2:0 – LASK showed fitness and patience when jumping into third place

For the effort against Zrinjski Mostar on Thursday, LASK was rewarded with a duel in the Europa League against Liverpool, today three Bundesliga points were the earned income for the performance in the 2-0 win against Lustenau. “We stayed patient and deserved to win,” said defender Philipp Ziereis, whose header paved the way to victory to make it 1-0 (79th).

LASK controlled Lustenau right from the start, had a few top chances, but running up did not bring anything countable for a long time. When you thought that the athletes would get tired after the Europa League play-off in Mostar (1: 1) on Thursday, they really got going.

• OO today: LASK wins against Austria Lustenau

In the 62nd minute, LASK’s goal anthem had already sounded and everyone in the stadium rubbed their eyes in disbelief: Elias Havel came to the ball with his back to the goal, behind him two Lustenau defenders – and the 20-year-old maneuvered the ball with his heel past the puzzled goalkeeper Domenik Schierl into the goal. But referee Markus Hameter refused to recognize the potential goal of the round after an on-field review: Marin Ljubicic was centimeters offside when it came about. The ball came from a Lustenauer, but he only deflected a pass. “We won 2-0, that’s the most important thing,” said the striker, who came on as a substitute at the break and brought a lot of momentum and depth to the game again.

Havel earned the opening goal in another way: the access forced Schierl to make a brilliant save after a run down the field (78′). It was 1-0 from the corner kick that followed: Sascha Horvath crossed into the middle, where Philipp Ziereis had escaped – and the defender sank his header. “I’m particularly pleased that it fell after a standard situation,” explained coach Thomas Sageder, who had brought Clemens Zulechner into his coaching team for the dead balls. “We’re working intensively with Clemens in training,” said Ziereis. “It was all the nicer that it was the can opener.”

“That was a good performance”

Havel got at least one official scorer point in stoppage time: he let Boris Moltenis stand on the left, and Thomas Goiginger, who was also a substitute, pushed the Stangl pass over the line to make it 2-0 (96′). “That was a good performance,” said coach Thomas Sageder. The power in the final phase, despite the European Cup game on Thursday and the long journey home afterwards, was also proof that the team is in good physical shape. LASK climbed to third place in the table with the win. The successful run against Austria Lustenau could also be continued. Sageder: “So we can go well into the international break.”

consolation for Michorl

Peter Michorl watched again today. The 28-year-old didn’t have a Leiberl in the squad against Lustenau – the fans reacted with chants for Michorl. Last week he offered himself for the LASK Amateure OÖ game in the regional league against Allerheiligen.

Accordingly motivated, he played on Friday and scored the 5:1 goal to make it 2:1. LASK trainer Thomas Sageder: “All the rumors about disciplinary problems are nonsense. My players are not like that. There are clearly communicated sporting decisions and a matchday squad that is automatically limited in number.”