Conference League

Ilves Tampere against Austria Vienna, LIVE from 6pm

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The start of the season for Vienna's Austria and thus the competitive debut of coach Stephan Helm has gone wrong. The "Veilchen" lost the first leg of the second qualifying round of the Football Conference League at Ilves Tampere on Thursday with 1:2 (0:0). 

Santeri Haarala (51) and former St. Pölten player Roope Riski (88) scored to give the Finnish cup winners a deserved home win. However, Lucas Galvao scored the important equalizer in the 90th minute.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The favorites are now under pressure to win the second leg next Wednesday (8:30 p.m.) if their European Cup trip is not to be over early. However, they will first continue on Sunday with the first round match in the ÖFB Cup away to third-division side FC Pinzgau Saalfelden (4.00 pm).

Gruber on the bench
Helm fielded almost the same starting eleven as in the last test match against FC Porto (1-3), with only the slightly injured Andreas Gruber remaining on the bench and being replaced by Muharem Huskovic. Austria tried to put the Finns under pressure early on on the artificial turf in the well-filled Tammelan Stadium, but the hosts put up a good fight. This resulted in a game at eye level.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The first opportunity fell to goalscorer Haarala, who failed to beat Samuel Sahin-Radlinger from an acute angle (14'). The subsequent corner created a great opportunity for the Violets: New signing Abubakr Barry intercepted the ball and immediately initiated the counter-attack via Hakim Guenouche. He set up Huskovic perfectly, but the 21-year-old failed to beat keeper Otso Virtanen in front of goal. Shortly afterwards, Maurice Malone's shot in the penalty area was deflected away at the last moment (18').

Now it was Ilves' turn again. Oiva Jukkola was set up by Maksim Stjopin, but Sahin-Radlinger made a superb save from the 22-year-old (25'). A little later, Jukkola put the ball over the goal from the edge of the box after a solo run (30').

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

17th competitive goal
Shortly before the break, Ilves goalkeeper Virtanen was injured after a collision and the captain of the fourth-placed team in the league was replaced by Ville Seppä after the break. The latter was immediately tested by Barry from distance (48') and passed. At the other end, Haarala struck: The 24-year-old took advantage of a serious mistake by Marvin Martins and shot through Sahin-Radlinger's legs, the leather bouncing off the inside of the bar and into the goal. It was Haarala's 17th competitive goal of the season.

Austria repeatedly proved vulnerable, especially on the counter-attack. Helm now reacted at the Bundesliga club and brought on Nik Prelec for Huskovic and Gruber for Malone (62'). And Prelec almost equalized after a pass from Fitz, but his shot narrowly missed the target (71'). The same fate befell a shot from Reinhold Ranftl (74').

Galvao scores
The final phase became turbulent once again. Substitute Riski took advantage of another moment of inattention from the Austria defense during a counter-attack, played around Sahin-Radlinger and scored from an acute angle to make it 2-0. This time, however, the "Veilchen" had a fitting reply through Galvao, who reduced the deficit with a left-footed shot in the final minute of normal time.

Ilves Tampere - FK Austria Vienna 2:1 (0:0)
Tampere, Tammelan Stadium
6,000 spectators
SR Muniz (ESP)
Second leg on July 31 (20:30/live ORF 1) in Vienna.

Goals:
1:0 (51.) Haarala

2:0 (88') Riski

2:1 (90.) Galvao

Ilves : Virtanen (46. Seppä) - Mäenpää (81. Akpudje), Miettunen, Pikkarainen, Jorginho (63. Ala-Myllymäki) - Arifi (81. Riski), Popovitch - Stjopin (54. Söderbäck), Jukkola, Veteli - Haarala

Austria: Sahin-Radlinger - Potzmann, Martins (68. Meisl), Galvao - Ranftl, Barry, Fischer, Guenouche (81. Vinlöf) - Fitz, Huskovic (62. Prelec), Malone (62. Gruber)

Yellow cards: Ala-Myllymäki, Haarala or Huskovic, Martins, Barry, Galvao