Hartberg and LASK Linz get their 2024-25 Austrian Bundesliga campaign underway when they go head to head at the PROfertil ARENA on Saturday.
Both sides go into the weekend off the back of huge wins in the OFB Cup first round, with the hosts thrashing Bischofshofen and the Die Schwarz-WeiBen claiming a 3-0 victory over Union Gurten.
Match preview
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Hartberg could not have hoped for a better start to the 2024-25 campaign as they stormed to an 11-1 victory over amateur side Bischofshofen in the opening round of the OFB Cup last Saturday.
In a 12-goal thriller at the Sportplatz Bischofshofen, new signing Patrik Mijic grabbed the headlines as he bagged three goals and set up Justin Omoregie's 15th-minute strike to inspire the visitors to an emphatic victory.
Markus Schopp's men come into the new season looking to improve on their performances from last term as they missed out on a place in the Europa Conference League qualifiers after losing to Austria Wien in the playoffs.
Hartberg picked nine wins and seven draws from their first 22 games to collect 34 points and end the regular season in the top half of the table, securing a spot in the Championship Round for the first time in four years.
However, the Styria outfit won just three of their final 10 matches of the season to finish fifth in the Championship Round table before suffering a 3-1 aggregate defeat against Austria Wien in the Europa League playoffs.
While Hartberg will look to kick off the season on a positive note, they will need to be at their best this weekend as they have failed to win seven of their last eight competitive home games in 2024, losing five and claiming two draws since the turn of the year.
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Like this weekend's hosts, LASK cruised through the opening round of the OFB Cup as they picked up a 3-0 victory over amateur side Union Gurten at the Stadion der Stadt Ried last Friday.
Valon Berisha and George Bello scored in an 11-minute spell to hand the visitors a commanding lead heading into half time before Nigerian forward Moses Usor struck in the 84th minute to put the icing on the cake.
This was in keeping with their impressive run of results in pre-season, where LASK finished unbeaten in their six warm-up games, claiming three wins and three draws while scoring 15 goals and keeping two clean sheets.
Thomas Darazs's men come into the new season off the back of an impressive 2023-24 campaign as they finished third in the championship round standings to secure their spot in the Europa League qualifiers for the second consecutive season.
Die Schwarz-WeiBen now kick off the new league campaign against an opposing side who are unbeaten in 11 of their last 12 encounters, picking up four wins and seven draws since November 2020.
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Team News
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New signing Mijic announced his arrival in style against Bischofshofen and the former Rogaska striker should spearhead the Hartberg attack this weekend, alongside Dominik Prokop, who made 30 league appearances last season.
At the defensive end of the pitch, we expect an unchanged back four of Manuel Pfeifer, Paul Komposch, Fabian Wilfinger and Jurgen Heil while Omoregie and Tobias Kainz should team up at the centre of the park.
As for LASK, Darazs will be unable to name 25-year-old defender Andres Andrade, who is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering an ACL injury in May.
Ibrahim Mustapha is yet to feature this year after picking up a severe ankle injury last December and the Ghanaian forward is also out of contention for the visitors.
They are joined on the club's injury table by Ivan Ljubic, who has been out of action since coming off with a hamstring injury against Wolfsberger back in February.
Berisha was involved in two of Die Schwarz-WeiBen's three goals against Union Gurten last weekend and the former Lazio winger should retain his role in the front three, alongside Usor and Marin Ljubicic.
Hartberg possible starting lineup:
Sallinger; Pfeifer, Komposch,Wilfinger, Heil; Avdijaj, Omoregie, Kainz, Amadin; Mijic, Prokop
LASK Linz possible starting lineup:
Laval; Bello, Smolcic, Ziereis, Bogarde; Jovicic, Zulj, Horvath; Berisha, Usor, Ljubicic
We say: Hartberg 1-2 LASK Linz
Off the back of a huge cup victory, Hartberg will head into the league opener with confidence. However, they are in for a tough 90 minutes against a LASK side who are unbeaten in their last four visits to the PROfertil ARENA. That said, predict a cagey affair this weekend, with the visitors coming away with a narrow victory.
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