Philipp Ziereis (12th) and Robert Zulj (49th) scored for the athletes, who, thanks to their first win of the season, moved up to sixth place in the table with four points. The blue and white without a chance remained without a hit for the first time and is tenth with only one point. In the 53rd duel with the successor club to the former VÖEST Werkclub, the first since May 31, 1997, LASK emerged victorious for the 20th time. In addition, there were 15 draws and 18 wins by the opponent.
At LASK, Peter Michorl and Lenny Pintor in midfield and Ibrahim Mustapha in the storm were new in the starting eleven compared to the 0: 2 at Sturm Graz. Blue and white made two changes after the lucky 3:3 against Hartberg, sent Stefan Urlaub and striker Conor Noß into the race.
GEPA/Walter Luger LASK capitalized on its superiority early on and took the lead through Ziereis in the twelfth minute
In front of 19,080 spectators in the Raiffeisen Arena, which was sold out for the first time, LASK pressed the outsider into their own half soon after the start, posing problems for the blue-white defense with a lot of speed and enthusiasm. A Pintor shot wide of the far corner (6th) brought the hosts closer to the opposing goal for the first time, and the effort was rewarded in the 12th minute. After a nice combination, BW goalie Nicolas Schmid was still on it with his hand in a Renner attempt, Ziereis dusted off ice cold.
Blue and white signed off on the offensive
While blue and white mainly stood out due to their tough duels and needed half an hour for Raphael Hofer’s first shot well over the goal (31st), LASK missed Mustapha’s great opportunity to make it 2-0 shortly before the break. Instead of serving Robert Zulj, who was positioned solo in the middle, he chose the low shot from the left and offered Schmid the opportunity to shine with a foot defense (41′).
The shortcoming from the point of view of the dominant LASK was not enough chances created, the playful deficiencies from the first two games of the season still resonated. That should of course be enough for BW. Soon after the restart, the guests exposed their defense after a failed tee shot, Pintor and Zulj used the space for a harmonious, relaxed double combination, which the captain completed safely from a few meters.
LASK easily plays victory home
What followed was the best phase for the challengers, who now focused much more on the offensive – and also came up with more or less good opportunities. In the best, Ronivaldo headed past the long corner (56th), later he acted too hesitantly against LASK goalie Tobias Lawal (68th). In addition, Noss tried, but he too had set his sights too imprecisely (60th). In the last 20 minutes, LASK played the victory home quite dry. Marin Ljubicic missed a good chance to make it 3-0, but Schmid failed to do so (85′).
Comments on the game:
Thomas Sageder (LASK trainer): “We are very, very happy with the win. We were significantly improved compared to the previous weeks and were able to put our training performance into play. Despite all the euphoria, the motto is: stay relaxed. But we’re not where we want to be yet. We have clear sporting goals in the club, and a sense of achievement helps a lot. But we have quality going forward to score goals and we will see that in the future. The large squad is a challenge for me and I want to be fair to all players.”
Gerald Scheiblehner (BW trainer): “It was a deserved victory for LASK, a great derby with a lot of speed, where both teams wanted to win. It was a great experience for the fans. We saw that there was a difference in quality between the two teams in many phases of the game and we fell behind twice very quickly due to individual errors. Still, I’m very proud of the team and how we performed today. If you lose here as BW Linz, then you have to be realistic. At home in our stadium we have chances against every opponent with our fans. We want to annoy the opponents.”
Admiral Bundesliga, third round
Saturday:
LASK – BW Linz 2:0 (1:0)
Linz, Raiffeisen Arena, 19,080 spectators, SR Harkam
Torfolge:
1-0 Ziereis (12′)
2:0 Zulj (49.)
SHOT: Lawal – Stojkovic, Ziereis, Andrade, Renner – Horvath, Michorl (84./Jovicic) – Usor (70./Flecker), Zulj, Pintor (70./Goiginger) – Mustapha (83./Ljubicic)
Blue White: Schmid – Mitrovic (73./Windhager), Strauss, Maranda, Pirkl – Krainz (77./Brandner) – Koch, Holiday (61./Mensah), Hofer (61./Gölles) – Noß (61./Ibrahimi), Ronivaldo
Yellow cards: Horvath and Pirkl