After the European Cup exit

Fischer: “It just feels brutally bitter”

Manfred Fischer was dejected after the European Cup exit.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Vienna Austria's European Cup journey came to an unexpectedly early end. Already in the 2nd qualifying round for the Conference League, the Finnish soccer cup winners Ilves Tampere were a size too big, after the dramatic 4:5 in the penalty shoot-out, the "Violets" were mainly frustrated. "It just feels brutally bitter," said captain Manfred Fischer dejectedly, after the Violets had given up promotion several times.

Austria were on course for promotion three times against the fourth-placed team in the Finnish table, but the Violet defense failed three times. First Maurice Malone (22) and Andreas Gruber (27) had turned around the 1-2 from the first leg as planned, and after the direct follow-up goal Abubakr Barry (68) crowned a strong performance with the supposed goal for the 3rd qualifying round. But shortly before the end of normal time, the team from Finland, in 37th place in the UEFA five-year rankings, saved themselves for extra time. Ilves also had an answer to Nik Prelec's goal (97') in extra time, but again the 8,555 spectators in Vienna-Favoriten saw blatant deficiencies in the Austria defense.

While the Tampere players and a small crowd of supporters were celebrating their unexpected progression to the next round, the Austria professionals stood in front of their own fan curve shortly before midnight, badly beaten. The financially strapped club also lost out on six-figure income as a result of the early elimination, and there were still two hurdles to overcome in order to reach the group stage entry fee of EUR 3.17 million.

"We came close three times"
New coach Stephan Helm is under even more pressure ahead of the Bundesliga opener at Blau-Weiß Linz on Sunday. The 41-year-old Burgenland native was denied a happy ending to his home debut by a missed attempt from regular marksman Dominik Fitz in the penalty showdown. "We were close three times. It's extremely disappointing that we didn't succeed," said Helm. Before that, his team had already been lucky that the goals for 1:0 (ball possibly out of bounds beforehand) and 3:1 (possible foul) had not been disallowed and that an Ilves goal was whistled back for offside.

Asutria coach Stephan Helm

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

A short time later, Helm had to answer many questions about his defense. "It's annoying and we're certainly not yet at the point where we'd like to be," he said. The criticism was also definitely justified. "We have to bring in more stability," he knew. His team had become far too passive at times and had not managed to get a grip.

Fitness was also a factor against the Finns. "As the game went on, it was a fitness issue. You could tell we were getting tired. Ilves had the last few days off and no league action. The double burden certainly played a small role," lamented Helm. There was no lack of quality or mentality - the purple-white starting eleven had an average age of 28. "We have a lot of potential in the team," emphasized the Austria coach. But: "We still have a lot of work to do."

"It's always a slap in the face"
Shortly after the final whistle, Fischer had no explanation for the defensive lapses. "At international level, you see that you get punished for every little thing," he said. "It's always a slap on the wrist," added Gruber. The previous year against Legia Warsaw, when there had been a similarly dramatic European Cup end with a 3:5 in front of a home crowd in the third ECL qualifying round, had been similar.

However, a negative run like last year, when six league games without a win followed the elimination, is not on the cards this year. "Now we're making sure that we've learned from these things," emphasized Gruber. Fischer assured that the team would "certainly not" fall apart. "We'll make sure we get back on track as quickly as possible and get off to a good start in the championship."