This has never happened before

Storm opponents with an embarrassing record

Christian Peintinger (center) has been Adi Hütter's assistant coach since 2015.(Bild: GEPA)

Take-off! Sturm take off for their Champions League comeback on Wednesday afternoon! Christian Peintinger, a black veteran, knows what makes starting opponents Stade Brest tick. Adi Hütter's assistant coach in Monaco on the sensational team from Brittany.  

Christian Peintinger is a black man before the Lord. The Styrian grew up at Sturm and spent six years as a youth coach at the Graz club after his professional career. However, the 57-year-old will not be able to keep his fingers crossed for his former club tomorrow. Peintinger, co-coach alongside Adi Hütter for nine years, will be celebrating his Champions League debut. The tasty game against Barcelona awaits Monaco.

Peintinger knows how to crack Brest. With the principality club, he defeated Sturm's starting opponents twice last season with 2:0: "Back then, they worked a lot with long balls and crosses, aggressively going for the second balls." In short: not gourmet soccer.

Giant striker Ludovic Ajorque missed two penalties.(Bild: AFP/AFP or licensors)

Offensively, the club from Brittany relies on Ludovic Ajorque. The 1.96-year-old was loaned out from Mainz in the summer. Where he set an embarrassing record last year. The striker was the first player in 61 years in the Bundesliga to miss two penalties in one match. The mishap occurred during Mainz's 1:4 defeat at Union Berlin.

It may be an advantage for Sturm that Brest have to play their matches in Guingamp. A game on neutral ground, so to speak.

Monacos Co-Trainer Christian Peinz

"Brest certainly played beyond their means last season. But every team in the French league has a lot of quality. Sturm only felt that in March in the Conference League against Lille," said Peintinger. The French team crushed Christian Ilzer's men 3:0 in Graz.

Important player missing
"It could be an advantage for Sturm that Brest have to play their game in Guingamp. A game on neutral ground, so to speak," says Peintinger. No disadvantage for the double winners either: midfield machine Pierre Lees-Melou has been laid up since the end of April with a fractured fibula. "He was certainly Brest's most noticeable player in pre-season."

However, Éric Roy was responsible for the club's highs last year. He had actually ended his coaching career in 2011 before taking over Brest twelve years later. Before that, he was briefly sporting director at Watford, where Sebastian Prödl was under contract. "I had no contact with him, I was in rehab at the time and then soon left."