2023-11-03 20:44:00
Immediately after the final whistle, Yannick Oberleitner didn’t really know how to classify the 2:3 defeat in the cup round of 16 against SK Sturm. “The emotions were just so brutally high,” says the GAK defender. Even the journey to the stadium “was unbelievable. You realized how important the game is. I’ve never experienced that before,” says the 21-year-old, who moved from the LASK Amateurs to Graz in the summer. “I am very satisfied with the GAK. The club and the whole environment are great.” The defender takes it all in stride that the German was only a supplementary player until the derby. “Every footballer wants to play, but I understand the coach’s decision. I try to help the team, whether with short appearances or something like in the derby right from the start.”
A day before the duel with his city rivals, the Bavarian found out that he would be playing against Sturm from the start. In the 37th minute he made it 2-1 for the second division team. With the hand. “I really didn’t notice anything. It all happened so quickly. I just saw that the ball was in the goal and ran to celebrate.”
Roller coaster ride of emotions
As great as the joy was after the interim lead, things were just as bitter for Oberleitner in the 58th minute when he unfortunately directed the ball into his own goal. “I have never scored an own goal in my life. The fact that this happens in a game like this is of course ungrateful,” says the German. “It took me a while before I was able to fall asleep later at home.”
But after a day, pride took over. “We were on par with the Bundesliga leaders. In this game we realized that we can keep up.” That should be enough motivation for the upcoming tasks in the championship to march further ahead in the title race. “We want to have games like this more often next year,” says Oberleitner, whose parents came from Munich and his girlfriend from Vienna to be there live.
Today (6.30 p.m.) he will have one eye on Germany when Dortmund challenges FC Bayern in the Bundesliga. Oberleitner’s father Markus was in Bayern’s Bundesliga squad in the 1996/1997 season. “I’m a bit of a Bayern fan,” says the junior, who was also active for the German record champions as a youth team.
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