Raphael Lainer

Striker - Mattersburg U18
6 Oct 2029
Saturday
Process

Marked for Raphael Lainer

105 Edition

The Mattersburg Sentinel

31 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Philipp Simon

97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mattersburg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Guido Wimmer

There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Alexander Lindner at 20 — 7.77

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alexander Lindner did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Guido Lazaro is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.

Transfer targets

Felix Wimmer is a medical away from Mattersburg

The deal with SV Ried is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Transfer targets

Mattersburg make their move for Adrien Thibaut

$320.0K on the table at Grodig. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Sandro Ingolitsch in a row with a teammate

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.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at Mattersburg

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Match

A bad afternoon for Mattersburg against Red Bull Salzburg

1‑2 to Red Bull Salzburg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief