Wolfsberger AC missed the big sensation in the ÖFB Cup semifinals. The Carinthians led for a long time once morest the Austrian series champions Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday and only failed on penalties.
Before the kick-off, only a few experts believed that the WAC had a real chance. That changed following just two minutes: Matthäus Taferner sank the ball into the Salzburg goal with a right-left bottom following brilliant preparatory work by Michael Liendl.
Anyone who expected a rolling flood of attacks from the Champions League round of 16 in the following minutes was disappointed: Salzburg didn’t actually have any great chances to score in the first half. The Wolfsbergers acted poisonous in the pressing and exerted more pressure.
In the second round, the intensity of Matthias Jaissle’s eleven increased, but the decisive solutions to crack the WAC block were not found for the time being. After 77 minutes, however, the bell rang: Joker Benjamin Sesko scored the relatively late 1-1 equalizer from the turn, which is worth seeing. This also went into overtime.
There Sesko saw red in the 117th minute because of a high leg – a tough decision, but justifiable for the VAR. But too late to have a lasting effect on extra time – there were no more goals in the 30 minutes, which fixed the penalty shootout.
Dutt: “Better 0: 4 than losing like that”
There Red Bull Salzburg found the better end – because WAC offensive player Christopher Wernitznig failed early from the point. “It’s the cup, I knew it from my playing days, now I was able to experience it as a coach for the first time, it was a typical cup evening. We were prepared for it to go like this, it was a hard-fought fight right up to the last minute We happily won a bit of the penalty shoot-out,” Jaissle analyzed the game following the final whistle.
WAC coach Robin Dutt was very disappointed. “If we had wished, we would have preferred to lose the game 4-0 following 90 minutes. So it feels a bit bitter,” said the German. “We started really well with a very aggressive pressing, following winning the ball we had a very good positional play, we also played very goal-oriented. Penalties are always a bit of a matter of luck, a penalty was decisive,” Dutt quarreled.
In the final, Red Bull Salzburg now meets SV Ried, who knocked out TSV Hartberg in the semifinals at the beginning of March. The final will take place on May 1st at 5:00 p.m. in the Wörthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt.
