Rapid turn on the style: 4:0 vs Admira

On a brilliantly sunny Viennese afternoon and with last week's derby victory still fresh in the mind, a confident Rapid side welcomed local rivals Admira Wacker to a packed Allianz Stadium. Ahead of kick-off the Hütteldorfers were forced into making two changes to the side that took the field against Austria: Jan Novota was unavailable due to illness, in his place came Richard Strebinger; whilst derby goal hero Arnor Traustason was also unavailable having suffered an injury last time out. Philipp Schobesberger came in to replace the Icelandic international, whilst Trainer Mike Büskens again showed faith in 20 year-old Tamas Szanto, handing him a starting berth in midfield.

Admira had proved a tough nut to crack in recent encounters, winning on their last two trips to the capital. It was time for the Green & Whites to take revenge, and take revenge they did - dominating the game from start to finish. The first chance of the afternoon arrived when Stefan Schwab glanced a header wide from a corner (3.), before the same player came even closer just minutes later, again finding space from a corner in the Admira box, but this time planting a powerful header against the foot of the post (6.). Szanto then got in on the act, drawing a fine save from visiting keeper Kuttin as Rapid turned the screw (7.).

If Admira thought they had survived the early onslaught unscathed, Louis Schaub had other ideas: after picking the ball up on the right hand side of the penalty area, the diminutive forward skipped inside his marker before unleashing a thunderous left footed shot that was still rising as it found the back of the net via the top near corner - 1:0 and a dream strike from Schaub (17.)! The waves of attacks were relentless from the Green & Whites, and with Admira struggling to maintain defensive integrity it came as no surprise when a second duly arrived: with the guests not having heeded previous warnings about sloppy marking in the box, Stefan Schwab was in no mood to let them off the hook a third time as he powered home a bullet of a header from close range following another corner - 2:0 Rapid and Schwab deservedly on the score sheet against his former employers (26.)! Not only were Rapid producing sparkling football in the attacking third, they were also displaying total commitment and cohesion in the defensive side of the game. With Admira unable to get even a sight of goal in the remainder of the half, both sides returned to the cabins with the Hütteldorfers sitting on a richly deserved two-goal cushion.

Unsurprisingly the there was no half time activity from the substitutes bench, and, as in the first half, Rapid bossed proceedings. On the hour mark the game was as good as won when Philipp Schobesberger showed brilliant control and acceleration, slicing through the Admira defence only to be felled by Toth, the last man, as he was bearing down on goal. The referee quite rightly dismissed Toth for his agricultural pulling down of Schobesberger, and it nearly got even worse for the guests from the South City when Srdjan Grahovac curled the resulting free kick onto the crossbar (60.).

It would take only a further five minutes before Kuttin was once again picking the ball out of his net: Joelinton brilliantly dealt with a high ball into the box, setting up Louis Schaub, who walked onto the ball beautifully, rifling an unstoppable shot past the keeper for his second of the afternoon - 3:0 Rapid and game well and truly over (65.)! There was still more to come from the Green & Whites as Mario Pavelic got in behind the Admira defence, cut a low ball back across the goal mouth to Stefan Schwab, who slammed home his second of the match from close range - 4:0 (78.)! There were further chances for Rapid to add to the total in the closing stages, but the game finished in an excellent 4:0 victory for Mike Büskens side, who ended in style a run of disappointing results against near neighbours.

(gw)