It’s the first road trip of the season for Red Bull Salzburg as they make the trip eastbound across the country to near the Austria-Hungary border to face Mattesburg at the Pappelstadion on Matchday two.

The last meeting between the two came on a day of coronation for Salzburg having secured a fifth consecutive title two weeks prior, but their guests had plans to rain on their pride as they sat back and absorbed pressure for the entirety of the match, making life extremely difficult. Fortunately, with the last touch of the game, Gulbrandsen popped up to tap home the winner, then hell broke loose at the Red Bull Arena as everyone proceeded to chase the Norweigan to the corner flag.

Both sides were able to begin the new Ö. Bundesliga campaign on the right foot last weekend. Die Roten Bullen came out comfortable victors against LASK on home turf with a dominant display that saw Munas Dabbur find the net thrice in the first half but was denied a hat-trick as the first was awarded as an Alexander Schlager own goal. Mattersburg, on the other hand, were part of a five-goal thriller with Rheindorf Altach in which they gave up a winning position twice, but Marko Kvasina saved their blushes with a winner in the 70th minute.

Hannes Wolf returns to the squad following a three-match suspension he picked up with a straight red card in the previous meeting between the two last season. Patrick Farkas, Fredrik Gulbrandsen, Alexander Walke and Kilian Ludewig will miss the game due to injury.

Match Information

Date: Saturday, August 4, 2018

Kick-off: 17:00 (CEST)

Venue: Pappelstadion (capacity: 15,700)

Referee: Julian Weinberger

Broadcasting: Sky Sport 10 (Austria)

Previous Meetings

17.09.17: Mattersburg 1-2 Red Bull Salzburg

29.11.17: Red Bull Salzburg 2-0 Mattersburg

11.03.18: Mattersburg 2-2 Red Bull Salzburg

18.04.18: Mattersburg 0-0 (0-3) Red Bull Salzburg 

20.05.18: Red Bull Salzburg 1-0 Mattersburg

Current Form

Mattersburg

Znojmo 2-3 (H) | Mura 0-1 (H) | Kapfenberg 3-1 (H) | Allerheiligen 1-3 (A) | Rheindorf Altach 2-3 (A)

Red Bull Salzburg

Utrecht 1-0 (H) | Stade Rennes 3-0 (H) | Oedt 0-6 (A) | Çaykur Rizespor 5-2 (H) | LASK 3-1 (H)

Team News

Mattersburg

Injured: Andreas Kuen | Mario Grgić

Red Bull Salzburg

Injured: Patrick Farkas | Fredrik Gulbrandsen | Alexander Walke | Kilian Ludewig

Predicted Line-ups

Mattersburg

Kuster

Kerschbaumer – Malić – Ortiz – Renner

Jano

Höller – Salomon – Ertlhaler – Gruber

Kvasina

Red Bull Salzburg

Stanković

Lainer – Ramalho – Pongračić – Ulmer

Haidara – Samassékou – Junuzović

Wolf

Daka – Dabbur

Score Prediction

Mattersberg 1-1 Red Bull Salzburg

[Photo: Red Bull Salzburg]