Extremely emotional kick-off in the new LASK Raiffeisen Arena! Even the pouring rain couldn’t dampen the joy of around 13,000 fans. At the latest when the star guest appeared, the black and white wall trembled. A penalty in added time to the 1-0 win against Lustenau made the evening perfect.
The big day of LASK had finally come, the people of Linz finally returned to the Gugl! “The black-and-white gods are back on Olympus,” was written in bold letters on Linz’s huge fan grandstand. And Sky expert and ex-national player Marc Janko also congratulated: “Respect for building such a stadium in 16 months. This arena sets international standards.” The long-time goalscorer for the national team remembered all too well that he was called off from the Linz stadium in 2012 after a 3-0 loss to Ivory Coast. The only downer amidst a huge wave of euphoria was the weather : The pouring rain made the thousands of fans in the fan zone look like watered poodles. Where Felix Luckeneder, who was suspended yesterday, also paid a visit. Old love as a magnet And the new arena also has a magnetic effect beyond the borders: Markus Danninger from Linz emigrated to Germany in 1994 and mutated into a Dortmund fan there. Yesterday he came back to the Gugl for the first time to cheer on his old love with daughter Emily. “I like Borussia Dortmund, but LASK is even more important to me,” admitted Danninger. There was absolutely no sign of the predicted traffic chaos – even an hour before the kick-off against Lustenau there were no obstacles. The people of Linz had apparently taken the LASK requests to only travel publicly very seriously. When the LASK professionals ran onto the lawn to warm up, the “black and white wall” demonstrated their powerful voice for the first time Nova conjured up hot rhythms in the Linz night sky. At least this time football was exceptionally in the background. But in the end he also wrote a fairy tale again. Because Marin Ljubicic made it 1-0 against Lustenau with a penalty in the 94th minute.
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