Rapid Vienna Must Endure Narrow Home Defeat Against Blue-White Linz
On Sunday, Rapid suffered their second defeat of this football Bundesliga season, and just like in August, Blau-Weiß Linz was the stumbling block. The Upper Austrians celebrated a 1:0 away victory over the Hütteldorfers, thanks to a goal by Ronivaldo (60th minute), marking the first time the Hütteldorfers left the pitch as losers in the 13th compulsory home match of the current season. Blau-Weiß moved into the top six, while the Viennese fell six points behind league leaders Sturm.
Rapid Wien Lost Again to Blau-Weiß Linz
Rapid coach Robert Klauß, on his 40th birthday, opted for rotation and benched Guido Burgstaller, Nenad Cvetkovic, Mamadou Sangare, and Louis Schaub compared to the 1:1 draw on Thursday against the Shamrock Rovers. The changes did not bode well for the hosts, as Blau-Weiß posed a significant threat in the early stages in front of 16,300 spectators.
Simon Seidl hit the post, and Jonas Auer blocked the follow-up shot. Immediately afterwards, Thomas Goiginger took a shot, his deflected shot landed on the top edge of the crossbar (13th minute). Four minutes later, former Rapid player Martin Moormann hit the post with a header following a corner.
First Season Home Defeat for Hütteldorfers
Rapid made far too many simple mistakes and only managed half-chances - Linz goalie Radek Vitek was on hand for an attempt by Bendeguz Bolla (21st minute), a shot by Noah Bischof narrowly missed the target (29th minute).
Only after the break did the Green-Whites increase the pressure. Dion Beljo's spectacular backheel bounced back off the crossbar (51st minute), Vitek deflected a shot from Lukas Grgic with a foot save (54th minute). Just as Rapid's lead seemed imminent, Blau-Weiß struck. After a misplaced pass from Matthias Seidl, his brother Simon Seidl provided the perfect assist for Ronivaldo, who controlled the ball with his chest and coolly finished. Rapid's goalkeeper Niklas Hedl got a hand to it but couldn't prevent the goal.
Klauß responded by bringing on Burgstaller, Sangare, and Schaub, and Rapid grew stronger. However, the fans saw nothing more than a header from Jakob Schöller next to the goal (63rd minute), an unsuccessful penalty claim by Burgstaller (83rd minute), and a missed shot by Bolla (94th minute). On the other hand, Hedl had to stretch on the other side to save a long-range shot from Soumaila Diabate (80th minute). Rapid has now gone three competitive games without a win and has only won two of the last eight competitive matches.
(APA/Red)
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