Heavy away defeat at LASK

Austria suffered a 4-1 defeat to LASK in Linz. A harsh red card and three goals conceded within the first quarter of an hour proved decisive in favour of the home side. Taeseok Lee scored a consolation goal for the Violets, whilst Modou Cissé, Kasper Jørgensen, Moses Usor and Sasa Kalajdzic found the net for the Upper Austrians.

Tin Plavotić and Abubakr Barry returned to the squad following their suspensions, whilst Sanel Šaljić and Kelvin Boateng were back in the matchday squad for the first time since their injuries. Johannes Handl and Vasilije Marković started on the bench this time.

LASK were still without a win in the championship group, and manager Dietmar Kühbauer made four changes to his starting line-up. Sascha Horvath was available again after recovering from an ankle injury, whilst Modou Cissé, Ismaila Coulibaly and Sasa Kalajdzic were new additions to the team. George Bello was out injured, with Xavier Mbuyamba, Lukas Kacavenda and Christoph Lang on the bench.

A false start

The match got off to a disastrous start for the Violets, with LASK taking the lead in the fourth minute from their first corner following a header by Modou Cissé. A few minutes later, the ball struck Tin Plavotić’s hand in a challenge with Usor; after an on-field review, referee Jakob Semler showed the Austrian a red card – a harsh decision. Kang Hee Lee dropped back into central defence. Kasper Jørgensen converted the resulting free-kick from the edge of the box directly to make it 2-0 (12'). Just a minute later, it was 3-0, with Moses Usor tapping the ball over the line following a cross from Sascha Horvath (13'). But the Veilchen were still in the game; Taeseok Lee got a shot away from around 18 metres following a free-kick by Johannes Eggestein and reduced the deficit to 1–3 in the 16th minute – what an opening phase.

After that, the game settled down a little, but after half an hour the Upper Austrians struck again: team player Sasa Kalajdzic headed home to make it 4-1 (32'). Shots from Andres Andrade and Manfred Fischer went over the bar (39th, 40th). Coulibaly fired over in stoppage time, and a difficult first half ended with an unwelcome scoreline.  

Second half with two comebacks

There were no substitutions at half-time, and LASK remained a constant threat with their numerical advantage. Usor shot just wide of the far post, a Kalajdzic header hit the crossbar, and a shot from Adeniran was deflected for a corner (47’, 51’, 51’). In the 57th minute, Samuel Şahin-Radlinger managed to hold his ground against Sasa Kalajdzic.  

After an hour, Stephan Helm made a double substitution: Dejan Radonjić and Vasilije Marković came on for Philipp Wiesinger and Philipp Maybach. Austria had another shot on goal through Abu Barry, but the ball went wide (64'). Johannes Handl and Sanel Šaljić replaced Aleksandar Dragović and Manfred Fischer.  

Şahin-Radlinger was on hand to save a shot from substitute Florian Flecker (81'). Following Šaljić, Kelvin Boateng also made his comeback; the striker came on for Johannes Eggestein in a match that had already been decided. The score remained unchanged, and Austria had to admit defeat to LASK, losing 1-4.

LASK - Austria Wien 4-1 (4-1)

LASK: Jungwirth; Cissé, Tornich, Andrade (87. Mbuyamba); Jørgensen (78. Flecker), Coulibaly, Horvath (87. Lang), Bogarde; Usor (71. Kacavenda); Kalajdzic, Adeniran (78. Entrup)

Austria: Şahin-Radlinger; Wiesinger (61. Radonjić), Dragović (71. Handl), Plavotić; Ranftl, Kang Hee Lee, Maybach (61. Marković), Taeseok Lee; Fischer (71. Šaljić), Eggestein (85. Boateng), Barry

Goals: Cissé (4'), Jørgensen (12'), Usor (13'), Kalajdzic (32'); Taeseok Lee (16')

Yellow cards: none

Red card: Plavotić (11')

Raiffeisen Arena, referee Jakob Semler, 12,849 spectators