The trip to the Ukraine had really gotten off on the right foot: Rapid were relaxed and in good spirits after touching down in Eastern Europe. The plan was keep things tight, nullify the threat of the opponent's South American contingent and impose our own game on the hosts. For forty-five minutes it would like a dream. The Hütteldorfers stepped out onto the pitch in front of a 40,000 strong crowd, and immediately set about attempting to execute Peter Schöttel's plans. The 400 travelling Viennese were attempting to make themselves heard, cheering on the team as they looked to establish a foothold against a side fielding no less than 9 (!) South Americans in the starting line up. Brazilian Taison was the first to offer goal threat, testing Lukas Königshofer in the 5th minute. Far from overawed the Green-Whites hit back straight away: a dangerous Hofmann free kick was turned over by the home keeper in the 12th minute, a good show of intent from Austria's record champions. Kharkiv were looking to play an offensive game, attempting to squeeze up into the Rapid half, but it was our side creating the chances: Christopher Trimmel was inches away from giving Rapid a 20th minute lead when his header from a cross rebounded off the crossbar. Burgstaller could then have done better after being set up by the ever growing Deni Alar, whilst just a minute later Mario Sonnleitner guided a header agonizingly wide of the target. It was impressive stuff from Rapid who had their expensively assembled hosts on the ropes. In the 32nd minute Hofmann again went close with a shot from distance. Kharkiv then threatened to take the lead but Xavier's shot went inches wide on 36 minutes. The Ukrainians had the better off the closing stages of the half but neither side broke the deadlock meaning the score remained 0-0 at half time. Footballing clichés come home to roostRapid began the second half with the same players and also the same attitude: minutes after the restart Hofmann played in Alar, whose shot was kept out by Goryainov, and in the 52nd minute a good effort from Guido Burgstaller just evaded the far post. Kharkiv tried to create some forward momentum, but Sosa's 54th minute effort never looked like threatening Königshofer. Metalist's forays forwards were sparse, often coming through set pieces, whereas Rapid were showing fluidity with drive and purpose: it seemed just a matter of time before we would take what would have been a thoroughly deserved lead. Incredibly when the goal did arrive it was scored by Kharkiv. If the hosts were going to score it looked like it might take a set piece and this scenario eventually played out: a 65th minute free kick was met by Edmar who guided his header past Königshofer to give the hosts the lead. The goal gave Kharkiv impetuous, and they suddenly began to exert more and more pressure on the Rapid backline. Ten minutes before the end an extended period of pressure was made to tell and the game was taken beyond the Hütteldorfers. A nice bit of build up play had Rapid chasing shadows, the ball eventually found its way to Xavier who rounded off the move and condemned the Viennese to a second straight Europa League defeat. To add insult to injury, Guido Burgstaller received a red card in the 90th minute as Rapid finished the game with 10 men. Rapid lost a game that they really didn't need to lose: if they could have turned their first half dominance into chances who knows what the outcome may have been. However it was a positive display against a strong opponent, these sorts of performances can be built on going forwards and lead to further successes on the domestic front. UEFA Europe League, Group K:Metalist Charkiw - SK Rapid 2:0 (0:0)Charkiw, Stadion Metalist, 40.003 Att., Ref. Menashe Masiah (ISR) Goals: 1:0 Edmar (65.), 2:0 Xavier (79.) Metalist: Gorjainow - Villagra, Gueye, Torsiglieri, Fininho - Torres (51./Edmar), Cleiton Xavier - Sosa (83./Marlos), Blanco, Taison - Cristaldo (74./Willian) SK Rapid: Königshofer - Trimmel, Sonnleitner, Gerson, Katzer - Heikkinen, Ildiz - Prager, Hofmann (88./Kulovits), Burgstaller - Alar (76./Grozurek) Red Card: Burgstaller (93.) Yellow Cards: Torsiglieri Ildiz(gw)
08.10.2012