The Styrian Bundesliga team fought 1-1 in the last Group B game against AS Monaco on Thursday evening and took the second point after a 1-1 at Real Sociedad. Group rank four and thus the departure of the team of coach Christian Ilzer was already fixed, as was the pool victory for the Monegasque coached by Niko Kovac and made it to the round of 16.
After an early goal by Jakob Jantscher (7th / penalty), Graz could dream of their first victory. Kevin Volland (30th) managed to equalize before the break. Despite the upcoming league battle at Ligue 1 leader Paris St. Germain on Sunday, Kovac did without a major rotation in the starting lineup. Only after changing sides did the Croat give some of the regulars a break.
After heavy snowfall, the game was still on the brink at lunchtime, but thanks to the active support of the armed forces, the lawn in the Merkur Arena could be cleared in good time. And the home side got off to a brilliant start. Manprit Sarkaria shot Strahinja Pavlovic in the hand in the penalty area, the video referee intervened and the Swedish referee Mohammed Al-Hakim decided on the penalty kick after viewing the TV images. Jantscher used this confidently high in the corner.
Monaco struck back almost immediately, with a Volland header after Golowin corner saved the crossbar (9th). Otherwise, Sturm was inside the game well, had significantly less possession, but more dangerous moments. After a failed Matsima header return, Sarkaria came from the best position to finish, but missed the goal (11th). A degree by Alexander Prass was just blocked by Ruben Aguilar (17th).
That got its revenge in the 30th minute, and once again it was extremely dangerous after a Golowin corner – one of five corners before the break compared to none of Sturm. The ball came to Volland via detours, which failed first to Jörg Siebenhandl, but defeated the storm goalie in the second attempt. After the restart, the changes made on the part of the guests did not have a negative effect, they had the game under control and pressed on the winning goal, even as the forces dwindled somewhat in the storm.
Eliot Matazo shot over it (49th), Wilson Isidor was stopped by the striker goalie running alone on Siebenhandl (58th) and also put the ball over it (66th). The hosts weren’t really seen offensive until the 92nd minute. Then Kelvin Yeboah appeared alone in front of Majecki, but did not bring a jack on goal. Nevertheless, in contrast to the 0-1 defeat in the Principality, the Graz team took something countable from the game this time.
The current meager record was not really better: Only one of the last eleven competitive games could still be won. The last opportunity to improve that is on Sunday (2.30 p.m.) in the away league game at Austria Klagenfurt.
Source: Nachrichten
