Back from Benidorm and back into action

SK Rapid Vienna have touched back down in the Austrian capital: after having spent a week in their Spanish training camp, the players and staff are ready for the Bundesliga restart which kicks off with the Vienna derby.

A party of 25 Green & White players, staff, and officials made the trip to the Spanish coast, where this years winter training camp took place. With the sun shining the team were not only put through their paces in the obligatory training sessions, but also partook in plenty of other activities away from the pitch. Through a variety of different exercises and activities team building and improving the internal communication were the order of the day. Damir Canadi's side also participated in two friendly matches whilst based in Spain: the Hütteldorfers beat reigning Hungarian champions Ferencvaros 1:0 courtesy of Tamas Szanto's penalty, whilst Polish outfit Gliwice were dispatched 2:1 with goals coming from Philipp Malicsek and Alex Sobczyk. Importantly the camp represented an opportunity for young players such as Sobczyk, Kelvin Arase, Osarenren Okungbowa and Attila Szalai to showcase their talents in a young squad surrounding.

A few of the injured squad members remained behind in Vienna to continue rehabilitation: names such as Thomas Schrammel, Maximilian Wöber, Ivan Mocinic, Jan Novota, Matej Jelic and Christoph Schösswendter all failed to make the trip. Having returned to Vienna attention now quickly turns to Saturday and a final freindly fixture against SV Schwechat as the boys build up towards the 320th installment of the Vienna derby saga. In the 21st round of Bundesliga matches – the first after the winter break - the Hütteldorfers will lock horns with their familiar foes from Favoriten in the Ernst-Happel-Stadium.

(gw)