"We want to annoy Sturm"

The Veilchen are still within striking distance of fourth place after the 1:2 defeat against Austria Klagenfurt, one point behind their city rivals from Hütteldorf. The away match against Sturm Graz marks the halfway point of the championship group, after which the second half of the season will follow with one more match against each of the five rivals. For the Veilchen, a double round robin against Sturm Graz is on the agenda, followed by the home match on 7 May (Sunday, 14:30), the coming weekend (29/30 April) is match-free for Austria due to the Graz team's participation in the Cup final.

In the two games against Sturm so far this season, Austria lost 0:3 (h, 2.10.22) and 1:3 (a, 12.3.23), the last encounter in Graz was just over a month ago. Sturm, in second place, is five points behind leader Salzburg and still in the title race. On Sunday, coach Christian Ilzer's team will play the Cup final against Rapid - between the two duels with Austria.

Sporting director Manuel Ortlechner: "We have to be careful not to misjudge the game against Klagenfurt. We are in a development phase and things can't always go straight up. I liked the players' reaction, they were very self-critical and blamed themselves. We win together, we lose together. We continue to believe in the boys, it's a really great group. We already have the opportunity on Wednesday to do better against a top opponent. The game against Klagenfurt proved that in the championship group it's all about details against every opponent. If we play at our best, every team will have a hard time against us. If we don't, we have a hard time against everyone."

Coach Michael Wimmer: "The good thing is that we don't have much time until the next game. It's important that we don't perceive the game as a setback - we want to grow and develop from this experience. We have seen: If we don't perform at our best, we won't win a game. We have to be concentrated, active and courageous in every situation and we have to stop making individual mistakes. Sturm is an opponent against whom we had no chance five weeks ago, at least in the first half. We didn't cope with the intensity. We want to accept the challenge and compete with this top team. The positive thing is that we've already proved in the last few weeks that we can annoy top opponents - now we want to annoy Sturm."

Personnel news

There is pleasing news from Doron Leidner. The 20-year-old left-back will take part in the final training session and then decide whether he is match fit and can travel to Graz. At the latest, the Israeli team player would like to return for the home game in one and a half weeks. Can Keles is injured in the adductor area and is questionable for Wednesday.

Lucas Galvão (muscle fibre tear in the calf), as well as the four long-term injured Muki Husković, Ziad El Sheiwi, Florian Wustinger and Marko Raguž are still out. Dominik Fitz and Haris Tabaković return to the team after their suspensions.

"The return of Fitz and Tabakovic of course gives us positive energy, we are always happy when quality players return - this also gives us more width in the squad again," says coach Michael Wimmer.