Botched League Start: Austria Crushed at WAC

Austria Wien suffered a clear defeat against Wolfsberger AC in their ADMIRAL Bundesliga opener. The Carinthians secured a highly deserved 3-0 victory over FAK.

After an initial probing phase, the hosts took control of the game – Austria, especially in the first half-hour, found no answer to the high press of the Lavanttal team.

WAC deservedly took the lead in the 18th minute: Fabian Wohlmuth left Kang-hee Lee standing outside the box on the right and played a sharp ball into the middle.

Ibrahim Buhari got the cross to his arm, referee Alexander Harkam didn't hesitate and awarded a penalty. Giacomo Vrioni converted it confidently to give them the lead.

Second Wolfsberg Goal Disallowed

The hosts nearly scored a quick second: Wohlmuth won a challenge against Lee and crossed into the middle, Donis Avdijaj headed it in – but after a VAR check, the goal was disallowed (21.).

While Austria struggled for a long time to get into the game, Vrioni failed to convert the next top chance against Samuel Sahin-Radlinger (32.).

Towards the end of the first half, the visitors finally created some chances: Reinhold Ranftl had the best opportunity with a shot from outside the box that narrowly missed Nikolas Polster's goal.

WAC Establishes Clear Dominance

The Carinthians got a dream start in the second half.

Avdijaj, with a bit of luck, stayed on the ball and appeared in front of Sahin-Radlinger. The Wolfsberg number ten passed to the unmarked Sky Schwarz, whose deflected shot found the net for 2-0 (49.).

While Austria continued to struggle to seize control of the game, the hosts extended their lead to 3-0 after about an hour of play.

Substitute Boateng went clumsily into a tackle with Schwarz, and Harkam pointed to the spot for the second time. Vrioni once again stepped up and confidently converted the second penalty as well (63.).

Visitors Wake Up Too Late

After that, the hosts dropped back slightly, allowing Austria to establish themselves in the opponent's half in the closing stages. Nevertheless, the visitors failed to create any significant goal chances for a long time.

Only in the final stages did Austria wake up: Substitute Julian Hettwer got a shot away after a one-two with Boateng but missed the target (88.).

Just a minute later, Polster managed to tip a shot from Lee onto the crossbar, Deshishku headed the rebound also against the crossbar and then blasted the ball over the goal, though he was offside anyway (89.).

In stoppage time, Phillip Verhounig had a huge chance for a fourth goal, but failed to beat FAK keeper Sahin-Radlinger when one-on-one (90.+3).

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