ÖFB Cup: Rapid Ease Through to Another Final

A professional display on the road in Leoben saw SK Rapid secure another place in the ÖFB Cup Final, as Guido Burgstaller and Christoph Lang steered the Green & Whites into a comfortable lead before Fally Mayulu finished the job late on.

 A 3-0 away win at the weekend left Rapid well placed in the Bundesliga for a push towards a good European qualification spot, as attentions turned once more towards the UNIQA ÖFB Cup on Wednesday evening. On the cards was another trip to Styria, this time to face second-division side DSV Leoben, with a place in the Cup Final on the line.

Leoben’s historical record against Rapid wasn’t a good one, with just two wins from 27 meetings, and none in five Cup meetings, yet the Styrians had home advantage, and were flying high with nothing to lose, having defeated three Bundesliga sides already on their remarkable run to the semis. For Rapid, there were happy memories of the 1995 ÖFB Cup win against Leoben (1-0) as the Green and Whites went for a fourth trip to Klagenfurt in eight seasons.

 The boys were well supported for a Wednesday night away game, with a whole end full of Rapid fans making a great noise as the game got going in a packed Donawitz Stadium. The Cup-tie intensity spilled from the stands onto the turf, as a hard-fought but even opening saw Rapid dominate possession, but few chances for either team. The first big moment fell for Leoben, when a dangerous square-ball was blazed over the bar by an old foe, Kevin Friesenbichler (15’). The guests immediately responded as Matthias Seidl smashed his own effort well over (18’) but he would have been offside in any case.

 Next time Seidl got into a good position on the left of the area, he chose a different option, sliding a pass in front of the keeper for the returning Guido Burgstaller to simply slot into the net for 1-0 (27’) although it would be credited as an own goal as it touched a defender before crossing the line. The hosts kept up their high level, but Rapid could have created another big chance, when Terence Kongolo ran forward at pace without finding Christoph Lang in acres of space to his right (30’). Lang would soon get another chance from that side though, and when the referee played advantage and the ball came to him in the box, he smoothly steered it past the keeper and in for 2-0 (41’) which was the scoreline at the break.

The second half started quietly given Rapid’s advantage, before a flurry of chances came around the hour mark. First, Burgstaller sent the ball curling over the top (59’) before teeing up Seidl for a low shot which was saved (61’), dragging another effort wide of the target (67’) and then chipping into the keeper’s gloves when clean through (74’). It was to be his last action of the day, as he and scorer Lang were removed for Moritz Oswald and Jovan Zivkovic when the Rapid quarter-hour came around.

Leoben tried their best to mount a late comeback, and they were unlucky to see an effort from captain Nico Pichler bounce back off the post (78’), but ultimately Rapid held them at arm’s length and even added a third late on, when Fally Mayulu was able to sneak the ball across the face of goal and in at the far post from a tight angle on the left (90+1’). The game was done and dusted at that point, and with a few minutes of stoppage time taken up, Rapid’s second successive trip to Klagenfurt for the ÖFB Cup Final was confirmed. Now let’s go to Carinthia and get our hands on that trophy!