Last Home League Game of 2024 ends with a Loss

After last Thursday's draw against Shamrock Rovers, it was back to the Bundesliga on Sunday, as we faced our final home league game of the calendar year. On the first Sunday of Advent, Blau-Weiß Linz were the guests at the Allianz Stadium, as Rapid aimed to avenge a defeat away in Linz from earlier in the season. There was something of a new-look line-up as Moritz Oswald made his return to the starting XI after several weeks out injured, and Jakob Schöller, Dennis Kaygin and Noah Bischof also started, as we hoped to provide Head Coach Robert Klauß with a present of three points on his 40th birthday.

Neither team managed to put their own stamp on the game in the opening stages - as the majority of the action was contested in the midfield. However, luck was on our side several times in quick succession, when a shot from the visitors came back off the woodwork, and then the follow-up effort towards the empty net was somehow blocked (13‘) shortly before the bar saved us again following a corner kick (16’). Bendi Bolla then had the first attempt from our side, but the BWL goalkeeper had no problem saving his shot which prioritised placement over power (21’). At this point, we hadn’t fully gotten into the flow of the game yet, and it was a disrupted opening from both teams, without much real spectacle for the fans. Noah Bischof then capitalised on a misplaced pass to win back the ball, but his shot flew just wide (29'). It just wasn't quite our afternoon yet, and with little more in the way of major moments, the first half came to an end at 0-0.

The team returned to the pitch with no changes, and found their first real opportunity of the match soon after; Jonas Auer sent over a cross, Dion Beljo stuck his foot out to turn it goalwards, but it clipped the crossbar instead of going in (49'). Just a little later, Matti Seidl broke through in the penalty area and found Lukas Grgić, but the Blau-Weiß goalkeeper was on hand to save his shot (54'). Just as we were getting into the game, the visitors struck back at the other end, and Simon Seidl set up Ronivaldo on the break, as the guests scored the opening goal of the game, putting us 1-0 down (60'). Our head coach reacted and brought in Guido Burgstaller, Louis Schaub and Mama Sangaré in place of Dion Beljo, Moritz Oswald and Lukas Grgić (64'), however, it took just under ten minutes for another sign of life in attack - when Matthias Seidl's shot went just wide (74').

Niki Hedl then proved his worth by guarding against the counter-attack, defusing a chance with a strong reflex stop (80'). The final phase of the game became heated once again, with Nenad Cvetković coming on in place of Dennis Kaygin (90'). However, the flurry of chances that we wanted never really materialised, and the score line would not change. The much hoped-for home win against Blau-Weiß failed to materialise and our home streak was broken. Disappointingly, we fell to our second defeat of the season against the Linzers, in our last Bundesliga home game of the year.

Fotos: GEPA