After eleven years in the Austrian football league, Admira Wacker has to return to the second division.
Due to the events in the other places, the Südstadters slipped to the bottom of the table with a 1:3 away defeat at LASK on the last day of the Admiral Bundesliga – and had to be relegated.
Admira got off to an absolutely horrible start in Pasching: after a pass from Rene Renner, Husein Balic suddenly found himself alone in front of the opposing goal and flicked the ball into the far corner to make it 1-0 (14′).
Only a little later Balic nets a second time. After a one-two with Sascha Horvath, the attacker throws the round ball into the net (20′). After half an hour, Thomas Goiginger even made it 3-0 for LASK (33rd) with a shot into the far corner.
Lukacevic goal not enough
The Admira shows itself to be significantly improved in the second round, rears up again – and also scores. Substitute Stefano Surdanovic cannot save the ball, but Leonardo Lukacevic is correct and shortened (56th).
The people from the south of town push everything forward again in the final phase, but it rarely gets really dangerous. On the other hand, LASK finds a few opportunities for goal number four, but in the end it remains 3-1.
While Admira has to say goodbye to the Admiral 2nd division with 21 points, LASK secured second place in the qualifying group with their first win under Dietmar Kühbauer – Linzer rose to the playoff semi-finals with 26 points for the last European Cup place . Opponent is the WSG Tirol.
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Disastrous first half of the south town
In high summer temperatures, the hosts immediately took command against low-lying Südstadters, but the guests had the first good chance. Mustapha let opponent Rene Renner get out after a Vodhanel pass, but his shot was blocked at the last second (10′).
On the other side, LASK approached the Admira case with a harmless Hong shot (13th). LASK deservedly took the lead for less than 60 seconds: Renner pushed through to Balic, who, despite the heat, sunk the leather in the lower right corner.
The Upper Austrians immediately followed suit. Once again it was Balic who, after a nice one-two with Sascha Horvath, turned the ball from a tight angle with his left into the Kreuzeck (19′). The 26-year-old, who had scored just once in the league’s games so far this season, took his goal tally to three.
The LASK didn’t have enough against some inferior defenders from the south of town. Keito Nakamura marched through the visitors’ defense and served Goiginger, who used the loose Admira escort and shot in from the right flat left (33′).
Admira can no longer get to it
Herzog reacted immediately, took Jan Vodhanel out of the game and brought on Stefano Surdanovic. The guests still didn’t find their way into the game and were redeemed by the half-time whistle. Herzog used the break to make two more changes.
And Vladimir Nikolov, who was exchanged for Mustapha, then provided the first accents offensively. His cross landed deflected by Surdanovic at Lukacevic, who stopped the ball with his chest and volleyed LASK goalie Alexander Schlager (56th).
While Linz were trying for a fourth goal, Admira was now in the game and had the chance to catch up: Surdanovic failed with a header from Schlager (66′). Shortly thereafter, another setback for the guests, substitute Philipp Schmiedl had to leave the field injured after a header duel with Andreas Gruber, who had also been exchanged. Both had hit their heads (73rd).
In the final phase, the Herzog team usually only came dangerously in front of the Linz goal from standard situations, but nothing countable came out of it. LASK, on the other hand, was negligent with its counterattack chances.
Admira’s fate was sealed after 97 minutes. On Monday, LASK is now waiting for a guest appearance at the WSG in the fight for a place in the European Cup. In the event of a Linz victory, Kühbauer could then meet his previous employer Rapid.
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