Rapid secures next home derby victory against Austria
Rapid won the 345th Vienna football derby. The Hütteldorf team celebrated a 2-0 home victory over Austria thanks to goals from Matthias Seidl (5th minute) and Mamadou Sangare (70th minute), providing a successful dress rehearsal for the Conference League quarter-final second leg against Djurgarden on Thursday. The Violets, on the other hand, are now three points behind leaders Sturm Graz and have been winless in three competitive matches.
Early Rapid Lead
22,669 spectators came to the Allianz Stadium, with the Austria sector remaining empty due to the ban on supporters of the respective away team in derbies. Rapid's Block West lamented the absence of guest fans on a banner, and the recently eligible Aleksandar Dragovic was met with whistles and later insults at every ball contact.
In less than five minutes, Dragovic and his defensive colleagues were beaten. Manfred Fischer lost the ball, Dion Beljo passed to Seidl, who defeated Samuel Sahin-Radlinger with a shot between the legs. In the twelfth minute, the Austria goalkeeper prevented a second goal with a header from Beljo after a corner by Andrija Radulovic.
Rapid Changed
The Montenegrin was newly included in the starting lineup compared to the 1-0 at Djurgarden, in place of the injured Nenad Cvetkovic and the ill Isak Jansson. Instead of Cvetkovic, Kouadio Ahoussou defended, who, like his colleagues, had more and more to do soon after Rapid took the lead.
Rapid retreated, Austria grew stronger - a shot from Fischer hit the outside post (15th minute). The hosts relied on counter-attacks after mistakes by their arch-rival, which should lead to several chances. A Seidl shot from a tight angle hit the side netting, Radulovic ran alone towards Sahin-Radlinger but only hit the goalkeeper's head (43rd minute). The field-dominant Austria had only a narrow miss from Matteo Perez Vinlöf to offer before the break (28th minute).
Inaccuracies at Austria
Even in the second half, the "Violets" had more possession, but their passing game was mostly too inaccurate, which kept dangerous scenes to a minimum. Abubakr Barry failed with a shot against Rapid's goalkeeper Niklas Hedl (58th minute) and missed a header from a good position by a wide margin (67th minute).
Shortly after the substitution of Guido Burgstaller, who celebrated his home comeback, and Louis Schaub, Sangare sealed the decision. The midfielder danced past three Austrians and made it 2-0 with a centrally placed shot that was probably not unstoppable. Austria did not recover from this setback. Rapid secured their third consecutive home derby victory and their third win in the ninth league game of this year. In the standings, Green-White remains in fifth place - three points behind WAC, five behind Salzburg, and seven behind Austria.
(APA/Red)
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