The starting position
Five rounds before the end of the basic round, the Red Bulls can take a big step towards a definite playoff spot. With yesterday's 9:1 home win against the Graz99ers, the Salzburgers have regained their self-confidence in terms of converting chances, even though the Styrians were only able to play with three lines and a goalkeeper on loan from the 3rd league yesterday. The Red Bulls did not let this get in their way and played their game consistently.
And that's exactly what they want to do tomorrow in Asiago. The signs are different, however, as the Italians in 12th place in the table still have a mini-chance of reaching the pre-play-offs. They will be suitably motivated and will try to take points off the Red Bulls for the first time in the fourth duel of the season or to snatch a win from them.
Red Bulls are warned
Salzburg have been the better team against Asiago this season and have won all three games so far. However, the visitors have struggled in Asiago and the Red Bulls only won their first away game at the end of November 2023 in the final third. The same thing happened again just three-and-a-half weeks ago in Salzburg, when the Red Bulls turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 win in the final third.
For the Red Bulls, this means coming out of the dressing room wide awake and nipping the Italians' potential lightning start in the bud. They have the personnel to do so: with William Rapuzzi (18 goals), Matteo Gennaro (16), Michele Marchetti (13), Giordano Finoro (11) and Alex Ierullo (19), they have five strikers who have already scored 10 or more goals.
