Winter King Salzburg: “Not bad for a bad half-year”

There was talk in the Salzburg ranks of a “mirror image of the season” after the late home win against the cup winners. With 3.5 “expected goals” (xG), they “simply didn’t make enough of it,” said Captain Mads Bidstrup with a view to statistics. So failed Petar Ratkov also from the penalty spot, ehe Kerim Alajbegovic successfully sank his second shot on goal of the afternoon in the 86th minute. “Now we’re all looking forward to the break,” said Bidstrup. In February they wanted to “come into the second half of the season stronger,” said the Dane.

Sturm Graz recorded 36 points last year as winter king (from 16 rounds), Salzburg scored 39 in both 2023 (17 rounds) and 2022 (16). Kai Hesse didn’t want to judge this negatively. “The league is highly competitive, very challenging and balanced,” said Salzburg’s assistant coach, who was back with his sick boss Thomas Letsch represented. “We want and will accept the fight for the championship,” emphasized Hesse. “It’s not all good,” said the 40-year-old. “But we did a lot of things well.”

Next to Hesse came too Managing Director Stephan Reiter for a Christmas speech in the Salzburg cabin. Reiter was up before the game Sky We spoke of a “mixed season”, but did not ignore the intensive program. “If you take into account the national team breaks, there were a total of 22 or 23 weeks in which the coach was able to work with the team. In these 23 weeks we played 33 games (including the Club World Cup, note),” calculated Reiter. In contrast to the mood of a year ago, there is now a good climate within the team.

Salzburg also wants to get down to business on the sporting executive floor in the coming weeks. The German Marcus Mann – currently working for the second division team Hannover 96 – is to come as sports director, according to KURIER information. The 41-year-old should sign a contract until 2029, and Salzburg would have to pay a rumored transfer fee in the region of five million euros for him. Reiter kept a low profile. “He’s one of those we’re negotiating with,” is all he said. There is no stress. “We want to bring the right man to Salzburg.”

Salzburg’s preparation starts with a bang. FC Bayern Munich will be playing in the Red Bull Arena on January 6th and 20,000 tickets have already been sold.