Bundesliga in the ticker

Hartberg v Red Bull Salzburg, LIVE from 5pm

Without a win against Hartberg, the pressure on Salzburg coach Pepijn Lijnders is likely to increase considerably.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

TSV Hartberg and Red Bull Salzburg face off in the 15th round of the domestic Bundesliga. Can Hartberg plunge the former serial champions further into crisis? We report live - see ticker below. 

Here is the LIVETICKER:

Soccer runners-up Red Bull Salzburg are probably in the midst of their biggest crisis. They have lost their last three competitive matches, Tuesday's 5-0 defeat in Leverkusen was their second five-pointer of the season and it has been six weeks since their last win in the Bundesliga. The double with their favorite opponent should now bring the turnaround for the wounded "Bulls": TSV Hartberg, to whom they have never lost, await twice on Saturday and Wednesday.

Pepijn Lijnders

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

"I know how soccer works. You have to win the next game," said RBS coach Pepijn Lijnders after the 5-0 defeat in Leverkusen, where his team fell apart after just a few minutes. This now applies to the two duels with Hartberg, the first away on Saturday (17:00). In 16 league matches against the Styrians, Salzburg have won 15 times and drawn once. In the previous season, TSV were dispatched three times with 5:1.

What else is normal in Salzburg?
Normally, this would be a must-win game, but what else is normal for Salzburg this season? In the last four league games, the former serial champions have recorded two defeats and two draws. The last championship victory dates back to October 19, a fortunate 2:1 home win against Altach, who are now bottom of the table. The last away win was three and a half months ago (1:0 at LASK). "As a team, we're simply in a very difficult phase that we can only get out of with hard work," said midfielder Mads Bidstrup.

The streak should come to an end on Saturday at the Profertil Arena in Hartberg. "We definitely have to show a reaction, that's clear - especially to ourselves. We know that we simply weren't good in so many areas against Leverkusen. Now we have to readjust a bit, adapt and approach the new task with confidence," explained Lijnders. Karim Konate has joined the list of injured players; the striker will probably be out for the rest of the season after tearing his cruciate ligament. Aleksa Terzic, on the other hand, is suffering from adductor problems.

Can Hartberg benefit?
Hartberg, meanwhile, want to capitalize on the Bulls' crisis just like their rivals. "You can't deny that they're not producing the results of recent years at the moment. It will be up to us what we make of Salzburg's problems. If we are active and not as passive as we have been recently, then maybe we can take advantage of that," said TSV coach Manfred Schmid, who is worried about Dominik Prokop's participation. "He has a bit of a problem with his adductors, so we'll have to see."

With a win in their last home game in 2024, the team from Eastern Styria could overtake Lijnders' side, who have played one game less, in the table and end their negative streak against their fearsome opponents. "That's a blank spot. If we throw everything into it, we can make things very uncomfortable for Salzburg," said Schmid. The team in eighth place in the table can certainly use every point in the fight for a place in the Champions League. "We now have three games in eight days, it's important for us to score points now so that we can go into the winter break with a good feeling."