Captain Robert Zulj sat as a spectator in the stands at the Allianz Stadium and saw how LASK failed to score in the ninth competitive game in a row when he was missing. In this respect, the 0-0 draw at the start of the Bundesliga championship group away once morest Rapid was obviously the best possible result.
“We played a really good away game. We’ll take this point and build on this performance,” said Valon Berisha following the final whistle. Before kick-off, he took over the leadership role in the group of players in place of the captain, who had a knee injury, and got his colleagues excited regarding the game.
The Rapid fans were invited following the Senate 1 verdicts in the past two weeks, with their chants, especially at the beginning, in honor of the Bundesliga and its committees.
There was a struggle for every centimeter of space on the lawn. When Moses Usor suddenly had a lot of space in the eleventh minute, he made the wrong decision: After a Rapid corner, Moritz Oswald’s release landed on the halfway line, Rapid’s last man let Usor chip the ball away from him. Instead of using his pace and simply running away from Rapid goalkeeper Niklas Hedl, who was positioned well in front of the box, Usor shot from the halfway line – very wide.
It was symptomatic of the offensive game that Hedl was only forced to make a save when Terence Kongolo deflected a cross from Lenny Pintor towards his own goal (41′).
But that was also Rapid’s most dangerous action. Without the suspended Guido Burgstaller and Marco Grüll, the Viennese were just as harmless. Only the speed of Grüll representative Isak Jansson caused problems for the athletes. But the Swede ran out of breath following an hour.
“There’s a little thing missing”
After the break, LASK also recognized directness and speed as good means in attacking play. Hedl turned a header from Marin Ljubicic over the crossbar (59′), Florian Flecker’s direct shot following a perfect cross from Sascha Horvath failed to reach the goal (72′). It wasn’t until the Rapid quarter hour that the home team actually developed pressure, but the black and white defense withstood it.
“The zero is there, that’s our basis,” said substitute captain Philipp Ziereis. By that he meant the defensive zero. The athletes know what they have to work on during the international break. Berisha: “There’s a little something missing in front of the goal. It’s difficult for us at the moment.” Nevertheless, LASK defended third place at least until Sunday – with the third draw in the third duel of the season with Rapid and although the athletes are still without a win following the sixth game in the spring. Ziereis: “The international break comes at the right time.”
ePaper
Author
Günther Mayrhofer
Sports editor
Günther Mayrhofer
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