In the second group game against Lech Poznan, the Viennese left the field as 1:4 (1:1) losers. Mikael Ishak (27′), Michal Skoras (64′) and Kristoffer Velde (76′, 90′) scored for Poland’s champions, Matthias Braunöder (29′) managed to equalize in the meantime. More might have been possible for Austria in Poznan, so Manfred Fischer failed with a foul penalty (36th).
The Violets, who were clearly beaten in the end, only have one point after the 0-0 draw against Hapoel Be’er Sheva. At the head of the group is Villarreal, Spain hold a maximum of six points after a 2-1 draw at Be’er Sheva. Lech follows with three. Austria – who are already waiting for ten European Cup games to be successful – are now due to travel to Valencia. Manfred Schmid’s team will be visiting Villarreal on October 5th.
For the Austria coach, the evening actually started off to measure. In front of a little over 20,000 spectators in Poznań’s 2012 European Championship arena, Schmid relied on the tried and tested. It started with the same team as against Be’er Sheva last week. Of those players who then won 3-0 in Hartberg at the weekend, ten men were there, with the exception of Marvin Martins. In defense Lukas Mühl was supposed to disrupt the circles of Lech’s striker Ishak in a duel between two ex-Nuremberg professionals.
Austria started ambitiously, tried their hand at pressing and achieved partial success. Lech’s play structure was paralyzed, but the home side almost wrote from their first opportunity. Joao Amaral appeared alone in front of Christian Früchtl after an ideal pass from Skoras, but shot well over the bar from a half-left position (14′). Austria played a lot on the right flank with Reinhold Ranftl and Andreas Gruber. A quick counterattack paved the way for Gruber’s first big Austria chance. The right winger had a lot of space, but finished too harmlessly (24th).
It was turbulent. First it was Lech’s turn. Austria attacked impetuously in midfield and opened up space, Ishak was completely free after a pass from Amaral and didn’t give Früchtl a chance. Whether the Swede started offside remained unanswered. In the Conference League, the VAR is not used in the group. However, Austria immediately managed to shake off the setback: Fischer made space in the penalty area and saw Braunöder, who was successful on the second try. 1:44 minutes lay between the 1:0 and 1:1.
Poland’s champion revealed further weaknesses in defense and presented Austria with the lead on the serving tray. Left-back Pedro Rebocho failed to receive the ball and stalled against Dominik Fitz. The man who was fouled wanted to play, but Fischer grabbed the ball after a short discussion – and failed with an unsuccessful attempt by Lech’s Filip Bednarek. Austria could not reward themselves for their good performance in the first half of the game.
Things got dangerous for the Viennese shortly after the change of sides. Ishak released Amaral, the Portuguese failed from eleven meters at Früchtl’s parade (49th). Long-distance runner Braunöder, meanwhile, was close to his second European Cup goal (56th) with a sharp cross, Gruber just missed the far corner (62nd). Austria played offensively pleasing, but again they were too careless in defense. Skoras had too much space on a cross and completed a volley. Complaints about offside went unheeded, Mühl was level with the winger.
Schmid brought in fresh forces for the offensive, but a “joker” made the decision for Lech. Velde made room against Ranftl and defeated Früchtl again. The Norwegian even followed up after a free kick in the finish.
Source: Nachrichten
