Penalty lottery

Austria Vienna against WSG Tirol from 5pm LIVE

Two penalties for Austria

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Austria Vienna celebrated a 2-0 win against WSG Tirol on matchday 22 of the domestic Bundesliga, but still missed out on a place in the Champions Group. Both Austria goals came from the spot. The Tyroleans missed the lead in the first half when Nik Prelec missed a penalty.

Even a 2:0 (1:0) home win over WSG Tirol was not enough for Vienna's Austria. Due to the lack of support from the competition, the Violets had to settle for seventh place after the last round of the basic round on Sunday and had to enter the qualifying group in the second phase of the season. The draw between Klagenfurt and Rapid proved fatal for Austria, who won thanks to penalty goals from Domink Fitz (41st, 88th).

Michael Wimmer

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Austria, who finished the basic round just two points behind third-placed LASK, one behind both Klagenfurt and Hartberg and level with sixth-placed Rapid, will start the qualifying group, where a place in the European Cup play-off is at stake, in first place with 16 points. First-placed WAC have 15 points, followed by Altach, Blau-Weiß-Linz (9 each) and WSG, who have seven points, just two more than bottom-placed Austria Lustenau. The Tyroleans missed the chance to gain more points at Austria when Nik Prelec failed to beat goalkeeper Christian Früchtl from the penalty spot (29').

Prelec misses from the spot
Austria, condemned to win, did what they had to do in front of a full house (15,009). Violett dominated proceedings, but without creating any dangerous situations. A blocked attempt by Romeo Vucic (7th) was the only result for a long time, along with two moments that were whistled for offside. The home side were too error-prone and complicated.

WSG had positioned their defensive five-man backline relatively high and repeatedly won the ball. One of these bore fruit for the first time after almost half an hour. Galvao's unfortunate handball on a Prelec cross became a case for referee Jakob Semler's on-field review. The referee pointed to the spot, but Prelec's poor low shot was saved by Früchtl.

Austria win with two penalties
Less than ten uneventful minutes later, the same game was played out on the other side after Lukas Sulzbacher was clearly fouled. Fitz did better than Prelec, however, and gave WSG goalkeeper Adam Stejskal no chance. Because Rapid were leading 1-0 in Klagenfurt at the same time, Austria were in the champions' group at this point.

Austria could only score from the spot

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

There was little new after the break. Austria searched unsuccessfully for chances, while WSG hoped for pinpricks. The hosts promptly had another scare to digest in the 69th minute when Dominik Stumberger's header rebounded off the crossbar. The next low blow shortly afterwards was the news of Klagenfurt's equalizer against Rapid, which knocked the favourites out of the top six again.

In the final stages, another penalty after a handball by WSG defender Osarenren Okungbowa was not enough to cheer the fans. Fitz failed to beat Stejskal, but was allowed to try again due to Tyrolean defenders starting too quickly and scored this time.