Away Win in Altach Brings 3 Points

A Guido Burgstaller stunner set Rapid en route to an away win against Altach and three more precious points.

After a commanding 5-1 win away in Amstetten midweek in the Cup, Round 13 of the ADMIRAL Bundesliga season tasked us with a long trip to Vorarlberg to face SCR Altach. Three points were very much top of the agenda, with a need to climb up the table. Captain Guido Burgstaller was back in the line-up, but Nikolas Sattlberger (suspension), Maximilian Hofmann, Terence Kongolo and Nenad Cvetković (all injured) were missing from the team sheet.

The opening phase of the game was played at a high tempo, but in terms of out-and-out scoring chances, there was nothing really to report. Burgstaller was dangerous after a nice turn (8’), and Marco Grüll sent a direct free-kick from a good position well over the bar (15'), yet the home team held firm and didn’t allow us any free space to work with. The Green & Whites were combining well in places, but Altach’s defence prevented any clear goal-scoring opportunities, although Motitz Oswald had a good look with a low shot from range which forced the home keeper into a top save (44’). That would be the best of the chances before the break, so the teams went in level at half time.

Rapid headed back out onto the field unchanged, not just in terms of personnel, but also in terms of the momentum, which remained in Rapid’s favour. Six minutes after the break, Nic Kühn showed a great turn of pace, but ultimately got bogged down in the box. Roman Kerschbaum then sent a direct free-kick on target, only for the keeper to get his hands behind it (55’), but the biggest chance came moments later, as Altach’s last man had to save a fierce shot from Burgstaller and then deny Oswald on the rebound twice (59’)!

The deadlock was eventually broken though, and it happened after a moment of magic from captain Burgstaller: He skilfully brought a high ball under control to the left of the area, then turned away from goal to collect it, and unleashed a rocket of a shot into the far corner to make it 1-0 (65’)! After the opening goal, head coach Zoran Barišić made his first substitution, bringing on Oliver Strunz for Matthias Seidl (66'), and we would have a moment of fortune soon after, as ex-Rapid striker Atdhe Nuhiu headed a free-kick delivery into his own net to double our advantage (69’). Thorsten Schick then came on for the final phase in place of Nic Kühn (81'), as did Fally Mayulu and Patrick Greil for Guido Burgstaller and Moritz Oswald (89'). After 93 minutes, however, the away win was confirmed with the final whistle!

Therefore, with three points in the bag, we travel back to Hütteldorf. Keep it up, Rapid!

Fotos: GEPA