Wiener Austria scored a sovereign 3-0 win at TSV Hartberg on Sunday (Match report + video highlights), has moved up to sixth place in the table and has been unbeaten in the Bundesliga for five rounds.
Nevertheless, there was no real jubilation in the “Violets” camp – the apparently serious injury to Ziad El Sheiwi weighed too heavily on the mind. The ÖFB junior national player dropped out in the finish with a suspected cruciate ligament rupture.
El Sheiwi had already suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in his other knee ten months ago. The way back was long, just last Saturday the highly talented left-back made a 45-minute competitive comeback with the Young Violets in the second division. Eight days later, trainer Manfred Schmid brought him to the pros right from the start, and now there is a risk of another long absence. “El Sheiwi’s injury is a bitter thing for us. We’ll try to get this talented guy back up,” Schmid said on Sky.
The 18-year-old was substituted in the 78th minute. The injury happened without outside influence – El Sheiwi tried to catch the ball before the touchline and buckled in the process. Sports director Manuel Ortlechner did not want to judge whether it would have been better to take the outside player off earlier. “We all question each other,” said the ex-defender. “We didn’t set it up for him to come back after five or six months. There was also approval that we would involve him again.”
Schmid did not blame himself for El Sheiwi’s line-up. “As the person responsible for sport, I don’t take on the medical responsibility.” If you see the situation, it can happen to him even if he wasn’t injured before,” Schmid suspected.
Ortlechner on El Sheiwi injury: “I only saw people crying”
Ortlechner comforted El Sheiwi. “We told him after the first injury, don’t stress, we’ll extend your contract and wait for you, and we’ll do that now,” said the Upper Austrian and said that after the match in the Austria dressing room he only seen people crying”.
Andreas Gruber also had tears in his eyes when he was asked about El Sheiwi, especially since he himself had already suffered from a cruciate ligament tear. “When I heard it, I was devastated. I know how it feels and can only wish him all the best,” explained the offensive player, who was match winner for the Violets with a goal worth seeing and an assist.
Due to El Sheiwi’s presumably serious injury, Austria’s sovereign performance receded into the background. He was impressed by his team’s performance, said Schmid three days after the 0-0 start against Be’er Sheva in the Conference League. Compared to the duel with the Israelis, the coach had brought only one new player – El Sheiwi – into the starting lineup. The Conference League continues on Thursday with the away match against the Polish champions Lech Poznan.
Kühbauer is annoyed after LASK-1: 1 in Lustenau
LASK does not have to cope with a double burden, but the Linzers recently got a little sand in the works. As in the previous week against Ried, Austria Lustenau only managed a 1-1 draw, whereupon coach Dietmar Kühbauer spoke of two lost points. “After the 1-0 we let everything slide. You can’t allow yourself that. We were punished for our passivity with an equalizer.” Nevertheless, LASK is still the only team without a league defeat this season, although the gap between the second-placed team and leaders Red Bull Salzburg grew to three points.
After the eighth round, Lustenau is surprisingly in fourth place. “We are all very proud that we scored against a top team. I think because of the second half it was even a not undeserved point.” coach Markus Mader summed it up.
(APA) / Image: GEPA