It is now becoming a habit for Red Bull Salzburg to start the game with a 1-0 lead in games in Linz. That also applied to the Bundesliga club’s 1-0 (1-0) win at LASK on Saturday.
In the game once morest Blau-Weiß, Salzburg took a 1-0 lead following six seconds. This time it took 26 seconds before the guests celebrated LASK’s lead.
LASK was completely open on the left side of the defense – where Moses Usor was given preference over George Bello – following they immediately went into attacking pressure from the kick-off. The Salzburg team took advantage of this mercilessly. But it was also made far too easy for them. Fernando just had to push the cross pass over the line.
LASK was shocked by this goal and the uncertainty was noticeable in the first quarter of an hour. Salzburg were unable to capitalize further on this. LASK gradually got back into the game – and subsequently had enough chances to equalize.
After 19 minutes, Solet made a mistake with a back pass to Salzburg goalkeeper Alex Schlager. But Ljubicic mightn’t get the ball into the goal alone in front of Schlager. Three minutes later, Horvath was beautifully put in the spotlight by Zulj, but was denied by former LASK goalkeeper Schlager.
The next shock came in LASK’s best phase in the first half: Hopefully nothing more happened. The game was over for captain Robert Zulj following just 28 minutes following he grabbed his injured right knee for the second time in the game without any outside influence. After just a quarter of an hour he got stuck unhappily in the grass – which had a lot of sand – but then tried once more. The shock was great – a diagnosis is still pending. At least Zulj watched the second half from the bench, driving the team from there.
The fact that Salzburg didn’t score 2-0 through Fernando in the 45th or 57th minute was thanks to the excellent goalkeeper Tobias Lawal. Especially the second chance, when Salzburg ran towards him alone from the halfway line – Lawal mastered it with perfect timing and a brilliant save.
Even without captain Robert Zulj, LASK did everything they might to force an equalizer, but were often not concrete enough with the last pass or when finishing. And so in the end Salzburg’s lightning start actually decided in favor of the league leaders. LASK, on the other hand, will remain winless in 2024 – and must hope that captain Robert Zulj is not out for too long.
Author
Harald Bartl
Deputy Head of Sports Department
Harald Bartl
