In the end, defender Felix Luckeneder was LASK’s center forward, but even with the crowbar the athletes were unable to equalize in the 0-1 defeat once morest Sturm Graz. This means that the mini-hope for second place in the Bundesliga is gone – and even in the race for third place, LASK is now in the role of pursuer: Rapid pushed out the athletes with the 1-1 draw in Salzburg, for the first time since September are no longer third parties.
The decisive goal for Sturm was scored by an Upper Austrian: Alexander Prass comes from Hellmonsödt and once played for the LASK youth team. When he left Liefering in 2021 following his contract expired, the Linzers made no effort to return him. The reason: Prass doesn’t fit the style of play. The midfielder signed with the Graz team, has since stormed into the national team and increased his market value tenfold: it is now estimated at eight million euros, and he was already on the verge of moving abroad in the winter.
In the 25th round he cost LASK the chance of second place, which would have been available with an away win and then only two points behind Sturm. Maksym Talowjerow’s header defense failed and Prass slammed it into the goal from 18 meters to make it 1-0 (20′). “I hit it well,” explained the 22-year-old regarding the shot, which hit just wide of Tobias Lawal. The LASK goalkeeper still had his hand on it, but mightn’t stop the ball. Prass: “Tobi has probably held one of those too.”
Nobody blamed Lawal. With the saves from Mika Biereth (18th, 59th) and Otar Kiteishvili (66th), he gave LASK the chance to win a point. Before the break, the athletes lost too many balls, but the only chance was great: Elias Havel shot at goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros (45th + 5th).
In the final phase, the home team, who had defeated Salzburg in the Cup semi-finals on Thursday, ran out of steam. Sturm wobbled, but didn’t fall: Moses Usor mightn’t get the ball past goalkeeper Jaros (73′), and Luckeneder mightn’t force the equalizer at the last chance (92′).
At that time, the 30-year-old had stepped in as a striker due to a lack of alternatives – and also as captain: Robert Zulj was missing due to his knee injury, representative Philipp Ziereis did not travel to Graz due to a neck injury, and number three captain Sascha Horvath had to be substituted due to circulatory problems become. “We don’t reward ourselves,” said Luckeneder and added: “We were too cautious in the first half, you have to be honest regarding that.”
The protests of the LASK fans
In complete contrast to the LASK fans: the supporters who traveled with them only entered their sector following 19:08 minutes of the game – as with every game in which LASK plays with pink kits – in honor of the year LASK was founded in 1908. They set up a banner with a washing machine and pulled the red and black kits they wanted for away games out of the washing machine door. Masked people also threw detergent tabs onto the field. There was a five-minute break before the field was cleaned once more.
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LASK mightn’t score: 0-1 once morest Sturm in Graz
Author
Günther Mayrhofer
Sports editor
Günther Mayrhofer
