No, the opponents haven’t been easy for Sturm so far. After narrow but well-deserved defeats against Brest (1:2), Bruges (0:1) and Sporting (0:2) due to the class difference, the “yellow of the egg” really awaits on Tuesday (9 p.m./Sky): The Graz have to go to Dortmund, the finalists of the previous season, in the fourth game of the new league phase of the Champions League. What there is to know before the duel black-yellow against black-white.
The fans
“It’s an unusual situation for us when 80,000 are against us,” says Sturm coach Christian Ilzer. “You’ll hardly hear anything from our fans.” Dortmund’s home advantage is actually a home advantage, the Signal Iduna Park is Germany’s largest football stadium with the largest standing room grandstand in Europe for 24,454 fans. The Germans are hoping for support from above in the Temple, as the fans call the stadium. Which is hardly needed – all five home games in the league were won. In the Champions League, Celtic were sent home with a 7-1 thrashing.
Die Form
The timing isn’t quite right for Sturm, after all BVB (Ballspielverein Borussia) managed to get out of the crisis a bit before the duel on Tuesday. With a 2-1 home win, Leipzig suffered its first defeat of the current league season. The goals for the black and yellow were scored by two new players, Maximilian Baier and Serhou Guirassy. In the stands, sports director Lars Ricken and advisor Matthias Sammer fell into each other’s arms with relief.
The season
After three competitive defeats in a row, the victory was a liberation for the team. “If I can be honest, it’s balm for the soul,” says captain Emre Can. “I am only human. It’s not nice to receive criticism. I just try to leave my heart on the pitch,” continued Can, who was attacked hard in the net. BVB boss Lars Ricken Can had already promised full support against the sometimes overly harsh criticism: “Sporting criticism is ok. But the way this great person is sometimes vilified on social media – that’s not possible.”
The coach
In this fast-moving business, it is dubious to report that trainers have secure jobs. But Nuri Sahin is now sitting a little more comfortably in the coaching chair again. Even Leipzig coach Marco Rose admitted: “Dortmund was better in all respects. “Nuri did a good job of leafing through it…” and alluded to the fact that the Dortmund coach had resorted to old notes from the time of former BVB coach Thomas Tuchel.
The Austrian
“We’re walking on the fence,” says Sahin. Last week, two training sessions had to be canceled because ten players were injured. Marcel Sabitzer also had to leave the field against Leipzig – his muscle was tightening. Yesterday the Styrian reported fit: “I’ll bite my teeth. It’s not unusual for it to pinch.”
The balance sheet
Sturm rarely meets German clubs. In 1975/1976 the Styrians reached the quarter-finals of a competition for the first time. In the Cup Winners’ Cup, in which Sturm entered as cup finalist, Frankfurt lost 2-0 at home and 1-0 in Hesse. In 1978 it was over in the first round – 1:5 at Mönchengladbach and 1:2 in Graz. And they were eliminated from Wolfsburg in the second round of the Intertoto Cup in 2005 (2:2 in Wolfsburg and 1:3 at home). However, there was a sense of success against an East German team at the time: in 1983/1984 Sturm Lok eliminated Leipzig and rose to the quarter-finals under coach Gernot Fraydl. A 2-0 win in Graz, in which Gernot Jurtin scored both goals, was followed by a 0-1 win in Leipzig.
