The 44-year-old rose as a relatively blank slate to succeed the outgoing sports director Ralf Rangnick in the summer of 2015, and that at a time when the people of Mozart town were reliably failing to qualify for the “premier class” year after year.
In the meantime, Salzburg is in the concert of the greats for the third time, making it into the knockout phase for the first time. “This is the biggest day in our club history,” cheered Freund on Sky. The Salzburg resident now wants Manchester United as an opponent in the draw on Monday – after all, Rangnick is in office with the English record champions as a coach. “We have a special relationship with the coach there,” grinned Freund.
Rangnick created the structures in Salzburg that Freund refined and ultimately brought success. “Before it took us so long to get into the Champions League at all, and now we’ve got through the group stage against strong opponents Sevilla. It’s phenomenal,” said Freund.
“I’m extremely proud”
The importance of the victory against the Spanish runners-up in the table cannot be overestimated, stressed Freund. “I’m extremely proud of the whole club, the academy, the whole office, we are a really great club. We have worked hard for everything over the last few years and enjoy it. Me too, because I’ve been there for so long, because I’ve experienced such a moment not so often. “
On this happy day for Austria’s series champions, it fit into the picture that the “young bulls” in the Youth League also fixed progress. Freund: “We give young players the confidence and they pay it back.” But the sports director is not only relying on youngsters for the kickers – his decision to install 33-year-old Matthias Jaissle as head coach for the professionals in the summer was viewed critically by some, but has so far proven to be a direct hit.
According to his own statements, Freund maintains a “very close relationship” with Germans. “He’s an outstanding person and an outstanding coach. It’s extremely fun to work with him. He has the team extremely under control.” The skeptics of yore have been taught otherwise. “I still remember a few critical voices in the summer, and now it works like that.”
“Special Week”
Jaissle had a brilliant start to the season, with 18 wins and two draws from the first 20 competitive games. Then sand came into play – the last two Champions League games before the Sevilla match were lost, at the same time there was a series of failures of three defeats out of five games, which is extremely unusual for Salzburg standards. Then Tacheles was talked about. “This week was a special one, we discussed how we can bring back energy and faith. We made it,” said Freund.
The sports director is now looking forward to the upcoming vacation, which will begin soon after the league home game against WSG Tirol on Saturday. After that, Freund will probably be tinkering with the squad for the coming season – with a full club cashier. The Salzburg team has earned around 35 million euros this season from UEFA bonuses alone, plus income from the marketing pool or from ticket sales for two home games.
The one against Seville on Wednesday went without a spectator due to the Corona lockdown. Whether the full capacity of the Red Bull Arena can be used for the round of 16 is in the stars. Salzburg will play the first leg as runners-up in their own stadium, the earliest possible date is February 15, the latest possible date is February 23, 2022.
Source: Nachrichten
