The final whistle was followed by whistles from the fans: LASK made their way into the Europa League much more difficult than necessary. The athletes could have traveled to Bucharest for the play-off return match on Thursday with a lead – but due to their own negligence, FCSB took home a 1:1 draw. As in the 1:2 defeat in the Bundesliga against Altach, the athletes deservedly took the lead and were put off the road to victory by a goal they themselves conceded.
LASK suffered its first setback before kick-off: Tobias Lawal grabbed his right thigh – instead of standing in goal, the 24-year-old had to watch with a thick bandage. Jörg Siebenhandl stepped in – and for a long time was only needed as a build-up player with his foot.
Home and away match
Control turned into dominance, and things became dangerous when FCSB was overwhelmed by the pace. Moses Usor was unable to capitalize on Adil Taoui’s cross from the left while standing free in the box (8th minute), and the Nigerian shot Sascha Horvath’s cross from 15 meters just as far over the goal (17th minute). The opening goal came from short passing in the middle: Melayro Bogarde, Robert Zulj, Taoui – and it was 1-0 (21st minute).
Image: GEPA pictures/ Christian Moser
“}”>
Image: GEPA pictures/ Christian Moser
LASK exploited its superiority against a mediocre Romania – and became careless in the process. The athletes tried to outplay the initially not at all structured pressing, and hair-raising ball losses occurred in zones that FCSB had never reached before. Valon Berisha, for example, played David Miculescu completely free with a back pass into the box, and Siebenhandl prevented Malcolm Edjouma from equalizing when he shot (40′).
The mistakes did not make LASK any more cautious. Instead of taking the lead into the break, the goal was not easily cleared in the first half’s stoppage time. Siebenhandl was put under pressure with one pass too many, the veteran’s kick did not even reach the halfway line, Usor could not stop the ball – suddenly things happened quickly: cross from Iulian Cretu, Miculescu won the aerial duel against Bogarde at the second post, 1:1 (45.+1).
