2-1 (2-4): Safely through despite Larnaca loss

Rapid’s journey to Cyprus on Thursday was an important marker in our young European campaign for this season. A 3-0 advantage from the first leg gave us a nice cushion from which to push towards securing group stage participation for the coming Autumn, yet failure to see this one over the line against Anorthosis Famagusta would not only be a huge disappointment, but would leave our European hopes hanging by a thread. Head Coach Didi Kühbauer opted for a 4-4-2 formation with a very familiar look to our recent Bundesliga games; Taxi Fountas, fit from his hat-trick at the weekend, partnered Ercan Kara up front, whilst Max Hofmann and Leo Greiml were the two main men at the heart of the defence.

 With the ball rolling in Cyprus, Rapid were initially well-set-up to exploit the spaces that Anorthosis left open, as the home side were naturally forced to push forward, being three goals down. Kara and Arase found themselves in shooting positions inside the first six minutes, but both opted for other choices and so nothing came of our first attacks. The challenges were tough right from the off, with the hosts aiming to force a way back into the match with an intense physical start. Every tackle was greeted with cheers and boos from the home crowd, but Rapid coped well, allowing only one half-chance as Deletic turned underneath a high ball and hit a volley on target to get Strebinger warmed-up in goal (11’).

Kara responded with a shot over the bar moments later, before Hofmann was rather unfortunate to receive the game’s first yellow card after several hard challenges from the hosts went unpunished. The cautions soon appeared for Famagusta as well, but for the most part the Green & Whites were happy to let the hosts attack, without allowing much action inside the area. On the other hand Marco Grüll burst forward on the counter, but after being hustled by the home defence, he fired wide (21’). The game’s familiar pattern continued for the remainder of the first half hour, until Christodoulopoulos got the home fans going again with a 25-yard strike which Strebinger had to dive at full-stretch to his left to tip around the post, a feat which he celebrated vocally (33’)! With the hosts now in a good phase and desperate for an important goal, Greiml had to dive in to deflect a shot from the edge of the box; luckily Strebi was able to gather that as well (38’). Our goalkeeper was once again called into action by Popovic’s near-post shot (44’) but when we got the ball further up the field we were often short of options, until Robert Ljubicic found space and smashed an effort on target with our best chance of the half after 45 minutes. It looked like we would get in at the break level, but Anorthosis broke away and scrambled the ball over the line through Lafferty (45’+1) with a counter attackdeep into time added on.

Conceding the late goal was a blow which set things up for a nervy second half, but we survived the opening minutes, and even showed some much-needed attacking intent with Fountas’s shot which ended up over the top (49’). Kara took a boot to the shoulder in the same attack, but was able to continue, yet our defenders were busier again soon after. Christodoulopoulos put in a winding run before chipping against the post, Lafferty had the ball in the net (53’) although it was rightly pulled back for a foul on Greiml, yet all signs still pointed to a tough evening ahead.

 Kara and Ullmann both tried to turn the tide back in our favour with shots from the left ust before the hour mark, yet the crucial breakthrough came down the same channel a few moments later, when Kara’s shot deflected down, backwards and then back up again to beat the Anorthosis keeper and bring us level on the night! 1-1 (64’). After over an hour of fierce battling, the goal appeared to take the sting out of the tie, and the next phase was all about substitutions with the scoreline back to 4-1 on aggregate. New man Eloundou tested Strebinger again (76’) but he saved with his feet, before Sulzbacher and the fit-again Kitagawa were introduced, joining fellow subs Schuster, Wimmer and Knasmüllner on the field for a taste of European action. Unfortunately, as the game looked to be all over and under control, Roushias took advantage of a routine cross which wasn’t caught by the otherwise excellent Strebinger, and tapped in for 2-1 (88’) to give Anorthosis the win on the night.

It was a blip at the end of an evening during which Rapid were made to suffer, but never truly came close to giving up the first leg lead. It finished 4-2 on aggregate, meaning that we will go on to face FC Zorya Luhansk of Ukraine in the UEFA Europa League Play-Off round, with Conference League group stage football now safely in the bag as the fall-back. RAPID!

Fotos: GEPA