Brainless action

Rieder before the derby: “I don’t give a f… pass me by!”

Scored eight goals in two Austria seasons, scored twice for WAC in the Cup: Florian Rieder.

(Bild: pessentheiner, GEPA)

WAC new signing Florian Rieder will face former club Austria Klagenfurt for the first time in the derby at the Wörthersee-Stadion on Saturday (5pm) - where a small group of wannabe "Ultras" insulted him with a banner and "funny things" happened. . .

The stupid don't die out. A sentence that fits these Austria-Klagenfurt "fans" perfectly. In pre-season, a bunch of wannabe Ultras bid farewell to Florian Rieder with a low-level banner. With disgusting words against the 27-year-old - and also against Wolfsberg's "big boss" Dietmar Riegler: "Rieder and Riegler l**** each other their G****".

(Bild: zvg)

"I still don't know why. . ."
All because Rieder had just switched sides - from Austria to local rivals WAC. For understandable reasons. "I was often not considered by the coach in Klagenfurt - and I still don't know why. Strange things happened, even though I always gave 100 percent for Austria. That's why I don't have a guilty conscience," explains the winger, who was the second-best Violet scorer last season behind Markus Pink (17) with a total of six goals.

Even foreign coaches asked me back then why I wasn't playing for Austria. But Klagenfurt is a thing of the past, WAC is now my greatest stroke of luck. Everything is really professional here.

Florian RIEDER, WAC-Neuzugang

Rieder now feels really at home. "WAC is the biggest stroke of luck for me. Everything is really professional - a huge difference!"

"Then I was the bad guy"
What does he say about the banner? "I don't give a damn about those fans, they've only done themselves harm. When I scored, I was the hero, when I left, I was the bad guy!"

At the time, Klagenfurt's former boss Matthias Imhof only offered a few terse lines of apology to Riegler, but the Wolves boss had rightly expected more. Imhof said at the time: "A poster like that has no place in the stadium!"

On Saturday (17), Rieder can expect a concert of whistling from the aforementioned Austria fans on his return to the European Championship arena. "It doesn't matter to me. I'm looking forward to seeing my old colleagues, who were all really cool. I see it as a game like any other, in which we want to get three points!"