Sturm Graz celebrates home win against RB Salzburg
Sturm Graz finished second in the championship on Wednesday evening. On match day 29 of the Bundesliga, the Styrians defeated RB Salzburg 2-1 in the championship group. Rapid couldn’t get past a 2-2 draw against Austria Klagenfurt and can no longer oust Sturm from second place.
Jakob Jantscher (centre) puts his stamp on the game.
GEPA images
Storm Graz Champion Salzburg botched the dress rehearsal for the cup final and secured second place in the Bundesliga with a 2-1 home win. In a duel between two completely transformed teams, the Styrians got the upper hand for the first time this season. Lukas Jäger (14′) and Jakob Jantscher (72′) scored for Sturm, Benjamin Sesko equalized four days before Salzburg’s big double chance (22′).
Bundesliga championship group, 29th matchday
With the surprising victory, Sturm takes the final step to second place, which is already three laps before the end after Rapid’s 2-2 draw against Klagenfurt. The reward is entry into the Champions League qualification. The guests from Salzburg had already ticked off their first goal on Sunday – and subordinated everything to the last one on May 1st of this year. The second defeat of the season in the league was the result.
Many new brooms on both sides
After the championship party, Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle started the rotary machine in Graz. Only Maximilian Wöber/Nicolas Seiwald/Brenden Aaronson remained in the starting line-up ahead of regular goalie Philipp Köhn. The coach looks forward to the auditions of some players with fewer minutes of play. Only Sesko showed decisively.
Sturm countered with a weakened replacement. Christian Ilzer had to replace five regular players, including legionnaires Gregory Wüthrich, Jon Gorenc-Stankovic and Rasmus Höjlund. After all, it is still enough for a starting eleven of exclusively established Bundesliga players.
This included defensive all-rounder Jäger, who appeared free in front of Köhn after a Jantscher free-kick cross and defeated him with a header (14′). Both teams had previously “knocked on” with big shots from Sesko (2nd) and Manprit Sarkaria (11th) – and despite coordination difficulties on both sides, ensured a lively start in front of 10,625 spectators.
Junior Adamu missed the first big chance to equalize (19th). Nicolas Capaldo used it ideally with a cross in the back of the storm defence, but the ÖFB team player shot a few centimeters past the right post.
Shortly thereafter, the special 22nd minute of the game: Jantscher called the ball across to Anderson Niangbo, who, however, jumped past the play equipment with bad timing. In return, Sesko broke away from the Sturm defense at the right moment when Capaldo crossed in again and scored his fifth goal of the season from close range (22nd). Instead of 2:0 for Sturm it was 1:1.
It goes on in balance. Salzburg had the ball more often, but did not develop the usual power in the 1b suit. Sturm remained dangerous in the transition game and – despite the absence of the best headers – from set pieces.
Some restraint
Successful attacks became rarer after the change of sides – and Jaissle made three changes in midfield at the hour mark. Surprisingly, his team rarely combined as well as in the 70th minute, when Aaronson failed with a seven-handed lob and missed the ball in the follow-up shot.
Shortly thereafter, the top scorer in the league turned away jubilantly. Jantscher scored his twelfth goal of the season after a Hierländer pass, Salzburg’s Kamil Piatkowski deflected the powerful shot decisively (72′). Siebenhandl held on to the three points against Sesko (76′), with a strong collective performance the Graz team brought victory to the dry end against the “bulls” who were putting pressure on again late on.