On Saturday at 5 p.m., SV Guntamatic Ried will start the qualifying group of the Bundesliga against Admira Wacker. The Innviertler only missed the leap into the master group by a hair’s breadth. The 2-2 draw against Sturm last Sunday wasn’t enough.
Because of the recent performances of his team, Ried coach Robert Ibertsberger is going into the last ten championship games with a positive feeling. The lead over the relegation zone is eight points. In addition, a big highlight awaits Rieder on May 1st with the cup final.
Ibertsberger took a long time on Thursday evening to answer questions from Markus Prinz and Thomas Streif on the OÖN sports podcast:
Summary of the first months as head coach: “You can look back on the last six games positively because we certainly showed a new face. We wanted a change, so I came to Ried and the team accepted it really well and implemented it. Of course it’s a shame that “We didn’t make it into the championship group. After the 2-2 win against Sturm Graz, the players and I understandably felt a certain emptiness for a moment. But after two days without training, we quickly put an end to that, we’re confidently looking ahead and full The focus is on the away game at Admira. It was always about wanting to have as little to do with relegation as possible. That is still the goal that we are primarily pursuing in the qualifying group. A positive start is important, so we can move forward.”
Personnel situation: “Seifedin Chabbi will be out for a longer period of time, but he’s right on schedule. He’s already training with the team for certain exercises without duels. Philipp Pomer was hit on the heel against Sturm Graz. We’ll have to see if that works for the match against which Admira will end. Matthias Gragger is also ailing, we don’t want to take any risks with him, but in the next one to two weeks it could turn out that he will be able to get back into full team training. Basically, I’m very happy that that we have few injuries and have largely been spared by Corona so far. I hope it stays that way. The players test themselves at home every day in order to be able to prevent larger clusters.”
Cup final in Klagenfurt: “For us as SV Ried, it doesn’t really matter who our opponents in the final are, Salzburg and WAC are very strong teams, but we want to bring the title to the Innviertel at any price. If we can do it in Klagenfurt with the loud support If our fans have a home game, then that can be a very important factor. I’m convinced that our fans will go to Klagenfurt in large numbers. For me as a coach, just like many players, it’s the first final and you don’t experience something like that so often. We’re all really looking forward to that.”
European Cup participation stimulus: “It’s extremely attractive for every player and coach. It’s a nice dream that could really come true. It must also be a huge incentive for everyone to win the cup final.”
Champions League highlights as a player: “The away game against Manchester United in 2001 in particular was a highlight. Against these world stars like Paul Scholes or Teddy Sheringham, the limits were clearly shown to me. As an Austrian Bundesliga player, you were a long way from that level. But it was good see that maybe you weren’t as good as you might have thought. It was a very drastic and nice experience for me. Of course, the appearances in the national team were nice too.”
Source: Nachrichten
