Pre-#WISRAP Conference | Part 2

During the second part of the press conference, representatives of Rapid Vienna met with journalists. Coach Robert Klauss and team captain Matthias Seidl were available to the media.

"I've played many times at international level. Now we're starting the second qualifying round of the Europa League. I have to admit, I've seen the stadium now, and it's really impressive. It'll be a pleasure to play there. I hope we leave the pitch as winners at the end of the match," began the player from Vienna. "The name Wisła Kraków is very familiar to me. I know it's a club currently in the Polish first division. I hope that will change soon and they'll be promoted to the Ekstraklasa," he added.

"We'll do everything in our power to advance. However, we also have other goals for this season," he emphasized. "It's not just my business, it's the entire team's. We need to press the gas pedal to advance in the cups, but also to achieve better results in the Austrian league," he continued.

"I'm very happy that we can play against Wisła Kraków. We really like the stadium; it's very impressive. I hope it will be a good match for us. I expect it to be an intense match. We know the opponent is strong. The fans will play a big role in supporting their team," began coach Robert Klauss. "We thoroughly analyzed Wisła Kraków. We analyzed not only their matches in the first round of the Europa League, but also their friendly matches. They are a team with an attacking style of play," he said.

The Vienna coach avoided labeling Rapid as favorites. "You could ask yourself, are we really that big of a favorite or not? We want to put in a good performance. Of course, expectations are high, but we'll see what the field brings us," he emphasized.

"We have professional players and we don't need to make them aware of that. Besides, Wisła winning the Polish Cup shows they're not a random team. We know this is a team built for promotion to the top league, so they definitely have their quality," he complimented the White Star.

Almost 100 years ago, the two clubs met for the first time, with Rapid winning 2-1. When asked if the manager would have been happy with such a result, he replied: "Of course, I would have accepted that result. We want to win, but above all, I would have loved to manage the team in Kraków."