He is undoubtedly one of those players who make the difference between the LASK team, which was beaten in the table last spring, and that of the current table third. Filip Stojkovic (29) should lead the Black and Whites to points on Sunday (5 p.m.) away at SK Rapid.
There were many headlines before his transfer from Rapid to LASK. The full-back doesn’t care about the past at all. “For me it’s a game like any other,” says Stojkovic, who of course knows his opponent very well. “Rapid is a very difficult opponent, but we want to do everything we can to consolidate our good starting position in these last two autumn rounds.”
The reception could be frosty after many at Rapid resented his departure. “But Filip doesn’t care about such things anyway. He’s experienced completely different things in Serbian derbies. In addition, he has performed at every station as a player. It was the same in the three years for SK Rapid. That’s exactly what you should do In my opinion, I also rate a player. There are always transfers in football,” says LASK sports director Radovan Vujanovic, who appreciates many of Stojkovic’s qualities.
“We don’t need to discuss his quality on the pitch. If you can get a player who also knows our league, then you have to go for it. We’re very happy to have Filip.”
Tingling trainer duel
The trainer duel between Rapid’s new trainer Zoran Barisic and Dietmar Kühbauer will also be exciting. Inseparable as a player at SK Rapid, the friendship has suffered in the past. On November 10, 2021, Barisic fired coach Kühbauer in his capacity as sports director.
Anyone who knows the Burgenlander knows that such stories before a game don’t interest him at all. And Barisic also said yesterday: “I appreciate Didi very much, he has achieved good results with LASK. But the game is Rapid against LASK and not Barisic against Kühbauer.” Incidentally, it is not the first time that Barisic has met LASK as a rapid trainer. He was also on the bench in 2013 when Hütteldorfer failed on penalties at the then regional league team. Eight years later, LASK is playing in a completely different league, also with regard to the opening of the stadium in February.
REED. 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 man from Mödling 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’ve stayed strong in my head,” says Turi, who finally arrived in Ried after a six-month spell with second-division teamVors 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 at 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
