Hammers prove too strong for Rapid in an empty Allianz Stadium
For the fifth match day of UEFA Europa League Group H, the Green & Whites welcomed West Ham United to the Allianz Stadium. It was a match we’d been looking forward to ever since the draw was made, but unfortunately for all of our fervent fans, none were allowed in on the night. Instead of a sold out stadium, we had to go up against the team who are currently flying high in fourth in the Premier League with an atmosphere more akin to the training ground.
The players were ready for the challenge nonetheless, and they were aiming to upset the odds and pick up some points to remain in the race to qualify from the group. Coaches Thomas Hickersberger & Steffen Hofmann opted to start with Pauli Gartler in goal; a back four consisting of youngster Martin Moormann, Emanuel Aiwu, captain Max Hofmann and Filip Stojkovic (fresh from scoring his first Rapid goal at the weekend). The midfield saw Robert Ljubicic lining up alongside Dejan Petrovic, with Taxi Fountas, Christoph Knasmüllner and Kelvin Arase further forward, and Kohya Kitagawa celebrating the birth of his child this week with a place up front.
West Ham made the size of the task in hand clear by starting strongly, as Bowen slid in to meet a ball into the box, and only narrowly prodded it wide of the post (6’). Vlasic fired a powerful shot over the top five minutes later but Rapid held firm and the team began to find their feet. Kitagawa broke away, passed to Moormann who was overlapping on the left, and when the ball was cut back to Fountas, his effort towards the near post was only just off target (21’). Aiwu was forced into a decent defensive header inside the six-yard box to keep the scores goalless (24’), but the Green and Whites continued to give it a go as Arase dribbled skilfully into the box and had a low shot saved three minutes later.
With just over five minutes remaining before the break and the teams beginning to think about going in level, Yarmolenko was left free at the back post and headed past a wrong-footed Gartler to give the visitors the lead (39’). Rapid were punished even further on the stroke of half time when Hofmann was adjudged to have tripped the goalscorer, before Noble stepped up and hit the penalty into the top right of the goal for 2-0 (45’). It was harsh on the home team, and although West Ham had enjoyed the better of the chances, the team at the top of the group had now scored with each of their two shots on target.
The Green & Whites came out with renewed belief for the second half, and they looked determined to make an impact on the game and create some more problems for the Premier League side. Kelvin Arase had been one of Rapid’s liveliest players, and his dangerous low cross needed to be dealt with just three minutes after the restart. Fountas had another go at goal a little later, but again the shot was just over the top of Areola’s goal (55’). Rapid’s response eventually stalled a little, and when Stojkovic gave the ball away on the hour, Soucek had a shot expertly saved by Gartler in the area, before our number 22 himself got back and heroically rescued Bowen’s shot with a block on the line.
The tempo of the game was suffering with the cold conditions and the lack of the expected 28,000 fans cheering the sides on, and a number of substitutions on either side did little to help the flow of the football. Arase kept trying down the right flank, and when he picked out Fountas, another Rapid shot unfortunately ended up wide of the target (72’). Inside the Rapid Quarter-Hour, Gartler distinguished himself once more with a fantastic reflex stop to deny West Ham sub Perkins from a point blank header (79’), but the tide was now more firmly with the guests, and a comeback was looking extremely tough.
Thierno Ballo, Marco Grüll and Ercan Kara had been brought on for the closing stages, and it was the latter who fired an acrobatic overhead kick towards the goal as the clock ticked towards 90 minutes, but ultimately there was to be now way through against the quality of the opposition, who sealed top spot in Group H with a 2-0 win.
It was a difficult evening for the players and the fans of SK Rapid, and we all missed the tremendous support that we so badly wanted to see in Hütteldorf on the night. Results elsewhere meant that the Europa League journey was over, but there will be a direct shootout with Genk on match day six to see if we can secure passage to the UEFA Europa Conference League at least. For now, our attention turns to Sunday’s Bundesliga game away against SV Ried. Let’s go Rapid, on to the next one!
Fotos: GEPA