Sturm fails at newly promoted BW Linz, Salzburg win against WAC

Three days after the disappointing 0-1 home defeat in the Europa League against Rakow Częstochowa, Sturm Graz also suffered a setback at national level with a 1-1 draw at Blau-Weiß Linz. Simon Seidl gave Linz the lead in the Hofmann Personal Stadium, which was sold out with 5,595 spectators (19th minute), and Tomi Horvat equalized after the break (48th minute). The Graz team were then weakened by Javier Serrano’s red card after a serious foul on Ronivaldo himself (54th). Blue-White remained unbeaten in their sixth home game in a row.

In the table, one round before the winter break, Sturm is two points behind league leaders Salzburg, who defeated WAC 1-0 at home on Sunday. Clearly the worst home performance of the season was enough for the hosts to secure their eleventh league win thanks to Oscar Gloukh’s goal (45th). It was only the second of five league games that were won after appearances in the Champions League (0-0 at Real Sociedad). As with the 1:2 home defeat on August 26th, the WAC undeservedly came away empty-handed. Due to the fifth defeat of the season, there is a risk of falling back to seventh place next week if Rapid wins at WSG Tirol.

Wiener Austria and LASK didn’t really warm up the 10,689 fans in Vienna’s favorites on Sunday evening in bitterly cold temperatures. Both teams played a goalless game in a game with few chances. This point doesn’t help either of them significantly. However, given the workload and the tense personnel situation, the LASK is more likely to agree with this. Linz are seven points behind Salzburg in third place, while Austria in eighth is three points behind WAC, who are currently in sixth place.

The 16th round is not yet completed. Due to the massive snowfall and the unplayability of the pitches at the weekend, the duels Austria Klagenfurt against TSV Hartberg will take place on Monday (7 p.m.) as well as WSG Tirol against Rapid and SCR Altach against Austria Lustenau on Tuesday at 7 p.m.