Three of the six games in the penultimate round of the basic season of the Bundesliga have nothing to do with the fight for sixth place: The Upper Austria derby between Ried and LASK, where Ried’s coach Miron Muslic (“one victory and everything is forgotten”) presumably gets his last chance, St. Pölten against Altach and Red Bull Salzburg against Admira, the duel between the first and last. This is also the only game that will take place on Saturday in which the 50th goal by an American player in the history of the Bundesliga could be scored at the same time. The winter purchases from Salzburg and Admira, Brenden Aaronson and Andrew Wooten have a chance to make sure of that. The Brazilian Bernardo and the Swiss Noah Okafor have been back in training at Salzburg since Wednesday.
For the blatant outsider Admira, Salzburg means the memory of the greatest sense of achievement since Damir Buric’s second coaching era (picture above) began. In which you can see progress, as sports director Franz Wohlfahrt also noted, but the major trend reversal did not materialize. They scored 1-0 against the champions on December 5th in Südstadt, making Admira the only team of the season that didn’t concede a goal against Salzburg. Quite remarkable because goalkeeper Andreas Leitner had to reach behind him 47 times in the other 19 games. Admira usually keeps up well, but makes crucial mistakes that cost points. 13 are a meager yield so far. Since defeating the Bulls, there have been 9:18 goals in ten games, just three points (3: 1 against Altach), plus three draws and six defeats. “The division of points is certainly not a disadvantage for us,” admits Wohlfahrt. From April, ten finals await Admira to stay in the league.
One who is skeptical whether this will succeed this season is Wohlfahrt’s predecessor Ernst Baumeister, although he appreciates the qualities of Buric: “But it is very difficult for him,” said Baumeister on “Sky” these days. Talked about a thrown together team. The impulse in winter with the five newcomers Wooten, Niko Datkovic, David Atanga, Matthias Ostrzolek and Max Sax was necessary, but none of them played before, came without match practice: “Now they are needed, they are used all the time. There is a risk that they will fall into a hole at some point! ”And Admira really cannot afford that in her situation.
