Bundesliga in the TICKER

LIVE from 5pm: WAC must face Hartberg!

Will it be another heated duel between WAC and TSV Hartberg?

(Bild: GEPA)

9th round in Austria's Bundesliga: Wolfsberger AC host TSV Hartberg. We report live (see below). 

Here is the LIVETICKER:

Wolfsberger AC want to make up for their recent home defeat on Manfred Schmid's return to the Lavanttal. The current Bundesliga goal factory (19 goals) missed out on the top spot last weekend with a surprising 3-1 defeat against WSG Tirol. Dietmar Kühbauer is now hoping for a reaction, but the team from Hartberg arrived stronger than before. Two wins in the first two (home) games under Schmid.

Dietmar Kühbauer

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

"Team with many experienced, good players!"
Instead of being at the bottom of the table, the East Styrians are now in seventh place. Not surprising for Kühbauer. "I never understood why Hartberg was talked down to so much. This is a team with many experienced, good players." His team must therefore give everything to win the game. Kühbauer will have to do without his captain and defensive boss Dominik Baumgartner, who has to miss out due to a muscle injury in his thigh. Jonathan Scherzer is also still out, while Mamadou Diabate returns to the squad.

There will be a duel between two old acquaintances on the coaching benches. Kühbauer and Schmid have duelled a few times on the pitch since their younger days. "He was constantly chasing after me, but rarely got the ball. His approach was ball or jack, then it was usually my feet. But I always got up again," said the ex-Rapidler Kühbauer about the ex-Austrian Schmid.

Manfred Schmid

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

"The game doesn't trigger any special emotions!"
The new head coach of Hartberg was Kühbauer's predecessor until the end of the season. The collaboration at WAC ended prematurely. However, Schmid did not classify the reunion with Wolfsberg as special. "The game is special because it hasn't been long since I was on the other side and you'll meet a lot of familiar people. But it doesn't trigger any special emotions," he emphasized.

The focus is on his own team, explained Schmid. "We want to win the game just like we did against WSG and Altach, it's no more or less important." Last season, Hartberg proved to be invincible for the WAC. In the two defeats (0:3, 0:2), the Carinthians did not score a single goal.