Emotions boil over
Sturm Graz vs Red Bull Salzburg LIVE from 5pm
Red Bull Salzburg won the summit clash in the domestic Bundesliga against Sturm Graz 1:0 on Easter Sunday. A goal from Mads Bidstrup decided the game. Graz missed the equalizer. The bar had to save once. A second Salzburg goal was disallowed for offside. Emotions ran high in the closing stages.
League leaders Red Bull Salzburg took an important step on the way to their eleventh championship title in a row. On Sunday, the Bulls prevailed 1:0 (0:0) at Sturm Graz in a summit clash with few chances and increased the gap to their closest rivals to five points with eight rounds to go in the Bundesliga.
After two draws, Mads Bidstrup (48') secured the not undeserved first win of the season in the direct duel, whose heated nature ended with three dismissals after a scuffle for Sturm's Jon Gorenc Stankovic and Dimitri Lavalee (both red) and Salzburg's Lucas Gourna-Douath (yellow-red) and whetted the appetite for the reunion of the two teams in the Cup semi-final on Thursday (20:45) in Salzburg.
Sturm with a strong start
Sturm coach Christian Ilzer had to withdraw a central figure in the shape of Otar Kiteishvili. The Georgian brought back a calf ligament injury from the successful European Championship qualifiers, which could not be dealt with in time. William Böving moved back into midfield, with youngster Amady Camara taking his place. Salzburg coach Gerhard Struber stuck with the team from the 5-1 win over Hartberg in the Champions Group opener, not least because captain Amar Dedic was once again on the list of absentees and was replaced at right back by Flavius Daniliuc.
Sturm, spurred on by their own fans in the Merkur Arena, which was almost sold out with 15,372 spectators, swung the baton at the start of the first half with aggressive pressing and appeared in the opposing third several times - Mika Biereth in particular was the focus of attention. For the time being, the intense, one-on-one duel culminated in a clash of heads between Sturm's David Affengruber and Salzburg striker Fernando (12'), with the latter continuing with a turban.
His team only managed to get close to the opposition goal on rare occasions in the early stages. It was only after around 25 minutes that the visitors began to generate more impetus and made better use of their transitional moments. Fernando in particular was a constant source of danger. In the 29th minute, his shot narrowly missed the goal, and shortly before the break he missed Sturm's box twice more (40', 43').
Salzburg come out of the break wide awake
Shortly after the restart, however, Salzburg were rewarded. After a throw-in and a header duel, the ball came to Bidstrup around twelve meters out, who made it 1:0 for the visitors with a powerful volley via the inside of the short corner. Sturm responded, but had no luck in their best phase of the game. Jusuf Gazibegovic hit the bar with a long-range shot towards the far corner (55').
Szymon Wlodarczyk and Max Johnston came into Sturm's game after the hour mark, and the team now started to push harder again. A clear miss from Alexander Prass went wide (69'), while at the other end Fernando was unable to control a long pass in front of goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros, who was only kept very busy overall (66').
Heated final phase
Towards the end, Salzburg celebrated too early after Strahinja Pavlovic scored from a free-kick and header (80'), the VAR confirmed the offside decision against Petar Ratkov and thus kept the game exciting. In the final 13 minutes of stoppage time, Sturm tried once again in the power play, but were unsuccessful. The only "highlight" was a brief wrestling match between Gorenc Stankovic and Lavalee and Gourna-Douath (95') following the latter's yellow card. First Gorenc Stankovic and Gourna-Douath were sent off, then Lavalee after a VAR check.
There were heated discussions on the pitch after the final whistle, with Sturm sporting director Andreas Schicker also picking up a straight red.
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