After the Bundesliga had subsequently located three wrong decisions by the video assistant referee (VAR) last week, the opening game of LASK in the new Linz stadium against Austria Lustenau was decided by an extremely controversial decision. Not only the guests from Vorarlberg were upset, LASK trainer Dietmar Kühbauer was also surprised by the penalty whistle, which ultimately gave him and his team a successful debut in the Raiffeisen Arena.
“Everyone saw that it was a completely wrong decision,” said Lustenau coach Mader about the situation in the 92nd minute. Florian Flecker fell in front of 12,000 fans in heavy rain in the penalty area, only then did Lustenau’s Cem Türkmen hit the “Joker” from Linz. “Honestly, I don’t have to say anything about it. I go to the ball, stop beforehand and see it coming. It feels like he’s on the ground beforehand, kicks into me and demands a penalty. For me, the pictures speak for themselves,” said Türkmen, describing his point of view.
LASK wins at the last second
LASK inaugurated its new stadium on the Gugl with a last-minute victory. Linzer won 1-0 against Austria Lustenau thanks to a controversial penalty by Marin Ljubicic in the 94th minute.
However, referee Harald Lechner immediately decided on a penalty and, after a conversation with VAR Christian-Petru Ciochirca, decided not to watch the scene again on the TV screen. Mader therefore felt like he was in the wrong film: “Although a club invests a lot of money in equipment and cameras, such wrong decisions happen that shouldn’t actually happen in modern football. It’s amateurish and sad that such decisions in favor or against teams decide games.
Mader tried to be composed despite the bitter end of the game. “I see it as a debut gift for LASK on the occasion of the opening, but not from us, but from someone else,” the 54-year-old did not hold back in the direction of the referee and the video referee. Nevertheless, Mader decided not to have a longer discussion with referee Lechner: “It’s no use, in the end the result is not withdrawn. It’s particularly bitter for the boys, they deserve this point.”
Kühbauer takes a threesome
The people of Linz were the beneficiaries of the referee’s decision this time. Last week at the 1-1 draw in Ried, coach Kühbauer was still struggling with the fact that Ried defender Julian Turi did not give a penalty in a handball in the penalty area. “It was a tough decision but last week was different. It is what it is, so we take the threesome, ”said the Burgenlander on ORF. It is a tiresome topic that there are such decisions that are then discussed more than the game itself. “I hope it gets better in terms of football,” emphasized the LASK coach.
Ljubicic was able to advance to the match winner with the only goal in the 94th minute with a penalty converted in Panenka-style. “We wanted to pull in a threesome, but I don’t care that it happened because of a 911,” emphasized Kühbauer. A certain tension due to the first game in the new Raiffeisen Arena was certainly one of the reasons for a mixed performance over long stretches. “But we can’t just see what was bad. We were really good at the back and you can be satisfied with seven points from three games,” said the 51-year-old.
LASK fixed in the master group
With 34 points, the third-placed people from Linz are sure to take part in the master group. “We now want to get as many points as possible and then we’ll see what’s in the championship group,” said Kühbauer. As midfielder Peter Michorl put it, his players “fell down a huge rucksack” because of the successful debut. The three points were important. “But we have to talk about the performance,” the 27-year-old was aware.
That was not the case with the Lustenauers after a strong performance. “Everyone can confirm that we deserve a point. We’re going home with our heads hanging and the players are devastated because it was unfair, but we can be proud of our performance, we even dominated in the second half and gave almost nothing away,” was Mader’s conclusion. His team lost for the second time in the third game in the spring. The upper play-off thus moved a little more into the distance for the eighth.
Admiral Bundesliga, 19. Round
Freitag:
LASK – Austria Lustenau 1: 0 (0: 0)
Raiffeisen Arena, 12,000 spectators, SR Lechner
Tor: Ljubicic (94./Elfmeter)
SHOT: Schlager – Stojkovic, Ziereis, Wiesinger, Renner – Michorl, Jovicic (88th / Celic) – Usor (69th / Goiginger / 90th / Flecker), Horvath, Nakamura – Mustapha (69th / Ljubicic)
Lustenau: Schierl – Anderson, Maak, Hugonet – Koudossou (79th/Gmeiner), Turkmen, Grabher, Surdanovic (88th/Adriel), Guenouche – Fridrikas, Motika (63rd/Schmid)
Yellow cards: Kühbauer (coach), Nastl (assistant coach), Stojkovic or Koudossou, Maak, Fridrikas
The best: Ziereis, Wiesinger, Usor or Schierl, Surdanovic, Hugonet