New season begins with a goal-fest: 5:0 against SV Ried on opening day

On Saturday the 2016/17 tipico Bundesliga got under way and it couldn't possibly have gone any better for the Green & Whites. A hapless SV Ried were the guests in a jumping Allianz Stadium as Rapid turned on the style, running out deserved 5:0 victors.  

The match day squad for the first league encounter of the season bore a few small changes in comparison to the side that took on Chelsea last time out: Arnor Traustason and Ivan Mocinic were named amongst the substitutes having only a week's training with their new team mates under their belts. Both would go on to make their debuts during the game. With 23,400 expectant fans in attendance Rapid quickly set about their opponents from Austria's Innviertel. An early free kick from Philipp Schobesberger was met by Christopher Dibon, whose header was inadvertently turned just beyond the front post and out for a corner by a Ried defender (11.). Srdjan Grahovac then fired an effort just over the bar as competition heated up to become the first goal scorer in a competitive match in the new stadium (12.). Just a minute later the historic moment arrived: Thomas Murg found Christoph Schösswendter with a deep free kick, with the summer arrival guiding his header well beyond the reach of Gebauer in the Ried goal to give Rapid a deserved early lead - 1:0 and Schösswendter had written his name into Rapid history (13.)!

The guests could do little to halt the ensuing onslaught: A Philipp Schobesberger shot went narrowly wide before Thomas Schrammel cut inside his marker on the right flank to deliver a teasing right footed cross that was met by Louis Schaub, who guided a deft header off the post and in to double Rapid’s advantage - 2:0 (29.)! As the minutes ticked down towards half time the Hütteldorfers added a third to extinguish any hopes Ried may have had of getting back into the game: A slick move down the left flank saw the ball fed into the feet of Schobesberger in the penalty area. Schobesberger in turn looked up and calmly picked up Thomas Murg, whose first effort was blocked before he slammed the rebound into the net, beating Gebauer with raw pace - 3:0 (42.)! Things got worse for the guests on the stroke of half time when Egho received a second yellow card for a blatant elbow on Christopher Dibon (45.). The incident also had consequences for the Rapid centre back who sustained an injury, coming off at half time to be replaced by Max Hofmann.

The start of the second period saw a goal hungry Rapid emerge from the dressing room and immediately pile more misery on their beleaguered guests: Schwab and Murg threatened with decent shots, whilst the latter eventually ended up grabbing Rapid's fourth of the afternoon after latching onto a clever flick from Schobesberger before firing low and hard across Gebauer into the far corner from the right hand side of the penalty area - 4:0 (55.)! Before the celebrations in the new Block West had subsided the fifth of the afternoon had already arrived: A cross from Mario Pavelic was met by Joelinton, who scored with his head from close range to complete the rout (56.)!

The Green & Whites continued to dominate proceedings and looked capable of adding more goals at any moment. No one came closer than Louis Schaub however, who nearly notched a second header of the afternoon when he rattled the crossbar in the seventy-seventh minute. By this point Traustason and Mocinic were on the pitch, and both slipped effortlessly into the tempo of the game belying their status as new arrivals! There followed unfortunately a small black cloud over the game when Thomas Murg was forced to depart proceedings early owing to injury. As with Christopher Dibon, the diagnosis will follow shortly – we wish both players speedy recoveries.

The injuries aside, the match had represented a perfect start to the season for a slick and well-oiled Rapid outfit. Two away engagements lie in wait in the coming week: The first an international test in Belarus, the second a trip to Vorarlberg to face SCR Altach. However, in this form, there are few teams who the Hütteldorfers will fear!

(gw)