SV Guntamatic Ried has never been able to win against Austria Klagenfurt in the league – a series that should finally break in today’s last home game of the Innviertel team in the autumn season of the Bundesliga (Josko Arena, 5 p.m.). It won’t be easy: The Carinthians have all won their last four away games – with 20 points, coach Peter Pacult’s team is in a strong fifth place. “Klagenfurt is completely underestimated. They are very strong and ripped off, play a great autumn,” says Ried coach Christian Heinle.
His team has also found its way back on track in recent weeks. This is also due to a strong defense: If you exclude the 2-1 defeat at runner-up Sturm Graz, the Innviertler have only conceded one goal in the three previous league games – and that’s thanks to Matthias’ own goal of the century Shot Gragger himself. It was precisely in these four games that a new defensive chief was in charge of the Vikings: Julian Turi.
The 21-year-old slipped into the starting eleven due to Markus Lackner’s illness-related absence – has taken over the role of central defender in the Rieder back three for four games. The Mödlinger is not lacking in self-confidence: “Two wins at the end of the autumn season would be very important.”
Turi seized the moment. “But we already knew that he had the quality for it,” says Heinle. He was already about to make the starting eleven in the summer preparations, but a dislocated shoulder threw him off track for a short time. “I stayed strong in my head,” says Turi, who finally arrived in Ried after a six-month spell with second-division team Vorwarts Steyr in the summer: “I was able to develop further, without this step I wouldn’t be in the Bundesliga now.”
No place at Admira
He has dreamed of playing in Austria’s upper house for a long time: he played a few games for red-white-red national teams from the U15 to the U19, followed in 2021 after twelve years at Admira by the step to Ried. “I’ve often asked myself why things didn’t work out with Admira. It motivated me all the more when I came to Ried.”
In Turi, Heinle has an actor he can always rely on: “He’s a no-frills player who doesn’t get involved in any experiments.”
Source: Nachrichten
