European Qualifiers Play-Off Final - 1st Leg Review / 2nd Leg Preview

FK Austria Vienna 3-0 RZ Pellets Wolfsberger AC

Austria Vienna comfortably won the home leg of the domestic play-off for the Bundesliga’s final spot in European qualification for next season. An opener after just two minutes set the hosts on their way; it was Manprit Sarkaria’s eleventh Bundesliga goal, and the first that he’s scored with his head. After making the running for the rest of the first half, the Violets then doubled the lead just 45 seconds after the break, as Marco Djuricin fired home. Curiously, that was Austria’s third goal of the season scored in the 46^th minute, whereas all the other Bundesliga teams have just two goals between them in that same sixty-second interval.

Not only were Austria strong directly from the kick-offs, they kept pushing, and Djuricin completed his brace later on, making it 3-0 with just under 20 minutes to play. His two on the night took his tally to 25 Bundesliga goals in total, and he has now registered his first one from outside the area. Austria restricted Wolfsberg to just four shots in the game whilst managing 17 of their own, and they’ve given themselves a commanding lead ahead of the second-leg.

Is there any way back for WAC?

Wolfsberg timed this defeat badly to end a run of four games against Austria without losing (three wins, one draw); Austria last won two in a row against WAC back in the 2017/18 season. The Carinthians can still draw hope from a five game unbeaten run against Austria at the Lavanttal Arena, but they will need that streak to continue in some style if they’re to prize the European qualification spot from Austria’s grasp on Sunday.

Wolfsberg did win their last two home games against Austria, crucially, scoring three times in each of those victories. They’ve also scored at least once in all of their last seven home ties with the Violets, so even with a three-goal deficit, this play-off final is not quite done and dusted just yet. Djuricin could be Austria’s best hope of killing the game early on though; he has scored four goals against WAC, and a fifth would not only make them the team he has scored the most goals against, it would surely put the game to bed, sending the capital club into Europe next term.