Europa League

Sturm reward themselves with a point against Nottingham!

Sturm Graz defied the Premier League club to earn a point.(Bild: Pail Sepp)

Sturm Graz have achieved a respectable result in the Europa League. The Austrian champions fought out a 0-0 draw against Nottingham Forest in Graz. In front of 16,192 fans, Sturm picked up their fourth point in their fourth EL game of the season and are in the lower mid-table at the halfway stage of the league. Jürgen Säumel also remained unbeaten in the fifth European Cup home game of his tenure - for the first time there was no win.

The Sturm coach made a surprisingly significant change to his starting eleven compared to the 2-1 defeat against Rapid. With Niklas Geyrhofer/Emanuel Aiwu, Säumel opted for a central defense that had never been seen before this season. The same applied to the six-man duo of Jon Gorenc Stankovic and Jacob Hödl. Alongside 18-year-old home-grown Hödl, Poland's Filip Rozga (19) was another teenager in the starting line-up. Up front, Maurice Malone was the solo leader.

Memories of 1984
The Sturm fans loudly reminded their players of a European near-miss. In 1984, the Black & Whites only lost to Nottingham in extra time in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. 41 years later, the match was played out again with the hosts putting up a self-sacrificing fight. Sturm let the favorites have the ball and moved the chains in a disciplined manner. The Premier League 19th-placed side, who were not at their best, did not sparkle with creativity, but still had the first chance after ten minutes. Arjan Malic was late against Neco Williams on the edge of the box. The resulting free-kick was played short and James McAtee missed the goal by just a few centimetres.

Christensen saves penalty
Graz's tentative attacking efforts mostly petered out early on. Nottingham came close. Malic saved with his head on the line after a corner (16'). They had to wait until the 27th minute for the first Sturm goal, but then there was immediate jubilation. Visiting keeper John Victor had a shot from Otar Kiteishvili tipped over and Malone pushed the rebound over the line. However, the striker was a foot offside.

Shortly afterwards, the Austrian champions needed a first brilliant save from goalkeeper Oliver Christensen after an Aiwu handball in the penalty area. The Dane guessed the corner of Morgan Gibbs-White's penalty. Geyrhofer was robust in the ensuing race for the ball - but another penalty was not awarded.

(Bild: Pail Sepp)

The visitors missed the lucky punch
The English team briefly stepped up the pace after the break. The greater attacking efforts also created space for Sturm, who remained imprecise in their transitional actions. Nevertheless, the Styrians had already relieved themselves of most of the pressure when they made a triple substitution in the 57th minute. Säumel took Malone and Kiteishvili off the pitch early on. What followed was a passionate defensive battle with few goalmouth scares.

(Bild: Pail Sepp)

Stankovic had the best chance of the second half when his direct shot was just blocked in the five-yard box (71'). Nottingham continued to dominate the game in front of 1,400 visiting fans and almost scored the lucky punch. Nicolas Dominguez's shot from behind was deflected onto the crossbar (90').

The result:

SK Sturm Graz - Nottingham Forest 0:0
Graz-Liebenau, Merkur Arena, 16,192 (sold out), referee Balakin (UKR).

Sturm: Christensen - Malic (87. Mitchell), Aiwu, Geyrhofer (57. Lavalee), Karic - Gorenc Stankovic, Hödl - Horvat (78. Hierländer), Kiteishvili (57. Kayombo), Rozga - Malone (57. Jatta)

Nottingham: Victor - Savona, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams - Yates, Sangare - McAtee (66. Ndoye), Gibbs-White (77. Murillo), Dominguez - Kalimuendo (79. Abbott)

Yellow cards: Kayombo and Yates respectively

Note: Christensen saves Gibbs-White's penalty (35')