Sturm against GAK

Graz derby: time for new “heroes” has arrived

The 18-year-old Malick Yalcouye (r.) scored his first goal for Sturm in the 5-0 win against Salzburg.

(Bild: Pail Sepp/Sepp Pail)

At the 200th Graz soccer derby - the first at Bundesliga level for 17 years - Sturm and GAK will present a host of new players in the sold-out Merkur Arena on Saturday. Black and red could almost field two teams with their additions alone.

With Malick Yalcouye, Tochi Chukwuani, Emanuel Aiwu, Emir Karic, Daniil Khudyakov, Lovro Zvonarek, Erencan Yardimci and Amady Camara (without the injured Arjan Malic), champions Sturm still have eight genuine derby debutants at their disposal. At GAK, Petar Filipovic is suspended and Martin Kreuzriegler is convalescing - but Jacob Italiano, Romeo Vucic, Moritz Eder, Dennis Dressel, Dominik Frieser, Gabriel Zirngast and Murat Satin are ready. As well as Tio Cipot, for whom it will be an explosive match against the Blacks.

Two faces
At 18, Malick Yalcouye could be Sturm's youngest derby entry on Saturday. The Brighton loanee (for whom the Premier League club transferred seven million euros to Gothenburg) has hit the ground running at Sturm, scoring his first goal in the 5-0 win over Salzburg. Sturm's bosses joke that the dual national (whom Mali would like to have for their team, but he himself would prefer the Ivory Coast) has "two faces". Off the pitch, he is shy and avoids eye contact - but as soon as he steps onto the pitch, it's as if he has a superhero cape strapped on. Then opponents and referees get to know him loudly. In "battle mode", he has taken the hearts of the black camp by storm.

The Slovenian Tio Cipot (r.) could be the youngest derby debutant at GAK this time.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

At GAK, Italian loanee Tio Cipot (owned by Spezia) could be the youngest at 21. The Serie A-experienced attacker once won the Slovenian title with Sturm's Tomi Horvat at Mura Murska Sobota: "Tomi and I are close friends, but this time we're rivals because I've heard what this derby in Graz means. It's really big!"

Tio has scored once so far for GAK (against BW Linz) and would naturally like to bring his goal tally up to that of the Slovenian U21 team: He scored six goals there in the European Championship qualifiers - last week he denied Austria their last European Championship chance in a 1-1 draw. Leon Grgic didn't like that at all. A win in the derby would probably be a great satisfaction for the Sturm attacker.