125 JAHRE SK RAPID
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01.04.2019
Bundesliga

Hütteldorfers stroll to 3:0 win over Admira

Ahead of the first round of matches in the qualification group, the club confirmed the departure of Veton Berisha. The forward has returned with immediate effect to his native Norway with SK Brann. We wish Veton all the best with the next stage of his career. Head Coach Didi Kühbauer had to make do without the services of Max Hofmann and Manuel Thurnwald for the visit of Admira through illness and injury respectively. Also missing were Christopher Dibon and Tamas Szanto, both of whom have returned to training following injury lay-offs. Despite finding themselves in the lower half of the split, the target remained unchanged for Rapid: win matches and gather points. Direct from kick-off the Hütteldorfers set about doing just that with an impressive first half display.

Chances quickly began to arrive for a dominant Rapid side, with Ex-Admira man Christoph Knasmüllner threatening the Admira goal firstly with a header (8.), then with an audacious lobbed effort with the outside of his boot from distance. The opportunistic effort came close, landing on the roof of the Admira net (9.). Stephan Auer fired a low shot narrowly wide of the far post, before a flowing move from the Green & Whites resulted in Schobesberger feeding the ball into Grahovac on the edge of the box, who hit a rasping drive that Admira keeper Leitner did well to tip over the crossbar (20.). With Rapid dominating their struggling visitors, it looked like the breakthrough would arrive via the penalty spot: A ball was fed into Murg at the near post, who went to ground after being shoved in the back by his marker with the referee showing no hesitation as he pointed to the spot. Andrija Pavlovic stepped up but blazed a wild effort over the bar and the deadlock remained intact (25.). Despite the setback, Rapid's belief remained undiminished and a goal was clearly in the offing. Finally, it arrived: high-pressing robbed a Admira player of the ball in a dangerous position, with Schobesberger driving into the Admira box and deftly feeding Knasmüllner, who beat Leitner with a crisp low finish - 1:0 (38.)!

New striker Aliou Badji came on for Pavlovic at half time: the new recruit would have been itching for an opportunity as Rapid continued to look threatening against the passive and blunt visitors from the South City. The first chance of the second period came when Boli Bolingoli picked out Murg in the area, who weaved his way past the keeper and almost into an empty net, but he just ran out of space as he sought to turn the ball into the net (50.). The crowd weren't forced to wait too much longer though before the second of the afternoon arrived: the newly arrived Badji burst down the wing before feeding the ball across the face of the Admira goal where it found the unmarked Schobesberger at the back post, who slotted a comfortable left-footed shot into the unguarded net - 2:0 (53.)! Knasmüllner then thumped the foot of the post from a Murg pass (58.), and Mert Müldür found the roof of the net with a header as Rapid looked for the third that would put the result beyond doubt. When Admira did finally create an opening Schmidt was denied space by Richard Strebinger, who rushed off his line to push the Mödling man wide and avert the danger (68.).

Ten minutes before the final whistle Aliou Badji celebrated his first goal in Green & White: A perfectly weighted ball from Dejan Ljubicic split the creaking Admira defence, putting the Senegalese through on Leitner, where he produced a smart finish, taking his shot early before the Admira keeper had a chance to adjust his feet - 3:0 and game over (79.)! The first round of the qualification group had delivered  comprehensive victory for Rapid, who will now travel to Linz to take on LASK in the semi-final of the ÖFB Cup in Wednesday. There remains plenty to play for this season. Rapid!

(gw)

tipico Bundesliga, 23rd round:
SK Rapid - FC Admira 3:0 (1:0)

Allianz Stadion, 11.600 Attendance, Ref Eisner

Goals: 1:0 Knasmüllner (38.), 2:0 Schobesberger (53.), 3:0 Badji (80.);

SK Rapid: Strebinger – Auer, Sonnleitner, Müldür, Bolingoli – Grahovac, Schwab – Murg, Knasmüllner (79./D. Ljubicic), Schobesberger (69./Ivan) – Pavlovic (46./Badji);

FC Admira: Leitner – Aiwu, Schösswendter, Bauer – Zwierschitz, Vorsager, Toth, Hjulmand (46./Bakis), Spasic – Starkl (46./Pusch), Schmidt (73./Jakolis);

Yellow Cards: Bauer;