Brave WAC is defeated by Dinamo Zagreb

The WAC conceded their first defeat in the third game of the Europa League football. Carinthians had to admit defeat to new leader Dinamo Zagreb by just 0: 1 (0: 0) in the duel between two teams weakened due to many cases of coronavirus at the Maksimir Stadium on Thursday night. “Joker” Iyayi Atiemwen scored the only goal in the 76th minute. Guests were outnumbered by a yellow-red card from Matthäus Taferner (45./Foul).

With five points, the Croats overtook WAC (4), who had fallen back to second place. Feyenoord Rotterdam are tied on points with coach Ferdinand Feldhofer’s team after a 3-1 win against CSKA Moscow. The Russians have only scored two points. On November 26, the Klagenfurt WAC against Zagreb will have a chance for revenge. Many players could be there again that they were missing in the “first leg” due to the positive corona tests.

Both coaches asked for improv skills. The Croats lacked nine strengths, including goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic (12.5 million) and forward Bruno Petkovic (11 million), the two players with the highest market value on the squad.

In addition to captain and playmaker Michael Liendl with Nemanja Rnic, Mario Leitgeb and Jonathan Scherzer, other important players from the Carinthian team did not travel to Zagreb. For some actors, this was done by car, so that, according to Feldhofer, they could keep enough distance.

That was clearly affecting the game. After a minute of mourning for the victims of the terrorist attack in Vienna on Monday and for the late former Dinamo player Slaven Zambata, there was superficial fighting on the pitch.

Many bad passes could be seen, the highlight on both sides was the absolute exception. The locals were a little more active and dangerous at least twice in the first half. The beautifully cleared Mario Gavranovic, however, clearly shot over him from twelve meters (19) and Mislav Orsic (26) had not adjusted his visor correctly.

WAC conceded late goals – Taferner flew off the field

With the Wolfsbergers, led by reserve captain Christopher Wernitznig, nothing could go forward without Liendl, who was missing in every corner. Shortly before the halftime whistle they weakened, Taferner had to leave the pitch prematurely due to repeated gross games.

Carrying the 0-0 over time was therefore the highest priority. Therefore, when facing Stefan Peric, forward Dario Joveljic also switched to a five-man string. He did a very good job, it was very compact and for a long time it drove the hosts, who had no ideas for a long time, to despair.

In the end, however, two oversights were too much. First, Alexander Kofler was able to deflect a header from Ademi (74th), but two minutes later the goalkeeper was powerless the day before his 34th birthday. Atiemwen, who had recently been substituted, took the ball with his chest in the penalty area and shot, Kofler entered with the tips of his fingers, but could not stop.

Balance was no longer possible. Aside from the loss, it was also bitter that offensive player Cheikhou Dieng had to leave the field injured shortly after the break.

Dinamo Zagreb – WAC: The voices

Ferdinand Feldhofer (WAC trainer): “It was difficult for both sides, the equally unusual preparation for the coronavirus cases. The result was a match with few opportunities and unattractive. Tactically we solved it well after the exclusion and defended everything until the goal. In the end we could but, unfortunately, he takes nothing and is therefore disappointed. “

Alen Peternac (Dinamo-Zagreb-Co-coach): “We knew that the WAC would play aggressively and we wanted to play a quick soccer match with one or two contacts ourselves. But we were too hesitant in attack. The red card helped us a lot, we still play with three behind in the second half, they were even more offensive and were rewarded with victory in the end. “

Europa League: Group K table