Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Markus Alaba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Mattersburg game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Wolfsberger AC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Mattersburg are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Lukas Gugganig was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mattersburg, another week without a signature from Ricardo Valente.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Mattersburg, and 2 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad1 Feb 2027
David Stec falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Mattersburg will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Junuzovic signs something — a contract at Mattersburg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
$17.3M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Marko Prass was one of the reasons people came, and $17.3M does not replace that by itself.
Lukas Gugganig was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mattersburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Rapid Wien for David Junuzovic was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Mattersburg have had the benefit of it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 130 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1‑0 against Olimpija Ljubljana, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Marko Prass was at the centre of the description.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.57 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Dominik Baumgartner has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Lukas Gugganig was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Markus Alaba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mattersburg told Ricardo Valente something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Julian Baumgartner provided it, and the 9.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mattersburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Mattersburg are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Julian Baumgartner on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Mattersburg and Admira Wacker.
Three points for Mattersburg, 4‑2 the final word against Admira Wacker in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Markus Alaba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
2‑2 against Shakhtar, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dominik Baumgartner provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad9 Nov 2026
David Stec falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Pedro Gomes has just signed for Mattersburg, and for once the answer mattered.
Marked 7.16 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Roberto Bonetti, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Lukas Gugganig was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
8 goals in one match, Valentino Hinteregger on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Mattersburg and Grodig.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Markus Alaba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Roberto Bonetti has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Red Bull Salzburg the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Mattersburg will enjoy reviewing.
Lukas Wedl was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Markus Alaba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.58 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
Player ratingsDavid Junuzovic was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dominik Baumgartner did not need any: 8.28, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Markus Alaba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Alexander Grillitsch was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of David Junuzovic at his very best
SV Ried will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Mattersburg were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
A mark of 7.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The phone has started ringing about Martin Trimmel again, and this time the name on the line is Grodig. Mattersburg are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
SquadWords at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Markus Alaba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The phone has started ringing about Andreas Ulmer again, and this time the name on the line is Grodig. Mattersburg are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Dominik Baumgartner has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. David Junuzovic had Mattersburg level again within 1 minutes, and Rapid Wien never got to play with a lead at all.