MD 20: VIENNA 5 - 3 ZAGREB: REVIEW
Vienna crowned champions with an unlikely comeback.
Written by: Saad Maan
The stage had been set. This fixture would decide it all. To have a realistic shot at the title, Zagreb had to claim all three points to be within touching distance. With this in mind, Zagreb started the game with a bang - a goal in the 3rd minute of play. It was Bebe Barry who knocked down a ball sent in from deep, laying it off to McGavin, who found himself in an unlikely scoring position and converted the chance.
Zagreb, not happy with one, went looking for more. In the 26th minute, McGavin would double his own and his team's goal tally following a through ball from Akiyama Hernandez which sent him through on goal.
In the 40th minute of play, Max Jaxon, who's seen a remarkable increase of form towards the end of the season, scored a side footed shot into the bottom left corner. Vienna's fuse had been lit.
10 minutes after half-time, Jaxon would find himself in a familiar situation. From the exact same spot as he scored his first, he converted his second to make it 2-2. Collapsing under Vienna's relentless pressure, Zagreb would lose their markers - Keetch, taking full advantage of this, slipped through the defensive lines to give Vienna the lead for the first time this game.
A big man for the big occasions, Bebe Barry would take it upon himself to give Zagreb a fighting chance. With pure strength, he'd hold off the entire Vienna defense and smash a loose ball into the back of the net from outside the box. With his arms spread like an eagle, he had given the Croatian club hope.
Every story has a villain, and the hopes of Zagreb would be crushed by "Loord Bendtner" as he returned Vienna's lead with a powerful strike into the bottom right corner of the net in the 79th minute. Deflated, Zagreb's walls would fall further as they were breached by German Moritz Hoffmann. To no-one's surprise, he scored. The game ended 5 - 3 in favor of Vienna.
