As expected, Salzburg came out of the winter break with a new game system. Gourna-Douath moved into the center of defense between Oumar Solet and Strahinja Pavlovic, who was not taken into account in the last test last week for disciplinary reasons, which thus became a three-man chain. On the offensive, Luka Sucic and Oscar Gloukh supported centre-forward Fernando, who was repeatedly set back by injuries in the autumn, in the half positions.
At LASK, ex-Salzburg player Valon Berisha was in the starting line-up after six months without a club. The Linzers started ambitiously, but were caught off guard by Gourna-Douath. The Frenchman slammed the ball under the crossbar after an unwanted header assist from LASK defender Philipp Ziereis. Gourna-Douath may have been offside on Maurits Kjaergaard’s previous free-kick cross, but the video assistant did not intervene.
The hosts hit back through Ljubicic, who pushed the ball into the goal after a mistake by Gourna-Douath, but conceded another goal from a set piece before the break. After a Kjaergaard corner, Fernando rose highest and headed in on the ground. Gourna-Douath pressured LASK goalie Tobias Lawal in the six-meter area.
On the other hand, Alexander Schlager had his hands full against his former club. The ÖFB team keeper saved a shot from Moses Usor from 20 meters (36′) and was also alert to a deflected Ljubicic cross (38′). George Bello couldn’t find Ljubicic, who was ready to shoot (42′). Apart from an offside goal from Gloukh, there was little to be seen offensively from Salzburg.
That changed after the break when Gloukh fed Fernando with an ideal pass from the outside of his foot. The Brazilian, whose fitness the Bulls have high hopes for, completed his brace before making way for Roko Simic. Schlager thwarted the goal with a brilliant save on a dropkick from Robert Zulj from twelve meters (71st) and was also on hand when a deflected Usor shot (75th). Ziereis shot over after a blocked free kick from Florian Flecker (81′). Horvath made it 2:3 with a powerful shot after a pass from Zulj, but the Linz team no longer had a chance to equalize.
LASK suffered its first home defeat of the season in national business. No other Austrian team has won in the Raiffeisen Arena in Linz, which opened last year – Salzburg achieved this for the third time. The Bulls took revenge for a 0-1 home defeat in their only league duel of the season at the end of October. In the 2022 Cup quarter-finals, Salzburg beat their rivals from Linz 3-1.
