Victories for Salzburg and Sturm in the master group
Salzburg has taken the next step on the way to its nineteenth championship title in a row in the Bundesliga. 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 is now Sturm Graz after a 3-1 home win against Austria Klagenfurt. At the end of the round, Rapid and Austria shared a point (1:1) at the 335th Vienna Derby.
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′).
Rapid and Austria separate in the 335th Viennese football derby with a 1: 1 (1: 1). Robert Ljubicic gave Hütteldorfer the lead in front of 26,000 spectators in the sold-out Allianz Stadium in the 14th minute, the guests managed to equalize in the 28th minute through Marco Djuricin. In the table of the Bundesliga championship group, Austria shoots back to third place, one point behind Rapid in fourth place.
The sixth derby in a row ended in a draw. In addition, the Green-Whites still have to wait for their first win over their arch-rivals in the Allianz Stadium – the record against Austria in the new home ground opened in summer 2016 is three defeats and six draws.
Meanwhile, TSV Hartberg remained without a win and goalless in the second Bundesliga 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.