Two Points Lost against Lustenau

After last weekend’s emphatic 3-0 Vienna Derby win, the final home game of the regular Bundesliga season was upon us on Sunday. For Round 21 of the ADMIRAL Bundesliga, Austria Lustenau were the guests at the Allianz Stadium, and a win would ensure qualification for the top-six Championship Round with a game to spare. Having won 5-0 in Vorarlberg in the reverse fixture, Rapid were confident of extending a recent run of good results, but the job would have to be completed on the field.

 Head coach Robert Klauß's team started the match with some high-tempo football, and after just three minutes we were already dangerously close to goal with a chance for Christoph Lang, but our number 10 unfortunately stumbled at the last moment (3’). Lustenau remained extremely compact and didn't allow much space, and while we patiently combined and pushed forward, we couldn’t find the right answers in the early stages. Lustenau then had their first dangerous chance following a counter-attack, but Niklas Hedl made a brilliant save (27'). Even though we slowly got into the game, things got turbulent in the 34th minute: Terence Kongolo was shown a second yellow and therefore a red card in what appeared to be a very harsh call by the referee. Assistant coach Tommy Kraus also had to leave the bench in the aftermath (34'). With ten men on the pitch, the right solutions had to be found, and Lukas Grgić gave it a go with a peach of a pass in to Guido Burgstaller, but the captain couldn’t find a teammate in the middle when it mattered (43’). Big chances remained few and far between, and the teams went in at the break without a shot on target.

We got back underway in the second half, not only yet to register a shot on target, but also a man short. Matthias Seidl had a good go at goal early on, but the Lustenau stopper got behind his effort (49’), and moments later things turned sour. A long ball from the keeper led to Lustenau taking the lead with a precise and very efficient finish. 0-1 (51’). Roman Kerschbaum and Isak Jansson then came on for Nana Kasanwirjo and Jonas Auer to bring some fresh impetus (57’). After a deep pass from Leo Querfeld, Marco Grüll got into a great position, but the ball just bobbled too far away from him (59’), before Jansson tried his luck, only to see his shot deflected just over the top (69’).

 A clear handball in the box then led to a Lustenau sending off and a Rapid penalty, which Grüll coolly converted from the spot to bring us back level. 1-1 (78’)! With the closing stages now 10-v-10 Rapid had the wind in their sails, and Burgstaller fired against the woodwork before Seidl saw his powerful shot saved (88’). In the final minutes, Jovan Živković came on for Lang, but he couldn’t find a winner either, and the game remained 1-1 at full time. After a hard-fought game, a draw was far better than defeat, however, Rapid fell short of the home win that we wanted. Now it comes down to a big game against SK Austria Klagenfurt next week, with the hope that we can lay down a marker for a strong end to the season, hopefully inside the top six.

Fotos: GEPA