LASK shows two faces at WAC: "Luckily, we were punished"

It was a hard-fought victory for LASK!

Despite playing with a man advantage for a long time, the Linz side initially struggled greatly against Wolfsberger AC. In the end, however, only the three points and the next full success matter.

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At least temporarily, until Wednesday's Bundesliga clash between Salzburg and Rapid, the Linz side have thus reclaimed the top spot in the table (from 8:30 PM in the LIVE ticker <<<).

Nevertheless, LASK may be criticized for once after fantastic past weeks. However, the Linz side can also rely on their morale in such matches.

Kühbauer with criticism: "I've never seen that from them before"

At least the first half must not have pleased the travelling Linz fans and LASK coach Didi Kühbauer at all. Despite Raffael Behounek's early emergency foul, LASK failed to exploit their numerical superiority.

"After the sending off, we thought everything would come easy to us. I've never seen that from my team before. Luckily, we were then punished," said Kühbauer immediately after the match in a "Sky" interview.

Only after the break did the numerical advantage become noticeable on the field. This was probably also due to one of Kühbauer's usual half-time talks. "It was a speech that worked. The boys are smart and understood it," the Burgenland native stated.

Schöpf scores on his return: "We have to question that"

The clash in Lavanttal was particularly special for Kühbauer himself and Alessandro Schöpf. Both the LASK coach and the midfielder were returning to their former stomping ground.

Schöpf eventually sealed the 3-1 final score after a counter-attack. The ex-WAC professional also criticized the performance before half-time.

"We didn't play well before the break and unnecessarily fell behind. We really have to question that," said Schöpf. Afterwards, however, the team "showed morale and deservedly won."

Although the Champions League group stage opener for the Linz side is coming up in just one week against AEK Athens, the focus is initially still on the Cup match against regional league club Deutschlandsberg (on Saturday from 3:30 PM in the LIVE ticker <<<).

It remains to be seen whether LASK returnee Sasa Kalajdzic will already support the Linz side this weekend.