7 goals, pyro shows
LIVE from 5pm: The Graz derby Sturm vs GAK!
Crazy goal festival in Graz! In a turbulent derby, Sturm beat GAK 5:2 on Saturday to consolidate their lead at the top of the table. GAK, on the other hand, remained winless in their tenth match since being promoted back to the top and conceded their fourth defeat in a row. Both fan camps put on pyro shows, but caused several interruptions.
Jusuf Gazibegovic (34'), Otar Kiteishvili (40') and Mika Biereth (50') gave Sturm a comfortable 3-0 lead. Daniel Maderner (54) and Benjamin Rosenberger (56) breathed new life into GAK in the first Bundesliga derby in over 17 years. Seedy Jatta (64') and Kiteishvili again (79') then made it clear.
In the end, Christian Ilzer's team were even able to save their strength for their third appearance in the Champions League on Tuesday against Sporting Lisbon. The program remains tough for GAK. Next Sunday, Rapid will visit Graz, and on the following Saturday, coach Gernot Messner's team will travel to Salzburg. In between, a cup round of 16 awaits in Bregenz.
Sturm fielded the same starting eleven that defeated Salzburg 5-0 two weeks ago. At GAK, Michael Lang was still missing alongside the suspended defensive veteran Petar Filipovic. The defender was not in the squad for the 2-1 draw against Vienna Austria after a disciplinary offense.
After riots surrounding the last derby in the Cup last year (3:2 for Sturm), the city prepared itself successfully for the high-risk game. At least until the end of the match, the usual provocations and abusive chants were heard, but overall everything was peaceful. Both fan curves celebrated the derby with elaborate choreographies for the eyes, but after three minutes the view was obscured. The match had to be interrupted for around four minutes due to billows of smoke from the GAK sector.
Provocation after goal
Sturm dominated the game after that, but apart from a harmless Lavalée header, the solid visitors' defense did not allow much. The champions found the winning goal with the resting ball. Emanuel Aiwu's flick from a free-kick hit the crossbar (25'). In the 34th minute, however, Gazibegovic scored from long range with a free-kick that was deflected by Milos Jovicic. Because the Sturm players then cheered provocatively in front of the GAK sector, the result was a bunch of grapes and a yellow card for the goalscorer.
GAK looked helpless in attack and the Reds, who were mainly wearing blue, hardly managed to relieve the pressure. Sturm added a fortunate goal before the break. GAK defender Marco Gantschnig headed a Gazibegovic cross onto the buttocks of Kiteishvili, who celebrated the 2:0 without much effort (40').
The second half was really turbulent. First, GAK celebrated the supposed follow-up goal, which did not count due to an offside position by Cheukoua (47'). Instead, it was 3:0 a few moments later when Kiteishvili extended a Böving corner into the center, where Biereth slid in. However, the preliminary decision did not last long.
GAK's double strike fell short
Maderner was on hand to head home a Cheukoua shot after a corner kick, giving his team new hope (54'). Rosenberger, who ran completely free from the left wing towards Scherpen, continued the comeback with a goal into the near corner (56'). The favorites suddenly had to fight their way back into a game they thought they had won. However, the black and white confusion did not last long. Biereth extended a Scherpen clearance into the path of Jatta, who scored via the top edge of the crossbar and goalkeeper Jakob Meierhofer to make it 4:2 (64').
The bottom team could have made it exciting once more. Scherpen was on hand against Cheukoua with brilliant reflexes (73'). Biereth (76) and William Böving (78) missed top chances against an exposed GAK defense, but Kiteishvili (79) did much better. The Sturm substitute captain scored from just outside the penalty area to make the final score 5:2.
SK Sturm Graz - Grazer AK 1902 5:2 (2:0)
Graz, Merkur Arena, 15,717 (sold out), SR Harkam
Goals: 1:0 (34.) Gazibegovic, 2:0 (40.) Kiteishvili, 3:0 (50.) Biereth, 3:1 (54.) Maderner, 3:2 (55.) Rosenberger, 4:2 (64.) Jatta, 5:2 (79.) Kiteishvili
Yellow cards: Geyrhofer, Gazibegovic, Yalcouye or Graf, Jovicic, Maderner, Cipot, Rosenberger, Cheukoua
Sturm: Scherpen - Gazibegovic (75. Johnston), Aiwu, Geyrhofer, Lavalee - Yalcouye (69. Horvat), Chukwuani, Kiteishvili (84. Zvonarek), Böving (84. Karic) - Biereth, Jatta (75. Camara)
GAK: Meierhofer - Jovicic (75. Italiano), Gantschnig, Graf - Frieser (82. Schriebl), Perchtold (46. Dressel), Satin, Rosenberger - Lichtenberger (46. Cipot) - Maderner, Cheukoua (75. Vucic)
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Kommentare
Willkommen in unserer Community! Eingehende Beiträge werden geprüft und anschließend veröffentlicht. Bitte achten Sie auf Einhaltung unserer Netiquette und AGB. Für ausführliche Diskussionen steht Ihnen ebenso das krone.at-Forum zur Verfügung. Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.