Hartberg coach Schopp:

“The team deserves this fan record!”

Bowat (left) and Entrup (center) take a lot of energy from their national teams.

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

In the final stages of the most successful Bundesliga season in the club's history, the big paydays now await Hartberg: More than 5000 fans will attend the sold-out match against Rapid on Easter Sunday, where valuable points for a European Cup ticket are at stake. A total of 22,000 spectators are still needed to top the record average of the promotion season (3454).

With a great home match performance, captain Jürgen Heil and the Blues, who have not been beaten in the league for eight games (since the 3-0 defeat against Klagenfurt on 27 August), have now reached a new record. Coach Markus Schopp is also confident for the rest of the season, as the duel with Rapid and homecoming player Christoph Lang already has the "goosebumps factor": "These spectator numbers confirm that our work is being noticed and I hope that we can break this fan record, the team deserves that. It's no luck that we are where we are. And our goal is to win the remaining five home games."

Rapid is a tough nut to crack. Although they won both of the season's duels (coach Barisic had to leave after the 1:0), "Rapid has become more vertical and efficient under Klauß. They should be much higher in the table."

The Hütteldorfer, who still have to do without goalscorer Burgstaller (who is still suspended like co-coach Kulovits) after the Austria scandal, were lucky to have made it to the championship round at all: "Our Christoph Lang, who we had to give up in the winter, was certainly also partly responsible for that. Who knows if Rapid would have made it to the big time without his goals."

However, Schopp is looking forward to seeing the Lieboch native again: "He is one of the greatest Styrian talents, as his call-up to the senior team has shown, and he is certainly not a one-to-one replacement for us. Nevertheless, I'm pleased that we were able to help him make the leap to a big club."

Mamadou Sangare (with coach Schopp) has gained confidence in Japan for the Rapid hit.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The good result against the beloved Greens gives confidence - but not only that: "Some of our team players have brought a lot of energy from their appearances: Mamadou Sangare won 3:1 with Mali's U21 in Japan and scored a goal in the process. Ibane Bowat, who is suspended against Rapid, won 4:1 with Scotland U21 against Kazakhstan. And Max Entrup scored the goal he so desperately needed against Turkey."