Aiming to return to winning ways at GAK

Points the target at basement club on Sunday

"5-0 - a statement win for our Red Bulls" was the pleasing headline of our first meeting this season in the ADMIRAL Bundesliga. On Sunday, our lads want to put on a similarly dominant performance to the one in August to maintain their league lead. The encounter with GAK kicks off at 14:30 CET on Sunday at the Merkur Arena, with Daniel Pfister officiating.

Due in some part to their experience in the first meeting, Ferdinand Feldhofer's side boast the most penetrable defence in the Austrian top flight, and currently sit in eleventh place, ahead of bottom-placed FC Blau-Weiß Linz. A slight upward trend has been undetraken by the Red Jackets, even though their 2-2 draw away to Wolfsberger AC a week ago felt like a defeat, as the Wolves were down to ten men from the 11th minute onwards. Toni Polster's son-in-law Daniel Maderner and his teammates are still among the top six in the second half of the regular season, and no other team has been more prolific in front of goal during this period. Just this week, the Styrians also announced that they will be further developing their infrastructure and will be undertaking a major modernisation of their training centre in Graz.

A problem has arisen in the home team's squad though. Ramiz Harakate, their major attacking hope, is suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards – a significant blow, as the rule since the beginning of November has been: if he doesn't find the net, GAK lose.

However, the fundamental task for our team is to focus on their own performance, put the disappointment of the home defeat against FK Austria Vienna behind them, and extend their winning streak against GAK. In league matches, we are unbeaten against the Red Jackets in eight encounters – with six wins – and in competitive matches, we are unbeaten in ten games.

As usual, Sky Sport Austria will broadcast the game. 

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Injury news

• Not available are are Takumu Kawamura (knee), John Mellberg (thigh), Justin Omoregie (shoulder), Valentin Sulzbacher (calf) and Yorbe Vertessen (thigh).

Views

We travel to GAK on Sunday, and we absolutely want to win. As with all our matches, that's our goal, and we want to bring back three points. They had some problems at the beginning of the season, but they've since stabilised and have been picking up points. They generally play with a very similar formation. It will be interesting to see how they compensate for the suspension of Harakate, a very important player for them. This upcoming match isn't comparable to the 5-0 win at the start of the season, partly because we had a man advantage very early on. However, our aim remains the same: to secure another three points.

Thomas Letsch

The league is incredibly tight overall, with a lot at stake for every club in these final matches of the season. This means we have to give it our all against GAK to get three points and stay at the top of the table. We expect an aggressive and defensive opponent on Sunday, against whom an early goal would certainly help. Generally speaking, we need to make the most of our chances to decide our matches earlier.

Soumaila Diabate

Most recent Bundesliga matches v GAK

09.08.2025 FC Red Bull Salzburg 5–0 GAK 1902 (H/T:1-0) 02.11.2024 FC Red Bull Salzburg 0–0 GAK 1902  02.08.2024 GAK 1902 2–3 FC Red Bull Salzburg (2-3) 05.05.2007 GAK 1902 0–0 FC Red Bull Salzburg  24.02.2007 FC Red Bull Salzburg 2–1 GAK 1902 (0-1) 29.10.2006 GAK 1902 0–2 FC Red Bull Salzburg (0-1) 05.08.2006 FC Red Bull Salzburg 4–1 GAK 1902 (2-0) 02.04.2006 FC Red Bull Salzburg 5–0 GAK 1902 (4-0) 20.11.2005 GAK 1902 3–1 FC Red Bull Salzburg (2-1) 21.09.2005 FC Red Bull Salzburg 1–0 GAK 1902 (1-0) 12.07.2005 GAK 1902 – FC Red Bull Salzburg 3:1 (1:1)