In front of 2,000 spectators in the last quarter-finals in Wals-Siezenheim on Sunday, Salzburg beat Bundesliga rivals LASK 3-1 after trailing 1-0. In the semi-finals, the WAC is waiting away at the beginning of March, as the draw made shortly after the final whistle showed. In the second semi-final, SV Ried has home advantage against Rapid conqueror TSV Hartberg.
The “Bulls” experienced a false start in a repeat of last year’s final with a long-range hit by Sascha Horvath (13th), but an own goal by Rene Renner (15th) and a goal by Rasmus Kristensen (41st) still ensured before the break for the turn. Nicolas Capaldo (47th) made everything clear right after the restart. Salzburg have already won 22 matches in a row in the cup. In this competition, they also had the upper hand against LASK in the fourth duel, in 2021 there was a clear 3-0 in the final in Klagenfurt.
Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle also counted on Mohamed Camara and Brenden Aaronson, who returned late from the national team, in the starting line-up. Antoine Bernede took on the role of the injured Nicolas Seiwald. In attack, alongside Noah Okafor, Slovenian Benjamin Sesko stormed in, replacing the DFB team kicker Karim Adeyemi, who was missing due to tonsillitis.
Linzers took the lead
Okafor was the center of attention right from the start, but his shot was too weak, as was Bernede shortly afterwards, who volleyed wide of the goal (2′). The people of Linz struggled in the early stages, but came out of nowhere to take the lead. Horvath took aim from around 20 meters and was also lucky that his shot was deflected from Maximilian Wöber’s back into the far corner. However, the lead did not last two minutes and Salzburg were also very lucky in the end. Sesko actually wanted to cross and hit Renner, from whom the ball landed in his own goal over Schlager.
In terms of chances, it only became interesting again shortly before the break. Sesko prevailed, Alexander Schlager was able to fend off a corner. That had consequences. Kristensen, who was unmarked at the short corner, skilfully transported Andreas Ulmer’s cross into the far corner with the back of his head. As a result, Sesko probably had to leave the field prematurely with a muscle injury in his thigh.
After the restart, Aaronson failed because of Schlager, who shortly afterwards was beaten by Capaldo after a cross from the American from four yards out. Aaronson was very lucky to get the ball in the making. That took the tension out. Linz could not improve, the eight-time cup champion was relatively safe and could have won even more if the chances had been better exploited. Okafor failed at the best opportunity on the strong hit (68th).
Salzburg won their fourth competitive game in a row and got off to a positive start in spring. On Friday, the first league task awaits the superior leader in 2022 with the guest appearance at Rapid. This is also the dress rehearsal for the upcoming Champions League round of 16 home game against Bayern Munich. LASK is only tenth in the championship and will face Austria Klagenfurt at home on Sunday.
Source: Nachrichten
