Starting position
After the game-free Sunday, the Red Bulls have dropped back from fifth to sixth place in the table, where they remain after two thirds of the basic round, level on points with seventh-placed Linz. It's a tough battle from first to seventh, with Villach (4th) and Graz (5th) only two and one point ahead of the Red Bulls respectively, who have also played significantly fewer games than the others.
The Hungarians come to Salzburg as the league leaders. But it is against Székesfehérvár of all teams that Salzburg have won their two games so far this season, the last one in November last year at the new MET Aréna Székesfehérvár. In their last two games, the Hungarians have won 2:1 at home against Linz and Ljubljana and will come to Salzburg with a broad chest. But the Red Bulls, who lacked some energy in their last game, will also go into the match with recharged batteries and want to attack again. And they can once again count on the support of Thomas Raffl, Lucas Thaler and Scott Kosmachuk, all three of whom return to the line-up.
Defense decides
Hydro Fehérvár AV19 leads the table with 72 points and has played 36 games. The sixth-placed Red Bulls have 59 points but have only played 31 games. Both teams are exactly equal in offense with 113 goals scored. In defense, however, the Red Bulls have conceded 92 goals, 9 more than the Hungarians (83).
The absolute top scorer for the Hungarians is Chris Brown, who with 19 goals - together with Joshua Passolt (PIV) and Brian Lebler (BWL) - is also the league's top scorer. Peter Schneider and Benjamin Nissner are the Red Bulls' top scorers with 12 goals each.