1-1: Spoils shared in 300th league derby

The double-game weeks in August not only brought consistency with their familiar three-day rhythm, they also shored up our performance levels ever further: After the victory against Ried in the Bundesliga and the two UEL wins against Luhansk (securing our passage to the Europa League group stage) the crowning glory of the month was still to come: It was time to claim another derby victory, and our 333rd duel with our local rivals the Violets was the 300th encounter in the league! Paul Gartler, who replaced the injured Richi Strebinger, started in goal again and in front of him, Head Coach Didi Kühbauer relied on the rest of the team that had acquitted themselves so well on Thursday in Ukraine.

It’s a little clichéd to say that the Vienna derby adheres to "its own laws", but without foreshadowing, it’s fair to say that it was true once again on this occasion! As Didi Kühbauer had warned, one should not be deceived by the fact that Austria lay in 12th place at the bottom of the table; we could only expect a derby in which everyone would give their utmost, and then prepare for some extra motivation and explosiveness to be involved. Rapid, on the one hand, held on to the ball, Austria chased, but there were only really some intense battles going on in the opening phase. A long shot by Max Ullmann came close to the opponent's goal, but was off target in the end (21’). Out of the proverbial blue, however, came a goal: we couldn't effectively clear a high ball out of the danger area, and after a turnover, it came to Martel, whose deflected cross landed right at the feet of Mühl in the five-yard box - he duly slid in to give Austria the lead (33’). That remained the score at the break, and it was clear that we had to step up a gear.

We certainly managed that after the interval: First, there was a change (Thorsten Schick replaced Kelvin Arase) but the hosts had not yet readied themselves mentally by the time our team struck back. A long cross from Srdjan Grahovac was met by the head of Marco Grüll, who nodded the ball cleverly against the run of goalkeeper Pentz and into the net; 1-1 (48’)! The leveller was a goal that gave us a boost; Rapid now took command, pushing the Violets back and going for a second goal. The longer the second half lasted though, the more the play pointed in the direction of the stalemate that we’d already seen for much of the first 45 minutes.

There were challenges, attempted forays down the flanks, crosses and corners, but both sides rarely managed to get into the opposition danger zone, so concrete chances remained scarce. The substitutes Christoph Knasmüllner and Koya Kitagawa were supposed to bring a new offensive push, and shortly after the Rapid quarter of an hour began it was almost there, the spark that could have led to a goal: Rapid attacked, the ball came to Kitagawa, and our Japanese striker headed the ball into the path of Marco Grüll - who, however, could not control the ball in the penalty area whilst under pressure from a defender. After that, we kept on trying, while the Violets gradually shut up shop ever more. But because nothing concrete came of it, the points were shared, which was a fair reflection of the game in the end.

Our team can now gather some strength during the upcoming international break, in preparation for another exciting autumn.

Thanks for all your support home and away so far this season!

 Fotos: GEPA