The big hit will be on Saturday (5 p.m.) in Salzburg, where the leader and follower Sturm will be asking for a hot dance! The Ilzer squad is the only Bundesliga team that has already beaten the series champions this season. Jakob Jantscher: “We believe we can win in Salzburg too.”
The derby is history, but for Sturm it goes on in quick succession. The bang is already waiting in Salzburg on Saturday, followed by the first final at home against Feyenoord on Thursday. Crucial days for Christian Ilzer’s men. The big question before the duel for first place in the city of Mozart: Can Sturm hit the bulls again and even knock them off the throne? The Croesus has suffered only one bankruptcy so far in the league – in the second round he went down 2-1 in Graz. The Bulls want to turn the tables on Saturday. Before the hit, for which 16,000 cards are gone, the defending champion rubs honey on the challenger’s mouth. “I’m not surprised they’re doing so well. They march through the league in a similar way to us,” says coach Matthias Jaissle. Last year, the Ilzer squad was eleven points behind the Überdrüber-Elf after twelve laps. “We were able to reduce the gap to Salzburg. But now it’s time to keep at it, we believe we can win there as well,” emphasizes Jakob Jantscher. Sturm has long known how to tame the Bulls in their own arena: two years ago they were defeated 3-1 – the main actor was “JJ” with a brace. Of course, no one speaks of the title at Sturm, but dreaming is allowed. Jantscher: “We have to think big! If you think from the outset that you can’t do better than second place, then you’ll only get second at most. But with our game we can now also hurt big teams very, very much.” A departure from Christian Ilzer would hurt Sturm again. According to the German media, the coach at Schalke is under discussion. However, sports director Andreas Schicker dismisses it: “I had an appointment with his advisor on Thursday, so it wasn’t an issue.”
source site-12