“You can’t always defend the older one”

After the successful start in the Champions League qualification at Lok Zagreb (1: 0) and in the Cup against the regional league team St. Johann (5: 0), Rapid also wants to win the third competitive game of the season. On Friday night (6.30pm on the SPOX live ticker), the Greens and Whites will host Admira for the opening match of the Bundesliga. “Our goal is to score all three points,” emphasized coach Dietmar Kühbauer.

At the same time, the 49-year-old from Burgenland cautioned against taking lightly the opponent, who had trembled to stay up in the league until the final round. Kühbauer also praised two former Rapid scorers who now play for the Südstadt team: Stefan Maierhofer, nicknamed “Major”, and Erwin “Jimmy” Hoffer: “Admira has good players up front with Major and Jimmy, we can’t underestimate them. “.

Especially when it comes to crosses, it’s important to keep an eye out for the head of the 2.02-meter-tall giant Maierhofer. “We can assume that the high balls will go into the penalty area and you can’t always defend the older one,” says Kühbauer. “Admira has other good players too. So we can’t believe we can get away with it, period, one, two, three, that won’t work.”

Furthermore, unlike Hütteldorfer, the guests had “really little to lose at the Allianz Stadium. In truth, Admira can only surprise. This means they can play without worry,” Kühbauer said. “Of course they want to beat us, we know that. It is about our personal attitude and how we enter the game. We are qualitatively more valued, and that should be seen on the field. We have to accept this role as favorites,” he demanded . the ex-ÖFB-Internationale “Passion and a mentality that leads us to win”.

Despite qualifying for the Champions League on Tuesday night in Gent, he will also have the strongest team. “It would be bad if someone said that he is too tired. Then he would have to change sports,” Kühbauer decidedly ruled out that he could rotate at the beginning of the season.

Admira have recently been a welcome opponent for Rapidler, who have already celebrated 151 victories (club record) against Südstädter in 277 competitive matches. In the last two and a half years they have won all seven games against Lower Austria, four of them at home. And five times the Verdiblancos did not concede a goal, while they scored a total of 24 goals.

Stefan Maierhofer: “I want to win”

Admira now wants to break this series of successes, especially Maierhofer is motivated to the ends of his hair against his ex-club. “I want to win tomorrow,” said the 38-year-old veteran, who scored his first Bundesliga goal on 2 March 2008 in Rapid’s 2-0 away win against Sturm Graz. Twelve and a half years ago his teammate His name was Hoffer, with whom he is now reunited and still shares the passion for the legendary desserts of Mama Maierhofer. “His second question when we met in Admira was: Where is the banana slice?”

Unlike the 33-year-old, Maierhofer will certainly not be celebrated by the 10,000 Rapid fans on Friday night. “I scored my 50th goal in Salzburg’s 1-0 win over Rapid in Vienna, and I was the only scorer at the time,” the former international said Thursday at the media event in Wiener Neustadt, recalling May 6. 2012 and his Red Bull Past. “They resent the Rapid fans. (…) I don’t resent anyone, if someone wants to abuse me, they can do it. Something like that just motivates me more.”

Admira coach Zvonimir Soldo announced Thursday that he will likely bet on the former Rapid Storm in the opening match. “Stefan can help us a lot. Now we have a good mix of young and experienced players,” the 52-year-old Croatian told his team, which has changed a lot due to the many departures and additions in the summer. And Admira could also play in Gent, according to Soldo: “I hope the Rapid players with their thoughts are already in Belgium.”