Again without conceding – weak BL game: Sturm Graz wins in Klagenfurt

Sturm Graz has stalked second-placed LASK in the Bundesliga. With a 2-0 (0-0) win at Austria Klagenfurt, the runners-up of the past season clinched their fourth win in their eighth appearance of the season. The gap to the Linzer is only three points. Sturm remain on the road to success before the clash with Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Europa League on Thursday.

Christian Ilzer exchanged the success at Wörthersee. “Joker” Ivan Ljubic hammered the ball into the Kreuzeck in the 66th minute after Emanuel Emegha, who had come on at the break, failed to get past Klagenfurt goalkeeper Phillip Menzel. Emegha himself then added his third goal of the season in stoppage time. Austria coach Peter Pacult cannot win with his team against the Styrians. Five encounters resulted in five defeats for last year’s promoted team. Three days after the 1-0 win against Midtjylland and four days before the duel with Feyenoord, Ilzer rotated in attack. Manprit Sarkaria, banned against the Danes, started alongside Albian Ajeti. The Swiss was in the starting lineup for the first time. Sandro Ingolitsch started at right back instead of the suspended Jusuf Gazibegovic. Pacult had little reason to switch. After the 4: 3 in the Carinthian derby last week, the Austria coach gave those eleven men confidence again. The Klagenfurt could have written early. Markus Pink was suddenly completely alone in front of Jörg Siebenhandl after Sturm’s David Affengruber had punched an air hole. Pink might have been surprised, in any case, his lob landed next to the goal (7th). It should remain the home side’s only real chance to score. Sturm took over more and more the command. After a quarter of an hour, Ajeti could have celebrated for the first time in the league. The Swiss initially blocked Sarkaria free, but the center forward didn’t have the right timing when he put the ball in. A minute later the ball was already in the Klagenfurt goal, Tomi Horvat’s goal was disallowed because Sarkaria had been ruled offside beforehand by the VAR. After the turbulent initial phase, the game flattened out noticeably. Just before the break, Amadou Dante failed to control a Horvat cross. There wasn’t much more to see. Both coaches reacted by changing to the break. Emegha came on for Ajeti up front, while Klagenfurt now had Kosmas Gkezos and Nikola Djoric in play in central midfield. Ilzer followed up with William Böving and Ljubic – a move that paid off. After Emegha’s goal was again rightly disallowed for offside, the assistant referee’s flag was back up after Ljubic’s stunning shot shot away. This time the VAR should credit a goal. Emegha was not offside when Böving passed the ball beforehand. Referee Manuel Schüttengruber pointed to the center circle, Ljubic was happy. A clear increase was rewarded for Sturm. After the lead, trouble spot Emegha had the best opportunity to make it 2-0, but failed because of Menzel and Metall. Graz then switched to administration mode, with Aleksandar Borkovic replacing Sarkaria, Sturm switched to a five-man chain in defence. The Klagenfurt didn’t have any more chances to equalize. Emegha crowned his performance at the end with the 2:0. Reactions to the game: Peter Pacult (Klagenfurt coach): “It’s a shame that Markus Pink couldn’t use this chance at the beginning. The leadership would have put us in a completely different situation. We had an incomprehensible drop in performance after 15 minutes, lost the duels and lacked accuracy in the passing game. Once you’re behind against Sturm, it’s hard to do anything. This team is simply experienced and deserved to win.” Christian Ilzer (Sturm coach): “It was a well-deserved victory, a dominant performance from us, I except the first quarter of an hour. Pink’s chance could have made the game much more difficult for us. In the first half, however, we weren’t able to capitalize enough on our superiority. We lacked the necessary precision for a long time. In the second half, especially after the substitutions, we got more and more dangerous in front of the goal. It then became easier for me with the leadership. We deservedly scored the second goal. It was a very mature performance.”
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