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The winner of the match for the WAC, who now also lead Group K, was Michael Liendl. Four days after his 35th birthday, the Carinthians captain scored three goals against Feyernoord, who won the championship cup in 1970 with Austrian coach legend Ernst Happel and team player ÖFB Franz Hasil. Liendl belongs to an elite circle of veterans – after Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic and former Spanish international Aritz Aduriz, Styrian are now the third oldest player to have achieved a triple pack in the Europa League.
“That is, of course, exceptional,” Liendl said after the first three-pack of his professional career. “After I’m not 20, that won’t happen to me often either.” At the same time, the “lead wolf” also evoked the “excellent team spirit”, without which this personal record would not have been possible. “We showed today for more than 90 minutes that we are an incredible collective. We all work very, very well. And then something like that happens at the end. “
WAC EL leaders after 4-1 in Rotterdam
Wolfsberg sensationally defeated Feyernoord Rotterdam in Group K 4-1 away.
The good internal climate was also demonstrated by the fact that Liendl gave up the opportunity for a hat-trick on the third penalty kick and Dejan Joveljic left the goal (66th). “He didn’t thank me once,” revealed the WAC captain. “He asked me after the first penalty if he could shoot. I didn’t want to give it up (the ball, the note) then. Then I told him if there was someone else he could shoot, ”Liendl reported. “It is very important for our forwards that they score and that they also gain confidence in themselves.”
“He absolutely deservedly won”
Coach Ferdinand Feldhofer spoke of a “historic night” and was “very satisfied with the first half in particular. We don’t allow very, very little ”. Then there were perfect running passes “behind the last chain” from the opponent, leading to the first two penalties (4th, 13th) after fouls on Christopher Wernitznig. And Liendl, who now feels “very safe again from the penalty spot”, did not miss these opportunities, as in the 1-1 draw earlier the week before against CSKA Moscow.
Feyenoord’s strongest phase only continued after the break, but despite a host of top-tier chances, it was only enough for a short follow-up goal by Steven Berghuis (53rd). “We certainly had a phase or two where we swam. But that is quite normal on the international stage, it can happen. But we got through this dry spell quite well, ”Liendl emphasized. “Otherwise, we did extremely well, so all opponents have a hard time against us. We absolutely deserved to win, even at this level.
Feldhofer showed a good hand when he replaced European Cup debutant Kai Stratznig in the 59th minute. Because the 18-year-old took advantage of his first contact with the ball to make a quick advance on the band, with which he prepared the 3- 1 through Liendl (60º). “It’s great that I can still score from the game, that it not only reduces my penalty,” said the three-time scorer. Coach Feldhofer was especially happy for Stratznig: “He had to wait a long time, he had his baptism of fire in the Bundesliga in spring and now in the European Cup. We can be proud to have such a young Carinthian in the team. “
Advocaat angry at the referee
This third goal and the switch to a five-man chain ended the urgency of the Rotterdamers, who after the game did not speak well to Serbian referee Srdjan Jovanovic. “Yes, this man was a drama,” scolded Feyenoord coach Dick Advocaat in the direction of the referee and spoke of “two unjustified penalties.”
Even with all the criticism of the hosts’ performance, the Dutch press did not give Jovanovic a good hair. “Only the Serbian referee was even worse than Feyenoord’s game, which presented itself as a team in serious trouble against Wolfsberger AC,” wrote “AD”. The online portal Voetbalprimeur.nl saw a game of eleven players from Feyernoord “against twelve men from Wolfsberg”.
For “de Volkskrant” everything went wrong on a “dark night”. The newspaper was especially surprised that a traditional Dutch club like Feyernoord looked so bad against an unknown outsider from Austria. “Feyenoord played the worst half of an already varied season against Wolfsberger AC, the number ten from Austria, who have no special player in their ranks, but nonetheless returned to the Carinthian villagers with a 4-1 win.” , analyzed “de Volkskrant”.
