The Viennese are down two points, but a week after the 3-0 loss in Salzburg they showed a good performance again. After the 3-1 win over Klagenfurt, LASK missed the chance of a perfect start to the season. Ljubicic, who had been inconspicuous for a long time, once again proved his goal danger with his second goal in the second league game.
Austria gave LASK an intense game with many duels in front of 10,031 spectators from the start, but hardly any scoring chances worth mentioning before the break. LASK, who had to replace right-back Filip Stjokovic with Marvin Potzmann after an injury while warming up, appropriately had the most dangerous opportunity without a finish: Ljubicic slipped centimeters past the ball in the fourth minute after a Thomas Goiginger crossed.
Luckeneder clarifies at the last second
Otherwise, the hosts’ defense had the Croatians, who were so conspicuous against Klagenfurt, under control, followed by harmless shots from Hong Hyun Seok (40th) and Sascha Horvath (44th), which goalie Christian Früchtl easily held. But the Linz defense was hardly unsettled by Austria’s attempts. A header from Manfred Fischer (12th) and a cross from Reinhold Ranftl (28th) cleared by Felix Luckeneder at the last second were the hottest moments in Violett.
The restart clearly belonged to Austria, who recorded an outside netting header (46′) by Lukas Mühl, blocked shots by Gruber (50′) and Fischer (60′) and a long-range shot by Matthias Braunöder (53′). The LASK could hardly find their moments of change, Ljubicic escaped once, but was caught in time by Mühl (57th). As a result, the Linz leadership came out of nowhere. After winning the ball early, the “Violets” didn’t get access and allowed Ljubicic to do so from around ten meters away. Früchtl was powerless with the slightly deflected shot into the long corner.
LASK missed a preliminary decision
Austria continued to work, brought in Haris Tabakovic and had the best chance of equalizing with a shot from Fischer (74′) – Alexander Schlager, otherwise little tested, but deflected the ball wide (74′). LASK now had more space, but failed to force a preliminary decision. “Joker” Efthymios Koulouris missed the “100%” match ball from a few meters (78th). That should take revenge in the finish for Linz. The defense didn’t look good with a wide ball, Gruber got the ball and shot through Schlager’s legs.
Comments on the game:
Manfred Schmid (Austria coach): “I’m not dissatisfied. It took us a few minutes to find our way inside. Then it was a very, very intense game at a tactically high level. We made a little change in the structure of the game at half-time, then we started well and fell behind after a deflected shot. You could tell that the team was reacting a bit to that. But we then forced the point. Basically, I think that the 1:1 is fine.”
Dietmar Kuhbauer (LASK trainer): “If you lead up to the 88th minute, it’s a bit annoying. We were the more active team in the first half, so we failed to play the last few balls more clearly. With leadership, the situation might have been different. In the second half, Austria was actually better in the game. As often happens in football, you get a goal that you could possibly have defended. But the 1-1 was performance-based.”
Admiral Bundesliga, second round
Sunday:
Austria – LASK 1:1 (0:0)
Vienna, Generali Arena, 10,031 spectators, SR Ciochirca
Torfolge:
0:1 Ljubicic (67.)
1:1 Gruber (88.)
Austria: Früchtl – Ranftl, Mühl, Galvao, Martins – Braunöder, Holland (76th / Tabakovic) – Gruber (90th / Wustinger), Fischer, Jukic (69th / Fitz) – Huskovic (90th / Vucic)
SHOT: Schlager – Potzmann, Ziereis, Luckeneder, Renner – Hong (83rd / Valencia), Jovicic – Goiginger, Horvath (63rd / Schmidt), Nakamura (82nd / Flecker) – Ljubicic (71st / Koulouris)
Yellow cards: Fischer, Fitz or Renner, Potzmann, Kühbauer (coach)
The best: Braunöder, Mühl, Holland and Nakamura, Goiginger, Ljubicic
