Bundesliga in the TICKER

LIVE from 5pm: Austria Vienna against GAK!

Which team will win? Reinhold Ranftl's Austria or Daniel Maderner's GAK?

(Bild: GEPA)

9th round in Austria's Bundesliga: FK Austria Wien welcomes GAK. We report live (see below). 

Here is the LIVETICKER:

In the Austrian Bundesliga, Vienna's Austria host bottom club GAK. Both clubs are struggling with a negative streak, with the promoted team from Graz looking for their first ever three-pointer after eight rounds without a win. Austria will be looking for their third win of the season at Verteilerkreis. "We're playing at home, where we're still unbeaten. Together with our fans, there's only one direction, and that's three points," said defender Reinhold Ranftl.

Stephan Helm

(Bild: GEPA)

"We were disappointed and partly angry!"
The eighth-placed "Veilchen" have had a winless September in the league, with their last three-pointer coming on August 25 (2:1 against LASK). However, their most recent opponents were Salzburg (0:2), Sturm Graz (2:2) and Rapid (1:2). "We were disappointed and partly annoyed because we could have done better and we performed well for long stretches," explained Austria coach Stephan Helm, who criticized the lack of results in the first quarter of the season.

"Our standards are high. But we have a basis on which we can build," said Helm and called for more efficiency in the match against GAK. "We're investing a lot and we want to reward ourselves with points. We want to show that we are one step ahead and that we have drawn the right conclusions from the last few games."

 GAK "tough opponent who rightly plays in the Bundesliga"!
Ranftl described the Styrians as a "tough opponent who rightly plays in the Bundesliga." Helm also feels that Graz have underperformed so far. The 41-year-old will be able to call on attacking force Andreas Gruber again for the clash following his shoulder dislocation. "He's had a good week of training and will be available for tomorrow's game." The recovered Marvin Martins is unlikely to play, as the central defender picked up a knock in training. However, the 29-year-old will travel to Luxembourg next week to join the national team.

Ziad El Sheiwi, Luca Pazourek, Johannes Handl and Abubakr Barry will have to wait a little longer before returning to training after the international break. Barry is also suspended for the match against GAK. Helm, who recently opted for a back three instead of a back four against Salzburg, did not want to give any tactical details. "Both formations have their advantages and disadvantages. We want to surprise GAK."

"Nobody has the feeling that we're in a crisis!"
Meanwhile, despite the poor start to the league campaign, the newly promoted team is trying to remain patient and avoid creating a sense of crisis. "I've never had a situation like this before, especially having conceded so many goals (16) in eight games. It's not an easy phase at the moment, but we're still going into the game with a really good attitude," explained regular goalkeeper Jakob Meierhofer, adding: "Nobody has the feeling that we're in a crisis."

Gernot Messner

(Bild: Pail Sepp)

Coach Gernot Messner, however, made it unmistakably clear that "the learning phase is over" for the promoted team, and that the only thing that counts is the score. However, there is great respect for the opponent in the Generali Arena. "Austria are playing at home against the last-placed team, so they are already expecting to win the game. They have good footballers in their ranks and will certainly want to dominate us."

A three-pointer for GAK would be eminently important in view of the rest of the program after the international break. The "Red Jackets" then face their first city derby against Sturm Graz in the Bundesliga for more than 17 years (19.10.), followed by clashes with Rapid (27.10.) and Salzburg (2.11.). Incidentally, the last two competitive matches against Austria went to Graz: the last league encounter in spring 2007 was a 2:1 win, as was the ÖFB Cup in early 2019.