On Saturday, third-placed Linz not only lost their home game once morest WAC 0-1 (0-1), but also once morest Robert Zulj, who had just returned, with red (27th). The Carinthians, however, came even closer to their goal of reaching the championship group thanks to a foul penalty scored by Thierno Ballo (14th). At least until Sunday they are one point ahead of Rapid and two ahead of Austria in sixth place.
Raven-black first half
Exactly one year following the opening game in the Linz Arena, the first half was a disaster for LASK. The Linzers had significantly more of the game at the beginning, but remained relatively harmless and soon made their first mistake. Full-back George Bello didn’t hit the ball that fell from above following a throw-in, only Dominik Baumgartner did, and Ballo safely used the penalty to score his eighth goal of the season.
Less than fifteen minutes later, Zulj, the offensive lynchpin who had been sorely missed recently and had returned following illness, was thrown off the field. A tough decision, as the 32-year-old almost had no choice but to step on his opponent’s ankle in the decisive scene once morest Baumgartner. The fact that Ivan Ljubic, one of the six players in the 4-2-3-1 system, was injured a little later without outside influence crowned Linz’s pitch-black first half.
The home team continued to try for offensive accents, but did not have any significant chances. The WAC, who played with the same personnel as in the recent 4-1 win over WSG Tirol, appeared several times in the opponent’s half following counterattacks. Adis Jasic missed the best chance from short distance, he aimed over the goal (31.) .
Red became yellow
10,200 spectators saw a hectic exchange of blows even following the break. On the hour mark, Andres Andrade prevented Ballo from going solo at the last second (63′), and a little later the Carinthians also seemed to lose a man. After studying VAR, referee Christopher Jäger converted the red card into yellow following a foul by Pascal Müller (71st).
At the beginning of the final quarter of an hour, Ballo, who was once once more rushing alone, was denied by LASK goalie Tobias Lawal (75′), while on the other side Philipp Ziereis was unable to take advantage of his good header chance at the five-pointer (81′). Despite all efforts, the Upper Austrians’ first home defeat of the season might no longer be averted.
ePaper
info By clicking on the icon you can add the keyword to your topics.
info
By clicking on the icon you open your “my topics” page. They have of 15 keywords saved and would have to remove keywords.
info By clicking on the icon you can remove the keyword from your topics.
Add the topic to your topics.
