On Saturday, third-placed Linz not only lost their home game against WAC 0-1 (0-1), but also against Robert Zulj, who had just returned, with red (27th). The Carinthians, however, came even closer to their goal of reaching the championship group thanks to a foul penalty scored by Thierno Ballo (14th). At least until Sunday they are one point ahead of Rapid and two ahead of Austria in sixth place.
Raven-black first half
Exactly one year after the opening game in the Linz Arena, the first half was a disaster for LASK. The Linzers had significantly more of the game at the beginning, but remained relatively harmless and soon made their first mistake. Full-back George Bello didn’t hit the ball that fell from above after a throw-in, only Dominik Baumgartner did, and Ballo safely used the penalty to score his eighth goal of the season.
Less than fifteen minutes later, Zulj, the offensive lynchpin who had been sorely missed recently and had returned after illness, was thrown off the field. A tough decision, as the 32-year-old almost had no choice but to step on his opponent’s ankle in the decisive scene against Baumgartner. The fact that Ivan Ljubic, one of the six players in the 4-2-3-1 system, was injured a little later without outside influence crowned Linz’s pitch-black first half.
The home team continued to try for offensive accents, but did not have any significant chances. The WAC, who played with the same personnel as in the recent 4-1 win over WSG Tirol, appeared several times in the opponent’s half after counterattacks. Adis Jasic missed the best chance from short distance, he aimed over the goal (31.) .
Red became yellow
10,200 spectators saw a hectic exchange of blows even after the break. On the hour mark, Andres Andrade prevented Ballo from going solo at the last second (63′), and a little later the Carinthians also seemed to lose a man. After studying VAR, referee Christopher Jäger converted the red card into yellow after a foul by Pascal Müller (71st).
At the beginning of the final quarter of an hour, Ballo, who was once again rushing alone, was denied by LASK goalie Tobias Lawal (75′), while on the other side Philipp Ziereis was unable to take advantage of his good header chance at the five-pointer (81′). Despite all efforts, the Upper Austrians’ first home defeat of the season could no longer be averted.
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