On Saturday (5:00 pm), our Veilchen will welcome WSG Tirol to the Generali-Arena. Around 10,500 tickets had been sold by midday on Friday. Coach Stephan Helm is satisfied with his team's development so far and expects ‘full pressure’ from his team.

Head coach Stephan Helm on...

...tomorrow's opponent:
‘WSG's last few games have shown that all games in the league are extremely close. They do a good job. But we can build on our recent performances. We are one of the teams that are most present in the final third. That's exactly the direction we wanted to develop in: Playing attractive, active football. We've done that well recently. We now have to stay on the ball and put WSG under pressure right from the start. That will increase the likelihood of us coming away victorious.’

...the term ‘must win’:
‘It's not my approach to categorise opponents. We have the chance to win a game every week. We've managed that in the last few games. We were often in the penalty area and didn't concede much at the back. We now have a certain stability that we can build on. It was close in the games against the so-called ‘stronger’ teams, but unfortunately we weren't able to reward ourselves. It was close again against GAK and Klagenfurt, but we came out on top.’

...the league mode:
‘The mode was introduced so that the entertainment society gets its money's worth. It's a sign of the times. Whether I'm happy with it or not is not decisive. The framework conditions harbour certain dangers. But as professionals, we have to adapt to it. We have laid a positive foundation and are at a point where I say we can build on it. We want to play attractive, courageous football and develop young players. It's important that we protect the soul of football - the emotions. I believe that if we continue to drive our process forward, we can get more out of it. We have the right people to do that.’

...Nik Prelec:
‘Nik is a physical player who also has speed. You don't get that combination that often. He's very hard-working, has a good left foot, binds opponents, makes long balls tight and works a lot for the team. You can't measure this contribution in scoring points. Nevertheless, we hope - and he himself hopes - that he will soon get the hang of it. We support him wherever we can. I recognise his one hundred per cent determination. When you invest so much, you'll get it back twice and three times over. Preferably tomorrow.’

Manfred Fischer on...

...his role as captain:
‘I see it as my job to take responsibility. It's not difficult for young players to be included in the team. But it's important that the youngsters know where their limits are. If you try to do your best, you won't have a problem with the older players. We have a very professional culture within the team. We want to bring this closer to the youngsters: If you don't play along, you'll have a problem.’

... WSG Tirol:
‘I don't want to talk about a must-win. The league is very evenly matched. You can lose to anyone on a bad day and win against anyone on a good one. WSG is an opponent you can score against. It will be a tough game where we have to give our all. I hope we're more consistent tomorrow than we were in Klagenfurt.’

...the VAR decision in Klagenfurt:
‘The penalty that wasn't given has again triggered huge discussions. It felt like eight million people in Austria saw it, only one didn't. I looked at the pictures on the bus and thought: ‘What are you getting upset about? I'll just say this: it's getting more and more tedious every week. I would like to see the referees make progress here.’

Squad news

Johannes Handl is already partially involved in training and should be ready for action again the week after next. Ziad El Sheiwi is also back on the pitch, but is not yet a squad topic.