UEFA CUP 2007/2008, First Round first leg. AEK Athens v Red Bull Salzburg, Thursday 20 September 2007 – 7:00 pm local time Olympic Stadium Athens.
After a half-hour delay, Sky Wings Airlines DC 9-82/83 lifted off from Salzburg to head to Athens.
Except for the suspended René Aufhauser and the injured Marc Janko, the Austrian Champions’ full squad was on board.
The liveliest topic of discussion as the jet sailed high was yesterday evening’s decent performances from the pair of teams who have denied Red Bull Salzburg a Champions League spot in the previous two years:
Valencia beat Schalke 1-0 thanks to a David Villa strike. Shakhtar Donetsk won their opening group match at home to Celtic 2-0, with Brandao und Lucarelli getting the goals.
The irony is that the very players to get their names on the scoreboard last night were those who have sent Salzburg crashing out of the last two Champions League campaigns.
Back to the UEFA Cup:
A year ago Red Bull Salzburg battled it out with Blackburn Rovers for a spot in the UEFA Cup group stage. A similar level of opposition can be expected tomorrow, with AEK Athens’ prowess also comparable to Donetsk.
Trapattoni reckons that he knows how the Greeks will line-up tomorrow and has already settled on the Salzburg starting eleven in his head.
The Bulls are to train this afternoon in the Olympic Stadium, with Alexander Zickler taking part despite bearing a slight knock. The rest of the 20 man playing party are fully fit and ready for action.
And Zico will most likely recover in time to lead the Bulls’ frontline on Thursday.
