Prokop: "Being from ‘Favoriten’ this is something very special"

Dominik Prokop, who was injured and missed the victories against SCR Altach (2-1) and SK Sturm Graz (2-0), could be in the starting line-up on Sunday (4:30 PM) for the 326th Vienna Derby in the Ernst Happel Stadium. The offensive player returned to training in the middle of this week.

"Want to take the momentum from Graz to the Derby"

The three points from Graz and especially the good performance against Sturm give strength. "But that game is over, we are focusing on the next task. Of course we want to take the momentum from Graz to the derby," emphasizes Prokop.

Early disturbance, aggression, compactness, courage, self-confidence, the desire to win, body language, all this will also be required in the city duel. "Yeah, that would be a big and important step," says our young man with the number 16 on his jersey.

"I live near the Generali Arena"

The Derby (the last in the Happel Stadium before we return to the new Generali Arena) has always been something special for Prokop. "Being from ‘Favoriten’ this is something very special because I live very close to our Stadium," says the youngster.

As an amateur player, Prokop has a positive balance against the city rival (7 games: 4-2-1 / 1 assist). As a professional, he could equalize in his seventh match (1-3-2 / 1 goal / 1 assist) with the second victory. "I really want to equalize my balance in the Derby." It would be the fourth home victory in the fourth home game under Coach Thomas Letsch.

"We implement a lot of what the coach expects from us"

With the German, our “Violets” have won four out of five games in the spring. Prokop’s answer to the question on how the new boss succeeded: "He got his ideas and philosophy very well across in a short amount of time. We're already implementing a lot of what he expects from us."

The way it is going right now is very pleasing and beautiful, says "Domi". The current standings confirm this as well. After the first four laps in 2018, we were twelve points behind the fourth place and nine points behind in fifth place, currently we are behind nine and seven points.

There is still a total of seven rounds to play. "There's a lot that can still happen. Of course, we first and foremost have to make sure we perform well, we want to make up as many points as we can to still make it," Prokop says about a European Cup starting place.

At the end of March, his adductors forced him to take a break and at the beginning of April he twisted his ankle during training. "Last week, the ankle was still swollen. Now it looks pretty good," says the 20-year-old, who watched his teammate’s success in Graz on TV.

"Great, that was really cool," he said enthusiastically. "That was a very important victory for our confidence and the difficult tasks ahead. Now we want to continue where we left off in Graz," says ‘Domi’ on behalf of his teammates. Of which he underlined Raphael Holzhauser.

"Rapha" scored his first headed goal in Austria to the 1-0 in Graz. "He is very strong in ‘header tennis’. Therefore, it surprised me that it was a premiere for him," joked Prokop about Holzhauser, who ended up match-winner when he scored again after a free-kick.

"I have played on this position before"

Holzhauser and Tarkan Serbest both saw yellow cards in Graz (ninth and fifth card) and are not allowed to play in the Derby. "They are not easy to replace, both are very important players for us. But whining doesn’t help, we have to accept this situation and I think we have good players to replace them with," says Prokop.

For "Rapha", who played in the 4-2-3-1 system on the right wing in Graz, Dominik could take over, assuming he has fully recovered. "Why not? I have often played on this position before," said the lively midfielder.

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Erstellt am 18.05.2018

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