Saturday afternoon debut for the successful duo from Sturm Graz, sports director Andreas Schicker and coach Christian Ilzer, in the German Bundesliga. In “El Plastico”. This is what traditionalists and romantics call the duel between Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig because for them they are “test clubs”. The German “El Plastico” commemorates four duels between Wolfsberg and Red Bull Salzburg in the 2018/19 season. When Ilzer sensationally led the Carinthians to third place, Leipzig coach Marco Rose led Salzburg to a superior championship title. It's 3:1 for Rose. Salzburg won three times (4:1, 3:0, 3:1), Wolfsberg won the fourth game at home 2:1. Can Ilzer shorten Saturday? For fans of Ilzer, Schicker, Alexander Prass, Florian Grillitsch or Rose, Christoph Baumgartner and Nicolas Seiwald: The game can be seen live via Sky.
At least according to “Bild” Rose is under more pressure, even though Leipzig is in second place. He should fight for his future in the eight games until Christmas. He has to stick with Bayern Munich, survive the cup round of 16 against Eintracht Frankfurt and keep the chance of the Champions League play-offs alive after four defeats against Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool and Celtic Glasgow against Italian champions Inter and Aston Villa. Bayern beat Augsburg 3-0 (0-0) at home on Friday. By the 90th minute it was 1-0, with Harry Kane scoring all the goals. The first two from penalties. Konrad Laimer came on as a substitute in the 76th minute.
Rose will be aiming for his 100th win in the Bundesliga against Hoffenheim. Leipzig played its first game in the Bundesliga eight years ago in Hoffenheim. An Austrian, Marcel Sabitzer, scored the equalizer to make it 2-2 in the 90th minute. Ilzer is certainly putting pressure on himself. Hoffenheim spent an impressive 57 million euros in the summer. Only Leipzig, Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich invested more. The result: After ten rounds, only 15th place and nine points. Far too little. That's why first Schicker, then Ilzer, were bought out of their contracts with Sturm for many millions in order to change that. Will the first step towards this be achieved on Saturday? As bold as it sounds, there is a “connection” from El Plastico to the Hudson Derby in the quarterfinals of the North American Major Soccer League play-off between the Red Bulls New York and New York City FC on Sunday night. Hannes Wolf is a “model student of Rose’s in Salzburg times, whom he always pushed and brought to Borussia Mönchengladbach from RB Leipzig for 9.5 million euros three years ago. There Wolf scored the winning goal to make it 1-0 against RB Leipzig, his absolute highlight of the Gladbach era, which was completely botched after Rose. Wolf won the first two Hudson derybs of the season. In May 2:1, where he took the lead, and in September even 5:1. Can you also achieve your third victory? If he scores against a Red Bull club for the third time, the chances are good. An indication that it could happen: Wolf's father is in New York. When he sat there in the stands, his son always scored.
Two Austrian coaching legions already won on Friday: In France's League 1, Adi Hütter with AS Monaco at home against Stade Brest, the conquerors of Sturm and Salzburg in the Champions League, 3:2 (2:0). Monaco thus consolidated second place. In the second German league, ex-Salzburg coach Gerhard Struber won with 1. FC Köln against newly promoted Preußen Münster 1-0 (0.09, keeping in touch with the promotion places. Ex-Rapid captain Dejan Ljubicic prepared the winning goal, Florian Kainz was then substituted.
Photo: TSG Hoffenheim.
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