Goal festival against LASK

Red Bull Salzburg against LASK – LIVE from 5pm

Victory for Salzburg, but no championship title

(Bild: GEPA)

The surprise failed to materialize - defending champions Red Bull Salzburg were able to feel like soccer champions for more than an hour on Sunday, but despite their 7:1 victory over LASK, they were knocked out of the title race by Sturm Graz's late win against Klagenfurt! The Styrians held on to their two-point lead and ended the Bulls' run of ten successive championship triumphs. 

On the Salzburg side, Sekou Koita (7., 71.), Luka Sucic (8., 61./foul penalty), Strahinja Pavlovic (36.), Karim Konate (68.) and Dorgeles Nene (78.), who will retire in the summer, added their names to the list of scorers.

LASK already cemented in third place
With 20 goals for the season, the latter has the best chance of being crowned top scorer, with the remaining European Cup play-off matches also being taken into account. LASK, who had already been cemented in third place, made it exciting, at least briefly, thanks to Moses Usor (25th).

After bidding farewell to club icon Andreas Ulmer (582 games, 13 league titles with Salzburg), the home side got off to a highly ambitious start in their last game under interim coach Onur Cinel and took an early 2-0 lead.

Supposed connection through Ziereis
First, LASK defender Filip Stojkovic made a "Gurkerl" with a powerful Koita shot, and less than two minutes later Sucic added another after a slightly deflected pass from Oscar Gloukh. After that, however, it was mainly LASK who played for a short time. Philipp Ziereis' supposed follow-up from a free-kick was disallowed due to a foul by Marin Ljubicic on Pavlovic.

Shortly afterwards, however, the time had come: Usor made the most of a gap in the exposed Bullen defense with a shot into the far corner. However, the end of the first half belonged to Salzburg again, who increased the lead to 3:1 thanks to a Pavlovic header from a corner. The 4:1 by Roko Simic was taken back due to a close offside (41').

Bulls went one better thanks to Koita and Nene
Cinel's eleven continued to prove their hunger for goals in the second half, Sucic making it 4:1 from the spot after Ziereis fouled Konate. A little later, Simic and Konate missed a double top chance (65'), but around a minute later, Konate scored from close range. Shortly afterwards, the news that Sturm had taken the lead was interspersed with the celebrations.

(Bild: GEPA)

Nevertheless, the Bulls did their bit and added to their lead thanks to Koita and Joker Nene. Ultimately, however, the win was of no significance. As runners-up, Salzburg now have to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 2018. It is the first major challenge for new coach Pepijn Lijnders, who previously worked as Jürgen Klopp's assistant at Liverpool.

The result:
Red Bull Salzburg - LASK 7:1 (3:1)
Wals-Siezenheim, 17,173 spectators (sold out), Red Bull Arena, SR Altmann

Goals: 1:0 (7.) Koita, 2:0 (8.) Sucic, 2:1 (25.) Usor, 3:1 (36.) Pavlovic, 4:1 (61.) Sucic (penalty), 5:1 (66.) Konate, 6:1 (71.) Koita, 7:1 (78.) Nene

Yellow cards: Daniliuc, Simic and Flecker

Salzburg: Horn - Daniliuc, Baidoo, Pavlovic, Guindo (76. Terzic) - Sucic, Diambou (76. Ratkov), Koita (88. Solet), Gloukh - Simic (76. Gourna-Douath), Konate (76. Nene)
LASK: Lawal - Stojkovic (46. Pintor), Ziereis, Luckeneder (88. Wimhofer) - Berisha (75. Copado), Talowjerow - Ba, Usor (68. Jovicic), Flecker, Bello - Ljubicic (88. Havel)

Quotes:

Onur Cinel (Salzburg interim coach): "No question, we wanted to become champions, congratulations to Sturm Graz. Of course we are disappointed, but we played a great game with the 7:1, even last weekend. So it's a bit bitter at the moment. But I'm also glad that we were able to give ourselves and the fans a nice send-off."
On his time as head coach: "I'm happy about the process, but also extremely disappointed that it didn't work out with the title. We could have performed better if we had performed as a team earlier, if we had shown more positional discipline right from the start."

Strahinja Pavlovic (Salzburg defender): "The feeling is anything but good. But we lost the championship earlier. Sturm played good and consistent soccer. We will come back stronger next season. Overall, it was a very difficult season for us. Whether I stay in Salzburg will be decided after the European Championships. In any case, Salzburg will be my first port of call."

Bernhard Seonbuchner (Salzburg sports director/via Sky): "I have to compliment my team. The win was well deserved, even at this level. We certainly didn't lose the championship in the games against Sturm Graz, but in other games. We were too unstable there, for various reasons. The turnaround came in the last few games, but unfortunately too late."

Thomas Darasz (LASK interim coach): "It's very bitter when you lose 1:7. It's a bit unfortunate when you look at our last few weeks, where we turned a lot of things around. We had a lot of fans with us and we would have liked to give them a good send-off. We have to look at why you lose 1:7 there. There are explanations that go beyond the technical and tactical. Perhaps it's due to our culture that we grow up very results-oriented in soccer and perhaps have it in the back of our minds that the goal has already been achieved. That's a bit of a curse and a blessing."