, we could have seized the opportunity to get the three points’, says Helm. Nevertheless: ‘Sturm Graz showed in the first half why they are the reigning double winners. We know that we can still do a lot better, but we'll also take a lot from the game.’

Top performance required against Salzburg

Like the Violets, Salzburg were also in action during the week and progressed to the last 16 of the Cup after an unchallenged 4-0 win at Wiener Viktoria. In the Bundesliga, the last game was a goalless draw against WSG Tirol, before which they lost 2-3 away to Rapid. The last and so far only home game in a domestic competition was won 5-1 against Blau-Weiß Linz.

‘The stakes are extremely high away in Salzburg, we all know that. Nevertheless, we won't concede at any stage of the game and will devise a tactic that will increase our chances of picking up a point and ideally a win. We want to get the maximum out of Salzburg’, said Helm.

Goalkeeper Samuel Şahin-Radlinger knows that if you want to do that, you have to give your maximum: ‘You simply need to be at your best against Salzburg. We all have to be ready in our heads once again this week to go beyond our limits in order to take something home.’

The 31-year-old keeper has taken on an important role for the Violets, taking on responsibility in the dressing room and also improving his form on the pitch. ‘I think the curve is already going up and my performances are getting better. I'm working hard for that, I'm very meticulous and ambitious, I always want more from myself. At the end of the day, you just realise that, regardless of age and experience, it's extremely important to keep playing in order to improve.’

Personnel situation

Andreas Gruber suffered a shoulder dislocation against Sturm Graz on Wednesday and is out on Saturday. ‘It's happened to him before and fortunately it's no worse than usual. The shoulder was set again after the game’, reports Helm. Gruber himself is confident that he will be able to return to the pitch next week.

Apart from that, the injury list remains unchanged: Marvin Potzmann is training with the team again, Marvin Martins is currently completing parts of team training and Johannes Handl should be ready in two to three weeks. Ziad El Sheiwi and Luca Pazourek are still out of the squad.