Derby Draw Despite Numerical Advantage

After an exhausting Cup thriller in midweek, the 341st Vienna derby awaited us in the Bundesliga on Sunday evening. There was really only one goal: to finally win a long-awaited derby in Vienna's tenth district... Guido Burgstaller, Nenad Cvetković and Aleksa Pejić were again forced to miss out, however an XI with numerous derby debutants wanted to leave everything out there on the pitch in order to finally be rewarded for the performances of the last few weeks. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go to plan.

The game started with an interruption of several minutes and an early shock: after a free kick, the ball ended up in the Rapid goal, but following a VAR check, the goal was rightly disallowed (2'). On the counterattack, Nic Kühn made his presence felt with his speed, but he was stopped at the last moment by the goalkeeper (6’). Marco Grüll also made a good impression on the flank and had a go with a flat long-range shot into the hands of the keeper (8’). The game continued with a nice combination between Matthias Seidl and Marco Grüll, but the final square ball got caught up in the defence (13’). The biggest chance then came for Fally Mayulu, who got a toe to the ball after a pass from Nic Kühn, but failed to beat the home keeper (23’).

The opening phase had been until then characterised by a constant back-and-forth style, in which no team gave each other even a centimetre. However, the fight for the ball meant that no one was able to get in front of the goal until Matthias Seidl and Fally Mayulu combined well, but again that final ball lacked precision (45’+2’). Shortly before the break, however, Niki Hedl had to prove himself with his first big intervention in the game, but he took the one-on-one situation under control expertly (45’+3’). In turn, Nic Kühn also had a look with a volley, but that was the last noteworthy action of a goalless first half (45’+4’).

Rapid went into the second half with a lot of momentum, and just three minutes after the restart Leo Querfeld brought a header on goal after a corner, yet the keeper was tested but made the stop (48’). The emotions then went up a level, and within minutes we would have a two-man-advantage: first, there was a justified second yellow for James Holland after a foul on Leo Querfeld (52’), after then after a brutal challenge on Marco Grüll, Matthias Braunöder saw a straight red card for the Violets (54’). We were firmly established in the opponent's half, after a beautiful cross by Nana Kasanwirjo Matthias Seidl headed just wide as we looked to take advantage quickly (59’). The latter then also sent in a cross to Nikolas Sattlberger, but again the ball passed agonisingly a few centimetres from goal (62’).

Our head coach brought some fresh legs into the game, as Thorsten Schick came onto the field for Nana Kasanwirjo (69’). Despite outnumbering the opposition, however, we were still unable to get a good look at goal. Therefore, Thierry Gale and Roman Kerschbaum also came on for Nic Kühn and Moritz Oswald (82’) as we faced an all-out defensive wall of nine players. New man Gale was denied in a one-on-one with perhaps our best chance of the day, (86’) and he also put a shot from distance over the bar (90’). Ultimately that was the last big moment of the game, and after 94 minutes the scoreboard still showed 0-0.

It’s of course disappointing not to be able to convert our numerical superiority into a win, but we will have to take the point and look ahead to our next game, away in Lustenau on Satuday.

Fotos: GEPA