Gregory Wüthrich’s injury hurt Sturm Graz almost more than the 1:2 defeat in the away match against Brest at the start of the Champions League: The defensive leader of Austria’s football champions is facing a long forced break.
Until Thursday, the year had been almost entirely positive for the Swiss – in sporting terms with the double and his team debut at the beginning of September, and in private terms with the birth of his son and his wedding just last Monday. In Brest’s alternative quarters in Guingamp, the happiness was gone: after a duel with Ludovic Ajorque, the 29-year-old twisted his knee.
After receiving first aid, Wüthrich was carried off the pitch. Without the defensive stabilizer, Sturm was shaky, but the counterattacks remained dangerous. A goal by Seedy Jatta was disallowed (14th minute) – the video referee could not check whether the attacker was actually offside: the whistle had sounded before the shot. The 0-1 was fitting for the unfortunate opening phase from Graz’s point of view: Hugo Magnetti’s shot found its way into the right corner (23rd minute). With French help, the equalizer was achieved: during the counterattack, Edimilson Fernandes deflected an actually unfortunate cross from William Böving into his own goal – 1-1 (45th+1). Nevertheless, Sturm Graz did not gain anything in their Champions League comeback after 23 years: Ajorque won the header duel, Abdallah Sima turned around Emanuel Aiwu and scored the 2-1 (56th minute).
Aiwu is the only one of yesterday’s Sturm central defenders who will be available for the second round home match against Bruges on October 2nd: Dimitri Lavalee, who took Wüthrich’s position, saw yellow/red (88th).
Hütter defeated FC Barcelona
Coach Adi Hütter celebrated a 2-1 victory with Monaco against FC Barcelona, who were outnumbered from the tenth minute due to the exclusion of Eric Garcia. Gernot Trauner and Feyenoord Rotterdam suffered a 4-0 defeat against Leverkusen. After the European Championship ended prematurely due to a thigh injury, the former LASK captain only made his comeback in the second half last Saturday against Groningen (2-2).
