Football – victories for Salzburg and Sturm in the master group
Coach Matthias Jaissle’s team prevailed 4:1 in the second round of the championship group at the WAC on Sunday and kept a huge lead over the competition. The first pursuer was Sturm Graz after a 3-1 home win against Austria Klagenfurt. The round ends with the Vienna Derby Rapid – Austria (from 5 p.m.).
In contrast to the cup semi-final on Wednesday, which was only decided in favor of Salzburg after a penalty shoot-out, the fifth-placed Wolfsberg team had no chance on Sunday. Noah Okafor (15′), Junior Adamu (27′) and Rasmus Kristensen (36′) made things clear even before the break in front of 3,626 spectators. The fourth goal went to Maurits Kjaergaard (68′).
The Carinthians, who once again didn’t win after six league home wins in a row, only managed to make up for the result with Eliel Peretz (87th). Salzburg went off the field as winners for the fifth time in a competitive game in the Lavanttal Arena.
The fact that top striker Karim Adeyemi was out with a hamstring problem, as was Brenden Aaronson, who complained of knee pain during the warm-up, and captain Andreas Ulmer was rested from the start didn’t matter.
Sturm got their first win in the master group on Sunday. Mainly thanks to Manprit Sarkaria, Graz celebrated a 3-1 (2-1) home win against Austria Klagenfurt. The midfielder made the preliminary decision with two goals (23rd/free kick, 43rd) and Styria’s third win in the third duel of the season with the promoted team. Jon Gorenc-Stankovic scored Graz’s third goal (75′), Markus Pink scored for Klagenfurt (39′).
TSV Hartberg remains without a win and goalless in the second game under neo-coach Klaus Schmidt, but also without defeat. The East Styrians split 0-0 from LASK in the second round of the qualifying group in the local Profertil Arena on Sunday. That didn’t help the Hartbergers in the relegation battle, nor was the Linzer able to break away significantly at the top of the group. The Schmidt squad is only three points behind Altach at the bottom.