Salzburg win Austrian Cup as season restarts
Salzburg won the Austrian Cup with a ruthless 5-0 destruction of second tier Austria Lustenau in the final as the season resumed following the coronavirus stoppage on Friday.
In a match played without spectators at Klagenfurt’s Woerthersee Stadium, the favourites took control of the match with two quickfire goals midway through the first half.
Dominik Szoboszlai put Salzburg ahead from a free kick in the 19th minute and Dominik Stumberger put through his own goal two minutes later as Lustenau, making their second final appearance, fell apart.
Noah Okafor took advantage of poor marking to fire the third in the 53rd minute, Majeed Ashimeru drove in the fourth from the edge of the area in the 65th minute and Sekou Koita completed the rout when a clearance ricocheted off him and into the net.
It is the seventh time that Salzburg have won the competition, all of them in the last nine seasons. The league season is due to restart on Tuesday.
Havertz goal gives Leverkusen 1-0 win at Freiburg
Bayer Leverkusen secured a scrappy 1-0 Bundesliga victory at Freiburg on Friday, bouncing back from a midweek setback to win with an opportunist goal by forward Kai Havertz.
The result lifted Bayer, who were hammered 4-1 by VfL Wolfsburg at home on Tuesday, two places up to third on 56 points from 29 games, eight behind champions and leaders Bayern Munich who entertain Fortuna Duesseldorf on Saturday.
Freiburg stayed eighth on 38 points after stretching their winless run to four games since the Bundesliga restarted on May 16 following a two-month lay-off caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Havertz netted a 54th-minute winner for the visitors when he poked a close-range shot through goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow’s legs after Leon Bailey threaded a superb pass through to the 20-year-old.
A dull first half produced a solitary chance for Freiburg in the 43rd minute, when Lucas Hoeler fired wide of the far post with only Leverkusen keeper Lukas Hradecky to beat.
With Bayer gaining the upper hand after taking the lead, Julian Baumgartlinger had a goal disallowed for the visitors in the 63d minute for a push on Dominique Heintz and that finally seemed to spring the home side into action.
Nils Petersen missed Freiburg’s best chance for an equaliser in the 87th minute, allowing Hradecky to keep out his scuffed shot after a flowing move left him with time and space inside the penalty area.
In Saturday’s other standout fixture, former champions Werder Bremen, who are in danger of relegation as they are six points adrift of the safety zone, visit ninth-placed Schalke 04 who are on a 10-match winless league run.
Late penalty saves Wroclaw as Polish league resumes
A late penalty gave Slask Wroclaw a 1-1 draw at home Rakow Czestochowa and took them up to second place as Poland’s Ekstraklasa league resumed after the coronavirus stoppage on Friday.
Costa Rican forward Felicio Brown Forbes gave Rakow the lead in the 83rd minute and they looked set to take the points until Tomas Petrasek fouled Wroclaw’s Robert Pich and the referee awarded a penalty following a VAR review.
Michal Chrapek converted to leave Wroclaw with 43 points from 27 games, eight behind leaders Legia Warsaw who visit Lech Poznan on Saturday.
Matches are being played behind closed doors although the Polish government said earlier on Friday that some fans would be allowed to see games from June 19.
In a second game played on Friday, Zaglebie Lubin scored three times in the first half as they won 3-0 at Pogon Szczecin.
There are four rounds of matches to go in the regular season, including the current one, before the teams are divided into two groups and their points totals are halved - a rule designed to avoid a team running away with the title.
The top eight then play off for the title and European places while the bottom eight battle to avoid relegation. The teams play each other once in each group.
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