Rapid Response Snatches a Point in Salzburg

A disciplined defensive display looked to have been undone late on, but Rapid had other ideas as Marco Grüll’s ice cold spot kick saw the game end level.

Having secured a spot in the ÖFB Cup final, and having won both of the games in a busy week by a scoreline of 3-0, Rapid made the journey to Salzburg on Sunday with real ambitions of giving the defending champions a hard time for ADMIRAL Bundesliga Matchday 25. Under Coach Robert Klauß, the team have become hard to beat, and the only competitive defeat so far in his tenure was a 1-0 loss to Salzburg back in December; with Guido Burgstaller back up front, and attackers Marco Grüll, Matthias Seidl and Christoph Lang all on fine form, we were out for revenge.

The action began at a breathless tempo as Salzburg looked to bounce back from their midweek Cup exit, but it was Rapid - roared on by a vociferous away crowd - who started the brightest. Just three minutes, in Burgstaller worked hard to win the ball off a defender and then pass to Lang, whose shot was blocked at the very last moment by Oumar Solet on the edge of the box, however the Salzburg man was just inches away from sweeping the ball into his own net in the chaos (3’). The Green & Whites continued to get stuck into the action, and after an excellent opening, a double chance came up following a fantastic free-kick routine, when the ball was floated into the box, headed across the goal, and had to be cleared off the line and away off the post (22’). The attack wasn’t dead, and when the next cross was floated in, Leo Querfeld darted in for a powerful back-post header which flew into the side-netting. Another let-off for the hosts.

The action then balanced out somewhat, and after a battling period of the game Salzburg became the team on top. Terence Kongolo and Leo Querfeld excelled in their defensive duties to repel the most dangerous attacks, but right on the stroke of half-time there was a nervous moment, as Karim Konate headed off target from a very good position. Nonetheless, there were a lot of positives from the first 45 as the teams headed down the tunnel locked at 0-0.

After the break the home side looked determined to hold onto the upper-hand, as Konate was thwarted by our keeper Niki Hedl at his near post (48’), but although Rapid were pushed back, the defence kept holding firm until the game settled into a phase of substitutions. Fally Mayulu and Isak Jansson came on for Burgstaller and Lang (64’), before another Konate shot - this time from range - had to be tipped away by an alert Hedl (68’). He needed the finger which had made the save looked at by the medical team, but luckily he was fine to continue!

In the closing stages, the Green & White corner of the arena continued to sing loudly, but after preventing the Salzburg forwards from finding their flow for a long spell, disaster struck for our defence late on. A low cross from the left was not on target to find a striker, but when the pass bounced back off a defender, Konate was there to finally slot in an easy opening goal (87’). It was so tough on Rapid, as the hosts pounced on the only momen of defensive hesitation all day.

Immediately the Green & Whites set about atoning for the error, and Moritz Oswald spooned a shot over the top (88’), before a fantastic cross from Grüll picked out the head of Kongolo, who himself forced a top-drawer save from Alex Schlager to parry the ball away from the top corner and keep Salzburg’s noses in front (91’). Undeterred, another cross was sent in from the right, and this time a similar header from Querfeld crashed into the arm of Aleksa Terzic. The resulting VAR check confirmed what we all knew should have been the case: Rapid penalty! Up stepped Marco Grüll, and he nervelessly fired high into the roof of the net with a near-perfect spot-kick as the sixth minute of stoppage time elapsed. 1-1 (96’)! A few more minutes were added, and unfortunately Neraysho Kasanwirjo picked up a fifth caution and will therefore miss the game against Klagenfurt next weekend, but all told, this finished with a satisfactory point from a mostly very pleasing performance. It could perhaps have been more, but we move into third place in the table for now with the point. NICE ONE, RAPID!