The summit of the Bundesliga did not result in a winner. Red Bull Salzburg and Sturm Graz drew goalless on Saturday, the series champion is two points ahead of the Styrian pursuer at the top of the table after the 13th round. Before a European Cup week, which was important for both teams, both teams extended their unbeaten series.
Salzburg set the tone in the tired first half, but ended up failing to score for the first time this season. Sturm inflicted their last competitive defeat on Salzburg in the second round with a 2-1 win in Graz and thus won the direct duel in the regular season. The surprise was not repeated, however, because Strahinja Pavlovic, who was ruled out in the finish, stopped the ready-to-shoot storm attacker William Böving with a great deed (70th). After a penalty alert in the storm’s penalty area in injury time, Salzburg’s temper heated up. On Tuesday, the “Bullen” received English top club Chelsea for the penultimate Champions League group game as a team unbeaten in 17 competitive games. Sturm have been unbeaten in eight games and are looking for revenge against Feyenoord Rotterdam on Thursday in Graz after the 6-0 loss in the Europa League first leg. Luka Sucic slipped out of the starting eleven with adductor problems and was replaced in the position behind the double lead by Lawrence Agyekum. The 18-year-old from Ghana celebrated his debut in the starting XI. Otherwise, both coaches relied on speed in attack. Jaissle fielded Junior Adamu and Noah Okafor. Christian Ilzer gave Böving and Emanuel Emegha the preference over the cup heroes Albian Ajeti and Jakob Jantscher. However, the defensive ranks were initially decisive in the sold-out league hit (16,094 spectators). Just Salzburg defender Pavlovic also made the offensive action worth seeing with a slalom run through half of the Graz back line. The Serb then put the shot next to Jörg Siebenhandl’s goal (37′). Slight chances Salzburg had the slight chances on their side. Adamu headed over the bar (6′), a long-range shot by Maurits Kjaergaard swept past the right post (16′). Sturm kept the intense game open, but only showed offensively in the 31st minute with a free kick from Jusuf Gazibegovic. Salzburg goalie Philipp Köhn parried the attempt. Salzburg’s central defender Oumar Solet, whose mission had been shaky beforehand, stayed in the dressing room at half-time as a precautionary measure. Kamil Piatkowski replaced the French seamlessly.Horvat failsAfter an attack-like storm attack, Tomi Horvat had the 1-0 on his feet. The Slovene failed from close range at the dipping Köhn, who caught the ball a few centimeters from the line (56′). The game picked up speed thanks to more risk and more deals. Both coaches hoped for additional impetus from the “jokers” Benjamin Sesko and Ajeti. Pavlovic scratched the ball just over the bar again to make it 1-0 with a header and only seconds later prevented Salzburg from falling behind with an emergency slide against William Böving (70th). Böving had already passed Köhn after a through ball. In a completely open finish, Adamu (79’/header, 87′) and Ajeti (83’/Stanglpass) missed what was probably the decisive stroke. In stoppage time, Pavlovic saw a yellow-red card after a duel with Mohamed Fuseini in the Graz penalty area. Referee Stefan Ebner decided on Schwalbe in the contentious scene. The reactions: Matthias Jaissle (Salzburg coach): “It was a brutal fighting game. Both sides brought extreme intensity to the pitch, which is perhaps why the really big scoring chances didn’t materialize. Even though I think we really got the pressure on the back and there were one or the other tricky situation. I believe that autumn is extremely intense. This is of course noticeable and noticeable. Then there is the large number of injuries. All in all, we’re satisfied with how we’re marching through. We’ve been unbeaten for a long time, so we’ll take the 0-0 lead in the top game with us.” Christian Ilzer (Sturm coach): “Salzburg was a little closer to victory in the first half. But we were much closer in the second half. We have a hundred from Horvat, Böving and Ajeti were also very close to the lead. It was back and forth, lots of rallies, all in all it was a fair draw. It’s a shame that we didn’t use one of our opportunities. The penalty would have been very hard. The right solution would have been no penalties and no yellow-red cards.”FC Red Bull Salzburg – SK Sturm Graz 0:0Wals-Siezenheim, Red Bull Arena, 16,094 (sold out), SR Ebner.Salzburg: Köhn – Dedic, Solet ( 46th Piatkowski), Pavlovic, Wöber – Seiwald, Gourna-Douath, Agyekum (81st Simic), Kjaergaard – Adamu, Okafor (66th Sesko) Storm: Siebenhandl – Gazibegovic, Affengruber, Wüthrich, Dante (69th Schnegg) – Hierländer , Gorenc-Stankovic, T. Horvat (Kiteishvili 69), Prass – Emegha (Ajeti 60), Böving (Fuseini 84)Yellow-red card: Pavlovic (92nd/foul, unsportsmanlike behavior)Yellow cards: Agyekum or Gazibegovic , Affengruber, Stankovic
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