The quality of the game was not quite up to the cup exchange of blows, which meant the bitter elimination of LASK with the 0:1 – this time the athletes had the better end in the Bundesliga.
Unlike in the semifinals three days earlier in Graz, the Styrians had LASK under control in Linz for a long time. Before the break, the athletes found hardly any means of overplaying the storm pressing and getting into the opposing half of the game with combinations. But if it succeeded, LASK was dangerous: Moses Usor stumbled on a cross from Marin Ljubicic (29th) and didn’t finish Keito Nakamura’s pass (40th).
Sturm dominated, but goalkeeper Alexander Schlager only really had to intervene to save shortly before the break: he parried a header from ex-LASK player David Schnegg (41st) and a long-range shot from Jusuf Gazibegovic (42nd).
VAR corrected offside decision at 1-0
Schlager then had no chance to defend himself when Alexander Prass headed an assist from Albian Ajeti over the line. The referee team on the field first decided offside, the video referee corrected it, so that LASK ran after a 0: 1 (48th) – and the Linzers picked up the pace.
Schnegg thwarted the equalizer when he cleared Moses Usor with a header (55′), Philipp Ziereis’ header from a corner missed the goal (57′), Keito Nakamura’s shot went just wide (59′), after another corner Ziereis’ header went over the goal (67′).
Goal and assist by Joker Mustapha
When Sturm Graz counterattacked, Schlager parried Gazibegovic’s shot (70′), then substitute Ibrahim Mustapha forced the equalizer (71′): At Usor’s cross, Sturm goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo parried Nakamura’s shot, which rebounded Mustapha – 1:1.
Image: GEPA pictures/ Manfred Binder (GEPA pictures)
And it was Mustapha who prepared the 2-1 for LASK: Nakamura used his cross with a header (79th). it was the Japanese’s 13th goal of the season.
With the win, LASK defended their four-point lead over Rapid (3-1 against Klagenfurt) in third place, while a win would have brought Sturm one point closer to Salzburg. Benjamin Sesko saved the league leaders a point in added time with his penalty to make it 3-3 against Austria Wien at home.
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Author
Günther Mayrhofer
Sports Editor
Günther Mayrhofer
