23rd round of the Austrian Bundesliga. Austria Wien welcomes LASK Linz, with the sportkrone.at live ticker you are right there with them. It’s currently 2-2.
Here’s the live ticker: Linz defended third place in the Generali Arena, but the lead over the “Violets” shrank to three points due to the division of points. With a home win, coach Michael Wimmer’s team could move into the top 3, provided Rapid doesn’t win in Graz. Most recently, however, Austria remained without a win at home against LASK seven times in a row. Coach Michael Wimmer has correspondingly great respect for the Upper Austrians, whom he attested to a “brutal individual quality”. “But I also believe that we can stand up to the fans in a home game,” said the German, who has had twelve points from six games since taking office at the beginning of the year – one more than LASK. All three home games under Wimmer’s aegis were won, most recently before the international break the derby (2-0). “Yesterday we had 21 players in training for the first time since I’ve been here,” said a happy Wimmer. Lucas Galvao, James Holland and Andreas Gruber trained fully again, the latter is ready to play. “Andi Gruber is definitely fit. James and Lucas have now fully participated in the first week. I don’t think they’ll be an issue for Sunday,” said the coach cautiously. By reaching the championship group, Austria’s goals for the season have been sharpened, and the focus is on Europe. “If we perform well, at the end of the day we will be in a position that will enable us to take part in the European Cup,” said Wimmer. Financially, that would be important for the indebted club, sporting director Manuel Ortlechner made clear. “We didn’t budget for the European Cup. But because of our ‘backpack’, which we’re still carrying, it wouldn’t be bad if we qualified for Europe again.” The 43-year-old said the 43-year-old said the current licensing process, where a decision should be made in the first instance on April 13th : “It’s not like there weren’t any queries. This is due to the past. But I would like to give a special compliment to the team around Alexander Korinek (head of finance, note), who deals with the license. It’s unbelievable what the man has done with his team around the delivery and also now when questions come up. “If we manage to get our game idea onto the pitch in the best possible way, then all the teams in Austria will have a problem against us,” the sporting director is convinced. One of the main culprits for these problems was striker Haris Tabakovic, who netted seven times in six games in 2023. The 28-year-old wants to continue this series on Sunday. With three wins, two draws and one defeat, LASK 2023 has a solid record in the league. While the results mostly matched, the sporting performance of coach Dietmar Kühbauer’s team was often manageable. That should change with the beginning of the decisive championship phase. Kühbauer expects an “intensive and close game in Vienna. It is important for us to be present from the first minute and not only to counter the strengths of Austria, but above all to put our own skills on the pitch Philipp Wiesinger and Thomas Goiginger.