Rapid Vienna – Salzburg SOCCER PICKS
The Austrian Bundesliga is finally back after a long winter break and brings on their 19th matchday a real hit with it. SK Rapid Wien welcomes FC Red Bull Salzburg. It is the duel of the Austrian record champion against the series champion of the last five years. The starting positions of the two clubs could hardly be more different before the match. Rapid returns to Milan after a bitter 4-0 defeat by Inter and has to face the league leaders in the league. The capital club definitely needs a win to reach the top half of the table before the 22nd matchday and thus before the division of the league. Red Bull Salzburg is already known as the champions of the first round. In an impressive Europa League night, the Red Bulls made a 2-1 defeat from the first leg against Bruges and advanced to the Round of 16 with a 6-2 aggregate score.
How difficult the task for the Green-Whites actually is, clarify the odds in the game between Rapid Vienna and Red Bull Salzburg. Before the winter break, Didi Kühbauer’s side could only win one of their last five games. This included the 1: 6 debacle against archrival Austria Wien. Six points are missing the Hütteldorfern on the SK Sturm Graz and thus on the upper half of the table. In addition they need a much better goal difference than now. For the coach of the record champion, the air could also be close, if after the disgrace against the Vienna Austria and Inter Milan, the next high defeat follows. Accordingly, it can be assumed that the team will give everything on Sunday for Didi Kühbauer. From the Viennese’s point of view, the champion could not come at a worse time. The Salzburg are still undefeated in the Austrian Bundesliga. Four of the last five games in Austria’s top division have decided the red bulls for themselves. Accordingly, in the match between Rapid Wien and Red Bull Salzburg, the tip on the bulls seems most likely, albeit not particularly lucrative.
Rapid Vienna:
Rapid Wien is currently in a very difficult phase. So far, the season has not been going according to plan from the Green-Whites’ point of view. Although surprisingly the knockout phase of the Europa League was reached, the friends were only short. After a 0-1 defeat at home to Inter Milan followed on Thursday evening a bitter 4-0 in Italy. Also in the Austrian Bundesliga things are not going better for the Viennese. Five wins, five draws and eight defeats are the record of SK Rapid Wien in the current season. Before the winter break, they lost 1-6 in the Wiener Derby, thus reaching a low point in the 120-year club history. In order to reach the minimum goal of the upper half of the table, the Hütteldorfer must catch up six points on Sturm Graz in the next four games. Therefore, a victory against the over-team from Salzburg is actually mandatory. The 5: 2 win over the TSV Hartberg in the ÖFB Cup gives the Viennese at least hope.
Both Goran Djuricin and Didi Kühbauer held on to 4-2-3-1. The two Vorstopper should bring stability in the game of the capital club. This also succeeded in most league games. Rapid has scored 25 goals so far in the current season. If you exclude the defeat against Stadtrivalen Austria, it is a very solid season from the defensive perspective. A significant contribution to the fact that Rapid still has chances on the upper half of the table, made goalkeeper Richard Strebinger. Both in the Europa League and in the national competitions convinced the 26-year-old Austrian. In 17 inserts in the Bundesliga Strebinger could hold zero six times. The goalkeeper was very annoyed after the end in the Europa League: “To survive here, all players must call 100 percent performance, we did not succeed.”
The problem of the Viennese is clearly on the offensive. With only 17 goals scored Rapid sets together with Admira Wacker and Wacker Innsbruck the safest attack in the league. Deni Alar, Thomas Murg and Mario Sonnleitner are the top scorers of the Green-White with three goals each. Therefore, the Viennese committed in the winter with Aliou Badji a new striker. The 21-year-old Senegalese came from the Swedish first division Djurgardens IF. However, the attacker was not yet eligible to play for the capital club.
Red Bull Salzburg:
In the winter break, the Salzburg made attention only by departures on themselves. In summer Munas Dabbur and Hannes Wolf will leave the Austrian champions. Many fans of the cops were worried that this news could affect the morale of the team. The 2-1 defeat against FC Bruges in Belgium confirmed this assumption. However, FC Red Bull Salzburg returned with two convincing results. In the quarterfinals of the ÖFB Cup, the Euro Fighters drove the expected 2: 1 victory in Wiener Neustadt. On Thursday evening, the Salzburg were in their best side in the UEFA Europa League. At home in Wals-Siezenheim they defeated Bruges 4-0 and moved into the second round. Coach Marco Rose was very pleased after the victory: “I’m proud of my team, which has brought a strong team performance.”
The 4-3-1-2 is the favored system of Marco Rose. Both in the cup, as well as in the Europa League, the red bulls from the city of Mozart came up in this formation. One of the most important players in this system is playmaker Hannes Wolf. Ten points scorer collected the 19-year-old international already. Wolf was able to feed his strikers with six assists. Red Bull Salzburg are Munas Dabbur and Smail Prevljak, the two most dangerous strikers in the Austrian Bundesliga. Both scored nine goals each in the top Austrian league. Since Prevljak was spared in the two Europa League games, can be expected on Sunday with a deployment of the 23-year-old Bosnians.
Salzburg are the best defense in Austria. The team of Marco Rose received only 16 goals in the first 18 league games of the season. In the Bundesliga Cican Stankovic guarded the gate of the Bulls in 16 of the 18 matches. Six times the ÖFB national player could echo the zero. Defense chief Marin Pongracic made a significant contribution to the positive defensive statistics. 25 times he was cross-competitor for Salzburg on the court and 19 of these games decided the red bulls for themselves. However, it is not yet known whether the young Croat will be spared after the two Europa League games in the league against Rapid Vienna. Jasper van der Werff, Patrick Farkas, Youba Diarra and, presumably, Fredrik Gulbrandsen will be out injured.
