The first positive sign of the afternoon came with the team sheet: Steffen Hofmann had recovered well enough to take his place amongst the starting 11, sporting a pair of protective glasses following his recent facial injury. Guido Burgstaller, Michael Schimpelsberger and Christopher Drazan also made their returns to first team action whilst suspended duo Trimmel and Prager looked on from the sidelines. Following the previous two disappointing outings against Austria and Leverkusen...

The Hütteldorfers went into the clash with old foes Austria with an unfamiliar looking midfield line up: Ildiz and Prager were asked to take on defensive responsibilities, whilst further forward the trio of Grozurek, Burgstaller and youngster Louis Schaub were charged with the task of creating the openings for lone forward Deni Alar. Unfortunately, and particularly in the first half, most of the chances went the way of the Violets. The opening stages of the game proved to be especially...

Peter Schöttel shuffled his pack against Neustadt following Thursday's grueling encounter in Kharkiv: Pichler came into the centre of defence, Schrammel was in at full back, Boyd up front and Prager was deployed as an offensive midfielder. Despite only having won once this season, Wiener Neustadt didn't turn up with the express intention of getting rolled over and boosting Rapid's goal difference in fact, just the opposite appeared to be happening as the game got underway at the peculiar...

The trip to the Ukraine had really gotten off on the right foot: Rapid were relaxed and in good spirits after touching down in Eastern Europe. The plan was keep things tight, nullify the threat of the opponent's South American contingent and impose our own game on the hosts. For forty-five minutes it would like a dream. The Hütteldorfers stepped out onto the pitch in front of a 40,000 strong crowd, and immediately set about attempting to execute Peter Schöttel's plans. The 400 travelling...

Peter Schöttel shuffled his pack against Neustadt following Thursday's grueling encounter in Kharkiv: Pichler came into the centre of defence, Schrammel was in at full back, Boyd up front and Prager was deployed as an offensive midfielder. Despite only having won once this season, Wiener Neustadt didn't turn up with the express intention of getting rolled over and boosting Rapid's goal difference in fact, just the opposite appeared to be happening as the game got underway at the peculiar...

The third of four away games in a row saw our side travel to Innsbruck to take on basement boys Wacker. Looking to save time and energy, Rapid flew in to the mountain city on the morning of the game, then flew back to Vienna directly afterwards landing at 23:00. On the coming Wednesday the team will be packing their bags once more for the slightly further flung Kharkiv in the Ukraine for a crucial UEFA Europa League encounter. The Ukranians represent a tough test for Rapid, and thus it was...

The trip to the Ukraine had really gotten off on the right foot: Rapid were relaxed and in good spirits after touching down in Eastern Europe. The plan was keep things tight, nullify the threat of the opponent's South American contingent and impose our own game on the hosts. For forty-five minutes it would like a dream. The Hütteldorfers stepped out onto the pitch in front of a 40,000 strong crowd, and immediately set about attempting to execute Peter Schöttel's plans. The 400 travelling...

The team that lined up against Ried on Sunday was largely different to the one that went down to narrow defeat against Rosenborg: Harry Pichler came into the centre of defense in place of Gerson, Katzer switched to the right side with Schrammel coming in at left back. Kulovits and Prager were employed as the defensive shield in midfield, while Deni Alar was in the lone striker role up front. Christopher Trimmel would be looking to provide the ammunition for Alar from the right flank. The...

The third of four away games in a row saw our side travel to Innsbruck to take on basement boys Wacker. Looking to save time and energy, Rapid flew in to the mountain city on the morning of the game, then flew back to Vienna directly afterwards landing at 23:00. On the coming Wednesday the team will be packing their bags once more for the slightly further flung Kharkiv in the Ukraine for a crucial UEFA Europa League encounter. The Ukranians represent a tough test for Rapid, and thus it was...

The reasons for the empty Stadium are already well known and made for a very strange atmosphere for the first Europa League group night of the season. The sterile atmosphere seemed to affect the players too from the stands you could hear every instruction, shout or call. At the end of the day however all that really mattered was the game, and in the first half Rapid found it hard to find any rhythm against the compact Norwegians. Searching for an extra gearJust as the Hütteldorfers appeared...