The players from Linz fought for a goalless draw against the superior leaders Red Bull Salzburg in the supplementary game of the 21st round in Pasching on Wednesday evening, but in the last round before the end of the regular season they were unable to make it into the top six teams from eighth place . The last ten games must therefore be played in the qualifying group.
Salzburg have a 16-point lead over their closest pursuer, Sturm Graz. The point win against the Europa Conference League round of 16, who was outnumbered for a long time after a yellow-red card from Rene Renner (50th), can also be classified as a success, as the league Croesus had hardly any recently due to the extremely large number of corona cases to train properly. After all, a large part of the squad reported fit again before the duel with Linz, which is also important news with regard to the second leg in the Champions League round of 16 at Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Due to the return of some players who recently suffered from Corona, the starting eleven presented itself similar to that in the last minute 2-0 win against WAC on February 20th. Only captain Andreas Ulmer was missing on the left in defense and was replaced by Daouda Guindo, and Mamady Diambou acted in midfield instead of Mohamed Camara. Maximilian Wöber, who was also missing against Wolfsberger, was not yet fit enough to play.
After a minute’s silence for the victims of the Ukraine war, it was the people of Linz who played better in temperatures around freezing. The ball went well in the ranks of the home team, who repeatedly came dangerously towards the Salzburg penalty area, but rarely made the last pass there. After the Corona turbulence, the Salzburgers were unsurprisingly far from their top form, lost the balls far too easily and won too few second balls. It also didn’t help that central defender Oumar Solet was eliminated early in the 23rd minute with a suspected thigh muscle injury.
The guests still found the first top chance in the game. After Adamu’s hole pass, Karim Adeyemi ran alone towards Alexander Schlager, but put the ball wide of the goal from the edge of the penalty area (32′). A lead would have been flattering, but Linzer, who were twice dangerous before the break, deserved it. Thomas Goiginger unselfishly played to Florian Flecker, who incomprehensibly let the ball through at first and then didn’t finish properly (40′). Immediately afterwards, Salzburg goalie Philipp Köhn had to fish a Goiginger long-range shot out of the corner, which is worth seeing (41′).
Linz carried the momentum into the second half and became dangerous with a Balic header (47′), but then weakened themselves. Renner had to leave the field prematurely after repeated foul play. That made things a little easier for Salzburg, but Adeyemi was again lacking in coolness in the end and shot over from five (54′). Despite being outnumbered, the people of Linz were under pressure, so they kept looking for a way forward, but the winning goal that would have kept the chance of the championship group alive didn’t materialize because a Michorl shot went over it (90th) and Köhn with one Horvath-Chance awarded (91st).
After all, LASK was able to get countable against Salzburg for the first time after seven defeats in a direct duel in the league. Before the division of points and at the Bavarian dress rehearsal on Saturday, Salzburg still has to deal with Altach at the bottom, LASK is a guest at the third-placed WAC. Coach Andreas Wieland’s team could possibly draw level with the sixth rapid on points, but would then be at a disadvantage due to the worse direct comparison.
Source: Nachrichten
