League leaders <a href="https://time.news/sk-rapid-ticket-information-for-the-ofb-cup-final-2024/" title="SK Rapid :: Ticket information for the ÖFB Cup final 2024″>Sturm Graz have extended their Bundesliga lead over first-teamers Rapid to three points.
A few hours after Hütteldorfer’s 1-1 draw at GAK, the Styrians celebrated a 2-1 away win over LASK on Sunday with goals from Otar Kiteishvili (33rd) and Lovro Zvonarek (83rd). A goal from Hrvoje Smolcic (59th) was not enough for Linz, they finished the first half of the regular period in eighth place.
The first excitement in the Raiffeisen Arena happened after less than a minute. Valon Berisha involuntarily headed a corner from William Böving into his own goal, LASK keeper Jörg Siebenhandl was unable to cope with difficulty. Afterwards, the Styrians remained the more active team – after a bad pass from Robert Zulj and an assist from Seedy Jatta, Mika Biereth already passed the ball past Siebenhandl, but Philipp Ziereis saved from the line (29th).
Four minutes later, the home goalkeeper had no chance when Kiteishvili headed in a cross from Max Johnston. LASK had nothing to offer in the first half apart from a header from Marin Ljubicic that was quite close to the top corner (25′), but that was to change after the break.
The Upper Austrians came out of the locker room with a lot of momentum, put Sturm under pressure and were rewarded in the 59th minute. Zulj took a corner into the middle and Smolcic, who had come on as a substitute at the break, was allowed to go in unchallenged. As a result, the momentum seemed to be with LASK, but the home team could not be improved further – in contrast to Sturm.
“Joker” Erencan Yardimci moved to the right and played sharply towards the middle, Siebenhandl defended in front and Zvonarek, who was also substituted, put the ball into the goal with a direct shot. Shortly before the end, Sturm goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen and Emanuel Aiwu saved their team from equalizing against George Bello (97th).
The doubles champions achieved their fourth straight series victory. LASK, on the other hand, suffered their next goal after losing 2-0 on Thursday in the Conference League at Olimpija Ljubljana.
