Win Over WSG Brings Three More Points

The international break is over, and league action returned to Hütteldorf: WSG Tirol were the visitors to the Allianz Stadium for the sixth round of the ADMIRAL Bundesliga on Sunday! The break was used to make minor adjustments and fix a few processes, so our Green & Whites took to the hallowed turf today full of motivation. After the positive upswing of recent weeks, head coach Peter Stöger's team wanted to get out on the field again – and they did so in white, as our third jersey celebrated its premiere with the motto ‘Sustainable. Awesome.’ And what can we say: it brought us luck!

Niklas Hedl stood between the posts; in front of him were Jannes Horn, SP Raux-Yao, our captain for the day Nenad Cvetković and Bendi Bolla; Martin Ndzie and Romeo Amane played in central midfield, while Dominik Weixelbraun, Janis Antiste, Nikolaus Wurmbrand and Claudy Mbuyi provided the attacking threat.

Our team moved the ball about well from the start, but the visitors' defensive organisation meant that clear scoring opportunities were few and far between. We tried three times through Niki Wurmbrand, but his crosses were either blocked or just missed their mark (6’, 12’, 20’). However, our youngster was rewarded for his attacking intent: Jannes Horn excelled with a strong effort to win back the ball, Claudy Mbuyi added some good dribbling, and Niki Wurmbrand finally put the ball in the net after some excellent ball control in the box, 1-0 (21’)! The opening goal unsettled the visitors and gave us even more momentum – shortly afterwards, we were cheering again, but Claudy Mbuyi's goal was unfortunately disallowed due to an alleged foul (33'). Romeo Amane (40') and Bendi Bolla (43') wanted to give the Rapid fans something else to cheer about with their shots, but unfortunately both missed the target by a narrow margin. However, it was soon Claudy Mbuyi who made the stadium erupt: Romeo Amane lifted the ball perfectly onto the foot of our number 71, who scored with a fine first-time shot to make it 2-0 at the break! 

We started the second half with fresh energy: Marco Tilio and Tobias Gulliksen, who made his competitive debut in Green & White, replaced Dominik Weixelbraun and Martin Ndzie (46'). The direction of the play was still very clearly in our favour: firstly, Marco Tilio's cross found no takers (47'), then Janis Antiste headed just over from a corner (49'). The visitors were suddenly back in the contest - on the score board at least - when Rapid loanee Benjamin Böckle pulled a goal back with a headed effort (52'). Matthias Seidl and Ercan Kara were brought on to inject some fresh energy, replacing Nikolaus Wurmbrand and Janis Antiste (70'). Right on time for the Rapid quarter-hour though, we were cheering again: Nenad Cvetković got his toe to a shot from Romeo Amane and scored an eye-catching goal with his quick reactions to make it 3-1 (75'). As the rain began to pour down, Andrija Radulović joined the Rapid team, replacing Claudy Mbuyi (85'). Our number 7 then put the icing on the cake: after a deep pass from Tobias Gulliksen, Marco Tilio did the rest and celebrated his first goal in a Rapid shirt: 4-1 (91’)!

That's what a perfect Bundesliga afternoon looks like: three points added to our tally, a well-deserved home win after a solid performance – nicely done, Rapid!

Fotos: GEPA