Bitter comeback

LASK bad news: Goalie Lawal injured again

Tobias Lawal (center) is out again.(Bild: GEPA)

LASK will once again be without regular goalkeeper Tobias Lawal for the coming weeks. As the Bundesliga club announced on Monday, the 24-year-old suffered a muscle tear in his front thigh during Saturday's derby defeat at Blau-Weiß Linz (0:1).

The injury will be treated with conservative therapy and will take several weeks to heal.

Lawal had celebrated his comeback in the derby after a three-week break following a thigh injury sustained in the warm-up before the European Cup match against FCSB. LASK's first-choice goalkeeper had to be substituted in the 54th minute after suffering an injury from an unintended knock-down. "Tobias Lawal is a very important back-up for us, his loss is of course bitter. Nevertheless, we are in a really good position at goalkeeper and I am convinced that we will replace him in the best possible way," neo-LASK coach Markus Schopp was quoted as saying in a statement.

Siebenhandl as a replacement
This means that veteran Jörg Siebenhandl can look forward to more playing minutes, while cooperation player Lukas Jungwirth returns to Upper Austria from second division club Admira with immediate effect. After six games, Linz are currently second-last in the table with just one win. Bottom team Hartberg are one point behind LASK, but have also played two games less.