Austria defeated Blau-Weiß Linz 1-0 (1-0) in the penultimate round on Saturday, but their direct competitor SCR Altach won at WSG Tirol at the same time. Yadaly Diaby’s goal (37th) was a waste, Lustenau is four points behind the new penultimate Tirol. Blue-White missed out on taking part in the European Cup play-offs.
A strong performance from Lustenau, especially in the first half, ultimately went unrewarded. But it was also a bitter evening in Bregenz for the Linzers: Since the WAC clearly beat Vienna Austria 4-0, eighth place is out of reach for the blue and white. As is well known, the seventh and eighth place in the league first compete once morest each other in the play-off semi-finals, the winner then plays in the return leg once morest the fifth in the championship group for the last Conference League place.
Lustenau coach Andreas Heraf had to call on the injured Lukas Fridrikas and Anderson before what was possibly the Green-Whites’ final showdown. Diaby and Nico Gorzel started for the two. Goalkeeper Andreas Lukse made his season debut for the opponent. The former Lustenauer replaced Nicolas Schmid, who had suffered a minor injury during training during the week.
The Austrians, who were under pressure, were the more active team at the beginning and contributed more to the attractiveness of the game than the guests. Accordingly, the first chances were noted for Lustenau, who absolutely had to win to stay in the league. In the 4th minute, Namory Cissé tried a direct shot, but the shot missed the goal, as did Diaby’s shot from the back a good five minutes later. Blue-White made their presence felt for the first time through storm veteran Ronivaldo, who tested Domenik Schierl hard in the 14th minute. Shortly followingwards, Kristijan Dobras (20th) missed clearly.
It was clear that Lustenau wanted to win the game and also tried to keep the ball in his own ranks. And Vorarlberg had more and better opportunities: a volley from Ben Bobzien (32′) just missed the left post, Cissé (35′) followed up with another shot. After an unsuccessful attempt at clearance by the Upper Austrians, the ball came to Diaby in one of the next actions, who took it into the penalty area and shot it powerfully via the inside bar.
In the second half, Blue-White came back to the pitch with more determination. A header from Ronivaldo (49′) hit the crossbar, and immediately followingwards Schierl had to defuse an energetic Briedl shot. Not much came from Austria until Fabian Gmeiner and Daniel Tiefenbach had a double chance (73′). Afterwards, Cissé (79th) hit the bar, but the 1-0 score stood. In a week’s time Lustenau will have a worthy Bundesliga farewell in the derby near Altach.
WAC leads the qualifying group
The new leaders of the qualification group are the WAC – the Carinthians won 4-0 at Wiener Austria and are now two points ahead of the “Veilchen”.
The championship group games LASK – Sturm Graz, Austria Klagenfurt – Rapid and Hartberg – Red Bull Salzburg will take place on Sunday. If the “Bulls” do not reduce the four-point deficit to the Styrians, Sturm would be champions early and Salzburg’s reign would end following winning ten titles in a row.
