When Salzburg hosts Liverpool in a friendly today as a foretaste of the Champions League (8 p.m., Servus TV), it is not certain whether Austria’s champion Andreas Ulmer will be in the starting XI. For the 36-year-old, the Bundesliga opener against Austria Vienna (3-0) announced a “semi-retirement”. The native of Linz only came on in the 85th minute.
Ulmer had been a constant runner for more than twelve years. In the 2008/09 season he managed the feat of playing 37 times in 36 rounds: After his move from SV Ried in the winter, he also got up in a catch-up game for Salzburg in the spring the field.
The series champion repeatedly committed competitors, none of them displaced Ulmer. Now the successor is coming from our own stable. ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick had already dispensed with Ulmer in his first squad and placed the trained central defender Maximilian Wöber on the left. Wöber did an excellent job against France (1-1), Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle followed suit.
Endurance test for the new defense
The new defense still had coordination problems against Austria, today they face a big challenge. In 2020 the endurance test ended 2: 2, before that Salzburg lost 3: 4 and 0: 2 in the Champions League group phase. “Liverpool are one of the best teams in the world,” said Jaissle. “Of course we want to show a good performance. But it’s also a test in which we will also try a thing or two.” Liverpool should have already found the successor to Sadio Mane, who has moved to Bayern Munich: Darwin Nunez, signed for 75 million euros by Benfica Lisbon, scored four goals in the test in Leipzig (5-0) – although he only came into play after the break was.
Source: Nachrichten
