125 JAHRE SK RAPID
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22.08.2018
tipico Bundesliga

Late goal undoes Rapid

Two of Austria's representatives in European competition met on Sunday, as Rapid traveled to take on LASK. The Hütteldorfers were buoyed by their superb flattening of Bratislava; by contrast the Upper Austrians had exited Europe despite an impressive victory over Besiktas. Injured captain Stefan Schwab was unavailable for selection, with the armband passing to Richard Strebinger. Manuel Martic came into the starting eleven, as did Manuel Thurnwald. Aleksandar Kostic was drafted into the left-forward role, whilst Andrei Ivan was deployed as a lone striker.

The first chance was created by the home side, with Tetteh powering down the wing before feeding the ball to Goiginger, who drew a save from stand-in skipper Strebinger (6.). It took a while for the Green & Whites to feel their way into the game and register themselves as an attacking force, with a deflected cross from Ivan their first attempt on goal (15.). Christoph Knasmüllner then woke Rapid from their slumber, and almost gave his side the lead when he grazed the post with a shot from distance (22.)! With the game increasingly bogged down into a midfield battle, there were only two further attacking moments of note in the first half: Strebinger was called upon to punch a shot from Holland to safety (28.), before Martic tested Linz keeper Schlager with long-range attempt (41.).

The second half brought with it fresh attacking impetus, as well as Marvin Potzmann in place of Thurnwald. Suddenly, the match sprung into life as Gionginger shot over from a tight angle (48.) and Ivan headed over from an inch-perfect Bolingoli cross (50.). The chances kept coming, as Strebinger pulled off a superb diving save to deny the increasingly influential Goiginger at the near post (52.). A somewhat flat first period had given way to a high-tempo end-to-end encounter. Rapid's in-form goalie was then again at the centre of the action, pulling off another incredible stop to deny Joao Victor from just five meters (60.). Next it was Tetteh who went close for Linz as he rushed through on goal one-on-one with Strebinger: the Rapid keeper did enough to hinder the LASK man on his way to goal, with Mateo Barac sweeping round to help his captain and clear Tetteh's goal-bound shot off the line (62.).

The home side had been threatening a goal, and that threat was finally realised: from around 30 yards out Ramsebner took aim and lashed the ball into the corner to break the deadlock - 0:1 (68.). The onus was now on Rapid to fight their way back into the game, and they managed to do just that. Substitute Thomas Murg thought he had equalised with a brilliantly struck free-kick only for Schlager to produce an outstanding stop (83.), but then the golden opportunity arrived: the referee spotted a hand ball in the Linz box and awarded a penalty to Rapid. Christoph Knasmüllner took responsibility, but was denied by Schlager (84.)! But direct from the next corner a partial clearance only made its way to Veton Berisha, who rifled home from distance to equalise for Rapid – and, seemingly, earn his side a share of the points - 1:1 (85.)!

Rapid celebrations didn't last for long though, as LASK promptly went down the other end of the pitch and re-took the lead: poor defending saw Rapid unable to clear the ball, Linz man Wiesinger popped up in front of Strebinger and slid a simple finish through the keeper’s legs – 2:1 (89.). It was a bitterly disappointing way to lose the match right at the death having fought to within 60 seconds of gaining a point. The players need to put the disappointment behind them as quickly as possible: on Thursday FCSB are in town for the first leg of the UEFA Europa League play-off!

(gw)

tipico Bundesliga, 4th round:
LASK - SK Rapid 2:1 (0:0)
Pasching, TGW-Arena, 5.864 Attendance, Ref Hameter

Goals: 1:0 (65.) Ramsebner, 1:1 (85.) Berisha, 2:1 (89.) Wiesinger;

LASK: A. Schlager - Ramsebner, Trauner, Wiesinger - Ranftl, Holland, Michorl, Ullmann (93. Pogatetz) - Goiginger, Tetteh (91. Erdogan), Joao Victor (75. Frieser)

SK Rapid: Strebinger - Thurnwald (46. Potzmann), Sonnleitner, Barac, Bolingoli - Martic (69. Alar), D. Ljubicic - Kostic (57. Murg), Knasmüllner, Berisha - Ivan

Yellow Card: Martic;