Pentz talks about the top clash in Salzburg

"I particularly remember the last games against Red Bull Salzburg," emphasizes the 21-year-old who gave his season premiere in Salzburg in autumn. The 0-0 was one of his career highlights, with his performance in front of family and friends, he made the draw possible.

With brilliant saves Pentz made sure of the draw on 9/24/2017. We were able to see another draw with him on 12/3/2017 in Vienna. The young goalie showed beautiful parades during the 1-1 as well. Despite of the two honourable results, RB Salzburg has been undefeated for 23 competitive games and are clearly the tipped team.

"I hope we can use our chance"

"That's always the case when you play against the table leaders," emphasizes the fair head, who could win 6 points in the past 2 games with his teammates. "We showed that we can win again."

Salzburg has a tough game against Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday. "I hope that this will be a bit exhausting for them and we can take the chance. But it will not be easy for us," says “Pentzi”.

The opponent could exchange the whole starting line-up and would still hardly lose quality, he notes. "We have to be committed and perform well tactically - we can make that happen together with the coaching team," our goalkeeper looks cheerfully forward to the top game.

Pentz on Madl: "What he does is simply outstanding"

It is good that Tarkan Serbest, who was last suspended against SKN St. Pölten, will be available again on Sunday. "Tarkan is valuable for the build-up of the game, is technically very strong, goes into duels, runs and works a lot," says Patrick about the defensive midfielder.

David de Paula took over this position against SKN with a great performance. "You have to praise “DePa” for that, he did a great job," he says about the Basque. Like Serbest, Michael Madl is also a stabilizer, a leader, a centre-back with good technique. And as the new DJ in the dressing room Madl plays Patrick's favourite music of the 90s.

"Mike sees a lot, leads us with his routine. What he does is simply outstanding. He arranges the entire team. It does not matter if it is in the beginning of the game or the 93^rd minute, if one of us doesn’t run anymore and works backwards, he screams at him," says Pentz about Madl, who scored 2 goals in 3 games.

"I like it when a coach communicates a lot with us"

Head coach Thomas Letsch already knows Pentz from their time together in Salzburg. With him Patrick became U16 champion of the ÖFB youth league 2013 (with 18 victories, three draws and one defeat). The football coach and the goalkeeper liked each other back then already. "I like it when the coach communicates a lot with the players," says Pentz.

It is important to get feedback from the coach. "If not much is said, it is difficult to estimate your performance," says our goalie with the number 32 on his jersey. Flexibility is also very important to the head coach as seen against SKN St. Pölten. Pentz said, "That is great, to be harder to calculate for the opponent."

Everything is subordinated to the big goal

Under the new coach, Pentz has been ranked number one so far, "If the coach has made that decision, both sides must accept it, whether they play or not. I am now in the best position being allowed to play," says Pentz.

It's not about individual players, but about the team, the whole club. "We want to achieve our goal which is a starting place in the UEFA Europa League," explains our number one, who gets along very well with Osman Hadzikic:

About the goal against SKN: practice with Franz Gruber

"You have to like the people you are working with for a climate of trust during training. Everyone benefits when there is a high quality of training. You push each other to your peak performance," says Pentz about his everyday life.

Just like "his" basketball superstar Stephen Curry, who shines with long throws for Golden State, Pentz also masters wide and accurate kicks, like before the 2-0 against SKN. "This is a practice method of our trainer Franz Gruber. We try to bring passes exactly to the man or through scoops to wing players," says the keeper.

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