Historic! LASK crowns the season with gold

For the mission of winning the club’s first title since 1965, head coach Didi Kühbauer once again relied on the recently suspended Joao Tornich and Samuel Adeniran from the start. The first chance belonged to the Linzers when Kasper Jörgensen fired from a half-right position, but goalkeeper Dejan Stojanovic passed the first test (2’).

Then came the shock: a long throw into the LASK penalty area was only partially cleared, and the loose ball fell to Patrick Greil, who was given too much space and calmly finished to make it 0–1 — a cold early shower for the Athletiker. But the Linzers showed little sign of being rattled and equalized only six minutes later after a beautiful move down the left flank: Adeniran fed Sascha Horvath, whose left-footed cross was perfectly converted first-time by Moses Usor — 1–1, and the South Stand erupted for the first time!

However, the Linzers struggled to really find their rhythm afterward and at times appeared nervous, while Altach remained dangerous on the counterattack. Adeniran thought he had completed the turnaround in the 21st minute, but the goal was rightly disallowed because Keba Cisse had been offside in the build-up. While Adeniran and Sasa Kalajdzic both wasted good opportunities (27’), the next goal once again came at the other end. Greil laid the ball off to Vesel Demaku, who curled a superb strike from just outside the box into the top corner to restore Altach’s lead (30’). LASK went into halftime trailing once more, although in stoppage time Lukas Jungwirth brilliantly tipped a curling effort from Greil away from the corner.

LASK came flying out of the break with a double chance: Stojanovic saved another effort from Jörgensen, while Kalajdzic failed to beat the Altach goalkeeper with the rebound (49’). The Linzers continued to push forward relentlessly, though at times they relied too heavily on brute force, which initially brought little success. That changed in the 66th minute with a long ball toward Kalajdzic. The striker flicked it on toward strike partner Adeniran, who smashed a stunning first-time volley into the net — 2–2, and LASK were back in the game!

The match remained balanced on a knife’s edge afterward. In the closing stages, the Linzers came agonizingly close to a dramatic winner, but Adeniran (87’), Horvath (88’) and Krystof Danek (93’) all failed to convert. Adeniran even headed the ball into the net, but for the second time an offside call denied him, this time by the narrowest of margins. Yet even that did not shake the Black-and-Whites from Linz — and what followed in extra time would go down in history.

101st minute: Jörgensen delivered a cross, and Bello came charging in from deep to fire the ball into the net with his right foot! LASK had taken the lead for the first time all afternoon, and Kühbauer’s side kept going. A perfect pass from Kalajdzic released Adeniran, who sprinted away from his markers and made it 4–2! Now the South Stand completely lost its mind — there was no holding back anymore. That Adeniran also secured the title of top scorer of the cup competition became almost secondary. Because when referee Julian Weinberger ended the match at 6:42 p.m., Klagenfurt exploded into scenes of pure ecstasy.